TeamMatthew.org Blogs

Health Update: 151 days post transplant and I am doing alright. Since my last entry many things have occurred. I got my PICC line pulled out after many many months of reliable usage. I hit a milestone of “100″ days post transplant and since things were ging well i was able to go outside in public without wearing my face mask as well as go back to a normal diet…. that meant no more low bacterial diet and i could finally have that salad i have been craving for so long. I also had a few other items to eat that i have been craving as you can see from the pictures (not all in one day).

My niece and nephew, Madeline and Connor

I also traveled to San Jose, Ca to visit my sisters, cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends. I was also able to attend my friends wedding Diana and Truyen. I’ve known Diana since the 3rd grade, that’s over 20 years, wow. Also Diana and Truyen were a part of Team Matthew and helped out at many drives. The morning after their wedding they even showed up at a drive we were helping out at to bring a friend that was not a bone marrow donor yet…. Just amazing.

Monday I was back at City of Hope hospital having a spinal tap (or Lumbar puncture, LP) procedure done. This is part of a series of LP my dr decided to do since I have a high number of white blood cells in my spinal fluid. Dr says they are all normal cells bu does not know why I have an elevated amount. So the plan is to to test my spinal fluid every few weeks and give me a small does of methotrexate, a chemotherapy agent, just as an additional preventative treatment. So far each time I’ve had this procedure done the number of white blood cells have gotten lower and lower closer to normal. Today the procedure was little tougher than usual. It took the doctor almost 45 minutes to complete the procedure (normally 10 mins) because he was having a hard time getting the needle in due to the scar tissue my body produced from all the previous times. So he had to go in three different spots and boy was it painful. I was so exhausted afterwards from the stress and pain I fell asleep for 2 hours.

Getting transfusion of platelets to prevent excess bleeding before spinal tap

Everyday I wake up it is a blessing to still be breathig and being able to do normal everyday things such as walking outside and breathing the fresh air, eating fresh fruits/vegetables without worrying about getting sick, being around other people without warring a mask, etc. I know I am very fortunate to be in the condition I am now, and I am thankful for both my parents and my fiancé, Chloe, for being by my side everyday to take care of me for the past 2.5 years. Now I hope I will be well enough to return to school, have a professional career, and take care of them. Hopefully I will have good news about school to share with everyone in the near future. Thank you again everyone for your support and “Chuc mung nam moi”, “happy new years” (lunar new years). A couple of months ago I would have never imagined that I would be able to celebrate this withmy friends and family. Hopefully this will be a better year for all of us.

My Picc line pulled out next to a credit card