I think I'm finally ready to do this. I'm finally ready to share this journey with other people. I'm finally ready to let people in and I'm finally ready to show people that there is a different side of me now that I have struggled through this amazing journey. Some people have questioned, denied, or sympathized with me during this battle. I guess I don't blame them. I have questioned several times what the hell I just did, and how the hell I just did it. How did I live to tell the tale of this, and why does a disease so cruel take one person but leave another. My faith has been shaken, and I have been mad as hell. I've kicked, screamed, cried my eyes out on the bathroom floor. But the journey was set before me for a reason. My faith is back because I have seen the miracles of what a loving Lord can really do. I didn't think at this age I would be suffering from something so cruel but here is how it began, my journey, my scary, and my wonderful all at the same time.....
August 18th 2012
As I stood in the shower, trying with all my mite to get ready for my friends wedding. I couldn't help but realize how tired and sluggish I was. My body just didn't seem right at all, and I knew there was something terribly wrong. My mom picked me up and also noticed something was wrong, but I just brushed it off as stress and said I would be okay.
About a week later....
I woke up with horrible allergies. I made an appointment with the clinic to get in right away. My regular doctor wasn't in, so I had to see someone else. At the appointment I told her my symptoms and she prescribed me an allergy med. She also questioned why I wasn't on the "pill" and didn't have any kids. I told her that was none of her business, and she said well you should be on something. I refused and walked out. Sorry but that kind of stuff is the last damn thing you want to hear when you are feeling like crap.
Late October....
By October the allergies weren't getting any better and I now had a nasty cough. The doctor did chest x-rays, gave me fluids, and prescribed me hard core antibiotics. By the end of the week there was no improvement, so I just trudged through it and tried to keep busy with life, even though I felt like I would die at any moment. And that isn't even exaggerating.
November.....
I was still fighting this crap. I went to the doctor for yet another appointment. The doctor put me back on allergy meds. He then asked why I didn't have any kids and/or not on the "pill"! At this point the only thing that is going through my mind is, "Seriously WTF, get off the subject already!" He then stated to me that as soon as I was better that my husband and I should start working on making a family, as to which I said, "That is not in the plans yet, and why is it so important to you." Quite frankly I find it sick that 2 doctors in a row would be so freaking obsessed with me having kids or not.
Wednesday November 13th 2012.....
Yet again no freaking relief. I was still sick as a dog, and was loosing weight rapidly. I was getting ready for work that morning, and my husband walked in on me changing. He said "Goddamn it Christy you are going to the ER!" So Zach went to work and Mom brought me to the doctor. I was admitted to the hospital with severe pneumonia and a high fever. After several days of giving me fluids and heavy duty antibiotics nothing was working right and they couldn't get the fever to go down. They did a ct scan and my spleen and liver were enlarged (not knowing at the time that this was a symptom of MDS). That following Sunday evening they ambulanced me to Sioux Falls. Before I left I asked the doctor, "Do you think it might be cancer?" She said "I don't know for sure Christy but I'm not going to rule it out." I just knew that it was something and it wasn't good.
Sioux Falls.....
After almost 2 weeks in Sioux Falls, with several procedures, many different doctors, lots of medicine. I finally came home on December 3rd. The sucky part of the whole deal was that I was in the hospital over Thanksgiving. I still remember Lindsey being hugely pregnant and poking her swollen feet. My brother to keep the humor alive thought it would be good to race up and down the haul in the wheel chair yelling, "She's Flat lining!" Yeah they are a rowdy bunch. After 3 weeks of bad there was a miracle to come home to, Baby Corbyn was born on December 4th. Early in the morning. The Lord works in mysterious ways, along with the bad there is always something good that comes out of it.
March 5th 2013....
My Hematologist did a bone marrow biopsy. It would probably help them explain what happened and why I got so sick. Usually a test like that takes a couple weeks, so we went in on March 19th. As Mom and I sat there waiting for the doctor to come in. I knew that the news wasn't going to be good. I just had this gut feeling, a sixth sense maybe that the odds were going to be stacked against me. Dr. McCaul came in and said that they finally had the answer. "Christy you have MDS (Myelodysplastic Syndrome)" I was like ok what is that? Turns out I was going to need a stem cell transplant. Once the news of what it was and how it needed to be treated, I broke down. I was in absolute shock, and I couldn't even form sentences. The grieving process was short lived, all of a sudden they were throwing at me to fill out and explaining what was going to happen next. I was just going through the motions, almost numb to the fact that this was really happening.
TO BE CONTINUED.......
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