Round Two.

Never fail.
This past year with the little 'c' has taught me the art of being patient and going with the flow. As soon as you think something will happen, or will turn out a specific way, it either never happens or turns out in a completely different way.

I was admitted to the hospital on Thursday (2/26) and was discharged the following day due to a cold. I had a funny feeling at night, when i awoke (due to the many hot-flashes that have become my arch nemesis at night)to snot flowing out of my nose onto my pillow...lovely! The doctors checked my throat and low and behold (but unbenounced to me) it was red. They recommended i first have a "nasal wash" to get some of the cells from my nose and mucus membranes to see what sort of virus/bacteria we were dealing with. Then they recommended I go home for a week to recover. Now, i have been through a lot this year..20 or so days of chemo, 21 days of radiation, 5 PET Scans, 3 CT scans, a million shots, 4 surgeries, 2 bone marrow biopsies, many days of nausea.....Now to add to my list, a nasal wash.

For those of you who have never had the [extremely good] fortune of experiencing this "adventure" let me explain. Imagine getting the saltiest (smelliest) water squirted up your nose, and then sucked back out with a little tube....imagine this being done in both of your nostrils...let's just say it burned SO MUCH and I had a headache for the rest of the day.

NOTE: This little "cold" turned into an ear infection and ended up delaying my stem cell transplant by another week so i could have a round of antibiotics in me. Right before being admitted on 2/26, i had to go to Boston for two days of pre-transplant tests. I stayed in a hotel and ate food from restaurants. I wore my mask almosyt 100 % of the time i was near others, but there were a few times, when i went down to the lobby of the hotel where i forgot to wear my mask. I am SURE that is why i got sick. Opps. I guess you cannot be too careful.