Life with Leukemia: Late night update...may not make sense

Thank you to everyone who reads this and is following our life. I appreciate all the compliments I have been given in regards to the blog.
Monday we went back to the ID clinic at the U hospital to have Tyler's follow up appointment. We brought with us the CT scan and X-rays from Friday because heaven knows Tyler has been blasted with enough radiation for awhile.

Tyler hasn't been in the lobby of the University of Utah hospital (I went down once to see Sawyer while we stayed there). They have all sorts of clinics and doctors offices there, it's what some of the doctors referred to as a melting pot hospital. As you walk in you are lured into a false sense of security from the sounds of a young girl playing a piano, it seems serene and inviting... don't let that girl fool you. This place is a REAL hospital, where people with REAL SERIOUS injuries go. In the front entry alone I saw people missing limbs, covered in burns, hooked to IV's, riding in wheel chairs and wrapped in bandages. It is not for the faint of heart.

So I warned Tyler, because sometimes he's a little faint of heart, of what to expect from the hospital and the hospital did not make a liar of me! It all started with a man blowing his second hand smoke at us as we made our way out of the parking lot, sir, my husband has leukemia, please don't give him lung cancer as well. We made a mental note to take advantage of the free valet parking next time. Once inside being serenated by some chopsticks we made our way back to the ID clinic and checked in to see Dr. W. He remembered us from our stay at Huntsman.

He and the nurse who brought us back both apologized for the "confused and upset" woman in the room next to us. I'm not sure why she was there, but I can tell you she was NOT happy about it. There was a lot of noise coming from her room remind anyone of our last time there? and it honestly made me feel bad for her. Dr. W explained that they see a lot of mentally ill patients as well as homeless people. so that explains that.

After seeing the scans Dr. W and Dr. H both came in to tell us that the mystery nodules Ty developed in the hospital were almost gone! Victory. They are convinced his pleurisy is nothing extreme and can continue to be managed by taking ibuprofen if he needs it. I love both of those doctors. You know how I feel about kind people, they are both VERY kind.

We finished off the appointment with the custom blood draw and headed home.

We are always starving after the appointments and I was wanting to try out some tacos and Café Rio. We got some the tacos, I made an excellent choice getting those, and headed back to our car.

Now look, I'm not used to this Salt Lake way of life. There are people walking everywhere! That is something about big cities that I find incredible. People walk all over the place. As I'm starting up my car, and making a phone call, I wondered what this  blonde hustler lady standing outside my car window was doing. She looked like she had something to say to us... She finally knocks on the window and proceeds to petition us for some money for gas. I'm such a push over. We did end of giving her some cash, because maybe she really did need it, if she didn't, that's on her. However, we may not stop for food in SLC again though, or I may not roll down my car windows while in SLC or ever.

Tyler is still working on finding a good sleep regimen, it seems to be improving, that may seem that way because I'm sleeping through the night though...

Ever since finding out Tyler had Leukemia, I've become very aware of all things cancer I'm pretty sure there is a term for this, I tried asking Tyler tonight, but he fell asleep before he could answer...at least he's sleeping. I hear ads on the radio, see commercials, see videos online, and find articles that relate to us. Just today I read an article in the Ensign that sounded a lot like the experiences Tyler is having, you can go here to read it. On a side note, I also read this article and realized I may need to tone down my sarcasm... dang it.

Something else that's been on my mind recently is the process we will go through to have Tyler typed and matched for a bone marrow transplant. He does NOT need one as of now, but they get all the matching out of the way so if there ever was a time, heaven forbid it gets that bad, it is a quick process. We will go in sometime next month with his siblings to get the process started. If they aren't matches the search begins. You wouldn't believe how hard it can be for some people to find a match. There is a movement, well a website but I feel like it's a movement, at bethematch.com. It's a donor registry for bone marrow. If I am not a match for Tyler I plan on becoming a donor.

I can save a life.

You can too.

People are always saying they wish there was a cure for cancer, for people with blood cancer this can be it.

LASTLY I know this is way too long I went to Zumba this morning. Tyler put Sawyer down for his morning nap while I was there. It was AMAZING! I forgot how much I enjoy Zumba. The instructor was a delight. I am so out of shape it's hilarious. And for some insane reason it was almost emotional for me. To push my body past the point of hurt was something I seriously needed. Have

you ever cried doing Zumba? Me neither... but I was dang close. I tried to explain it to Ty, but couldn't so I'll spare you the jumbled description, just know I plan on being there every Wednesday morning. And if you see me crying, pretend you didn't.

Happy Pioneer Day!
P.S. Beware that Tyler is just itching to post his version of this trip to SLC on the blog. It will be full of big words that I couldn't understand well enough to add into my own version. Glad his brain is still functioning at full speed, wish mine was!