Hi everyone,

 

I’ve had a pretty good past few days. On Saturday I spent the day in Milwaukee with three of my very good friends from high school. We ate at Buffalo Wild Wings and went to the mall afterwards. Also, later on we checked out the new movie “21.” It was a great chance for me to be able to spend some quality time with those guys before I am unable to do it again. It’s going to be a long time from now until I can go out and do that sort of thing.

 

Yesterday (Sunday), my baby niece was baptized. A few weeks ago my brother had asked me if I would be the godfather. I was honored to take on this responsibility. She is the most precious thing I have laid my eyes upon in a very long time. The baptism went really well. She was quiet throughout the entire time. She makes these little grunt type noises every now and then that are damn cute. We had a bunch of family from both sides come to the service and to this pizza place for pizza and beer afterwards. My doctors today were asking me why me liver function tests were elevated. They then asked me if I had anything to drink in the past week or two. I just got this huge grin on my face. The green beer in Florida, the power hours with my roommates about a week ago, and then the beer and pizza yesterday were all it took to elevate the level in this liver function test. Oh well…nothing to be worried about I guess.

 

Today is already kind of starting out bad. I expected to start feeling worse after a week or so, but I already feel it starting to kick in. I am sure some of its mental. All night last night I sat around my apartment dreading what was to come.

 

I woke up early this morning to finish packing up my stuff. My mother drove down to Milwaukee from Two Rivers to pick me up and take me to the hospital. Upon arrival, I unloaded all of my stuff in my room (Room 2 – BMT unit), and then had to head right over to interventional radiology to get my central line placed. I got surgically put in what is called a Hickman line.

 

 

However, my neck is absolutely throbbing since I had it put in. They’ve been giving me dilaudid and morphine and nothing is working. They might as well me giving me M&Ms. It’s making me more miserable than I’d like to be this early on, and I am hoping that this pain goes away by tomorrow. As I sit here writing this I have a bucket already sitting on my lap. I’m extremely nauseous which isn’t helping the situation at all either.

 

Dawn, my ex-girlfriend, just got here too. She had a bake sale yesterday to raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She brought in the unsold bakery to my room along with a key lime pie. I’m thinking I should eat as much of this as I can before I lose my appetite entirely.

 

I’d once again like to thank everyone out there who has been providing me and my family with amazing support and prayers. I truly believe that one of the main reasons that I am able to handle this treatment is because of all of you. Take care and I wish you all the best!

 

Love,

Eric