It is obvious that sports play a major role in my life. The Creighton basketball season last year was one for the record books. My week out in New York City for the Big East tournament was also one for the record books. But I paid for it big time when I returned. Initially I thought I was simply exhausted from late nights celebrating victories at CenturyLink East (Madison Square Garden). But as the week went on, things quickly worsened. I finally went in for labs after a professor proclaimed, "Keri, with all do respect, you look like complete hell." (Sadly, I had actually tried to look halfway decent that day at the hospital!) Strep negative. Mono negative. But the CBC was not pretty. My white blood cells had bottomed out leaving me with hardly an immune system. A harsh reminder that as much as I try to push myself, my body will always win in the end. Time off from school was brought up by that same professor, but if you've been following my journey from the beginning, you know as well as I do that conversations of that matter do not go over well with me. I appreciated the concern, but quickly eliminated that as an option. Instead I chose to sleep even more, slow down a tad, and keep up with routine labs. Then naturally once baseball season began, my focus was on my favorite pitcher. Kyle's recruiting journey was a whirlwind. Every text was like opening a present, not knowing what exciting surprise awaited. But at the end of the day, my to-do list always seemed to include things such as: Call Dr. So&So, Schedule appointment at X, Find time to go home for overdue labs, Have the pharmacy send the new prescriptions, etc. All simple tasks, that I continually seemed to not have time to complete. Or chose to not. "Just get through this next block. Finals are only 3 months away. Summer will go by in a blink--then I'll have time." All repeated statements I used to push forward, keeping me in Neverland.
So here I sit. Summer is coming to an end. Kyle is settled and thriving at A&M. My fantasy football team is ready to go. Clinical rotations could not be going any better. Life is good! Except for that health stuff somewhere in the background. My labs have been on a roller coaster since the Spring. New doses of medications and endless blood draws. And recently, another bout of a damaged immune system. Naturally, I attributed these past few weeks of feeling crummy to a busy schedule, but nothing is improving. In fact today, I couldn't talk when I woke up, and absolutely nothing will touch the soreness and inflammation in the back of my throat. My spleen is once again enlarged, fevers constantly come and go, the wheezing has picked up, and most days I could fall asleep standing up if I just closed my eyes--even after nine hours of sleep and Starbucks' golden goodness. But I must admit, timing isn't half bad this round. Because tomorrow I begin a series of routine appointments and labs/scans/tests with my oncologists. *Pending I still have health insurance--which is an entirely different dilemma not suitable for this post. For now, I'll keep it simple and say it's been a really rough couple weeks.*
I've had a few people ask me if I'm worried. And the answer is no. Not at all. To be honest, I'm looking forward to finding answers and hopefully some relief. And as frustrating as all of this can be at times, there are many other people fighting much tougher battles than myself. One of the reasons I love medicine is that each day is so very humbling. My short time so far in the clinic has made this undoubtably apparent. And I know I've said it before, but His plans are greater. All is well, and all will be well. And maybe if I just toned down my nights at the State Fair, jamming at the various concerts, (See evidence below. Brought to you from the second row at Styx.) and dancing away in the Nebraska Good Life beer garden, just maybe I would feel a tad better. But what fun is life if you're not living it to the fullest?!
Which reminds me, I need to find one of those magical fairies so I can fly with the lost boys ;) See you in Neverland!
xoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment