On Vacation with CML

So I really did try to avoid it, but I ended up keeping my doctors appointment with my PP that Friday, and going in to get checked out.  I've always been the type of person to avoid going to the doctors.  When I was little, I hated it so much that my mom would have to bribe me, to get me to go to any sort of doctor's or dentist's appointment.  Sometimes she got off with a milkshake after my appointment, and sometimes she had to shell out as much as 5 bucks.  Not that I was at all well behaved once I got there.  I had a dentist that told me to raise my hand if it hurt, and he would stop.  I raised my hand.  He didn't stop.  I compelled him, by pushing his hand away.  My mom was asked not to bring me back.

Another time, they were attempting to take blood for some sort of routine blood test, and I decided that they were not going to poke me with a needle.  It took two nurses and my mom to hold me down, and even then, I struggled and fought like a fish on a hook.  I remember hiding behind the examination table, watching blood drip down my finger (they'd poked me, and I hadn't felt it, I had been fighting too hard.)  So, suffice to say, I have a little bit of an aversion towards going to the doctor.  It's ironic, now, that I have to go every month.

When I went in, my cold sore had cleared up, but I'd had a nasty cold for 6 days that just seemed to keep getting worse.  He listened to my lungs and told me that I most likely wouldn't require antibiotics, but did end up giving me a z-pack since I was going on vacation "just in case".  I toughed it out for 4 more days, but with a chest cough that seemed to be getting deeper and more seated, I started taking antibiotics on the first day of my vacation, and by day 3 felt almost completely better.  I just couldn't be that awful person with the hacking cough on the airplane.

Kauai was beautiful, but hot.  I am a pale translucent sort by nature, so the sun and the heat has always been a little hard on me.  I think that I'm more well suited for the drizzly gray of the English Countryside than the white sand beaches of paradise.  It seemed to be especially hard on me this go around, though.  Every time I was in the sun for any prolonged period, my skin got red and splotchy.  I had sunscreen on, but every night, we would get back to the condo, and it looked like I had gotten burned.  Usually when I woke up in the morning, the splotchiness was gone, and the redness had faded.  I'm thinking that this is another Gleevec side effect that I had not yet had the pleasure of experiencing.  Definitely noted.  Next time, a higher SPF sunscreen, and more light layers.

Also, in non cancer related news...Keith and I got engaged.  After chasing a beautiful sunset through a Hawaiian rain forest, he got down on one knee and asked me if I would marry him.  How could my answer be anything but yes?  Actually, I think I cried and nodded.  When I was in the hospital, he told me that he hated being referred to as my boyfriend, that he should be my husband.  And now he will be.  Feeling so blessed to have so many people that love me as I am, even with all of my flaws; and incurable cancer is a big one.

Test for my BCR-ABL coming up.  I see the doctor on Sept. 26th.  My levels need to go down significantly.  Fingers still crossed on that one.