I was just going through my last remaining bag of "stuff" from 5 weeks in the hospital. All the cards and some other misc. things that I didn't know what to do with got stuffed in a bag, LOL. My sisters bought me some packages of thank-you cards for me to send to people, and I've been negligent in sending one to my nurses, so I was just sitting down to write that.

Anyway, I found and read the card from Doc John on behalf of the community, and the posts he printed out for me to read, wishing me well. Along with MentalPollution's card, it makes me cry every time. This community ROCKS! Thank you for being so kind and thoughtful, even when I can't manage to be so in return. My big mouth gets the better of me sometimes. ;-)

Just to update you on how I'm doing, I have a cold that I can't get rid of, because they're suppressing my immune system with drugs and because my white cell (infection-fighting) count is a skosh below normal -- only by about 4 or 500, though -- bottom level of "normal" is 4,000, and when I went in the hospital I only had 600! My red cells are doing OK, which is good -- I needed a LOT of blood transfusions in the hospital, and I've had a couple since I've been out -- and my platelet count, which was the cause of most of the consternation, has returned to NORMAL. I had 5,000 when I was admitted, and normal is 150,000 to 450,000. I'm up to 189,000, and that's without having had a platelet transfusion since the weekend before I left the hospital. The issue most of the time I was there is that I couldn't make my own, and I couldn't hang on to the ones they transfused, because my body rejected them as foreign.

So, after all the breathing problems and the heart attack and the brink-of-death stuff -- I actually had a doctor tell me I had a 50-50 chance to live -- I'm recovering so well that my dr. has agreed to let me try to work 20 hours a week now. I know the prayers and well wishes of the PC community has had a lot to do with this. I love you guys!



Candy