I try to see Justine every week. Usually on Tuesday nights when my sister Josie is there. I couldn't go last week because I had show tickets so it had been two weeks since I've seen Justine. Since then, she's cut her hair, just like her "cool aunt".....but I have to admit her's looks cuter than mine....haha She is also done with her first round of Chemo. The lump in her jaw that was an infection is now gone. Last time I saw her (two weeks ago) she had a nose bleed which was pretty harsh. They gave her platelets to help the bleeding stop. Since then she had another nose bleed that lasted almost 24 hours. She was not given any platelets because there were no platelets to be given. An email was sent out the following day to encourage platelet donations from family and friends. The response has been fantastic and many people are eager to help out. The amazing support from my TNT people, even though they don't know her and even some Alumni that don't know me, just reaffirms the fantastic people that are involved in TNT. I thank you and all of my family and friends for the willingness to help. I hope most of the people that qualify know that it's not a one time donation that is needed. I hope they return to donate platelets and understand that Justine will continue to need them as long as she is receiving treatments. The platelets expire in a week. I will be donating every 2 weeks, usually on Friday mornings which are my days off.
Currently Justine is not receiving any Chemo. Her first round is done and is now just waiting for her immune system to build up so she can go home for a week. After being home for a week she will once again return for another round of the 10 day Chemo treatment and the cycle repeats.
During my visit last night, she was happy to see me because I came baring her dinner, double orange chicken and fried rice from Panda Express. We exchanged our sarcastic banter and I knew that she was in a good mood that night. My sister Josie left for about 10 minutes to grab some sundaes from McDonalds and Justine and I sat talking about boys. It felt nice that she's comfortable talking about such personal issues with me and that she actually wanted my advice even though she's never seen me with a guy....hahah She thinks I'm "livin' the life" when I'm actually just searching for what my life is really all about....don't tell her that though *wink* Anyways, Josie came back and we stopped our conversation. Josie helped Justine do a few exercise since Josie is a PTA, she the perfect person to help her with that. Justine definitely wants to exercise because she was so active before getting diagnosed that she feels like her muscles are all fading away. She's a great soccer player and her team even went to the Championships this year! She did very well with a good amount of different muscle strengthening moves. She did tire out a little but I really think it was because of the all the laughing she was doing while exercising.
When I left she was good. I will be taking the Saturday morning shift to watch her until her grandmother shows up around noon. We will have jamba juices and finish our chat about boys...maybe she'll teach me something =p
We took the picture above before I left for my fundraising website. There were a whole series of these pictures. The one I really like she is totally cracking up but she doesn't want me to post it so this is what you get. I desperately needed some lipstick but Justine stole the show with her cute smile anyways...
