Today was a great day... Good mood, nice weather. Got ourselves some bedrooms furniture for a decent price, ate out to eat (at Taco Bell), lots of smiles and such. Made a plan for tomorrow to hit the baby sale at the BX. We are excited.
Got home and I had a text from Taryn, updating me on my cousin, Carina.
To recap: not that I have really mentioned this at ALL, but my cousin Carina, who is married to our friend John (married in September & we missed their wedding =/ ) was diagnosed with leukemia last February. She was diagnosed with the type of leukemia that has the highest rate of survival. She was in remission in April, still going through treatments over the summer, wedding in September, and then the cancer was back in November, I think. She has been in the hospital since November. She is technically cancer-free right now (yay!) but she has been hit with a slew of infections that are putting a great wear on her body. =/
It started with an infection in a port they had put in her chest. They had to take it out, pump her with antibiotics, and who knows what else. The infection spread. Keep in mind, part of leukemia is basically losing your immunity. She had NO immune system - hardly any white blood cells to fight off anything. The tiniest germs to you or me could leave her sick for weeks. She had a white blood cell transplant scheduled, but they couldn't do it until the infections were under control. That's why she stayed in the hospital, on her "locked in" floor - extra precautions were taken to keep germs away, plus she wasn't in the outside world exposed to everybody else's germs.
She then got meningitis a week or two ago. That's bad. John was then put in charge of all her medical decisions because she was no longer capable to make them herself. They had to put a port in her head to give her the meds she needed - an IV wouldn't work for this one. That surgery went fine. Then they found out she had pneumonia, and possibly fluid in her aortic valve, too.
This morning she went into systemic shock, she went to the ICU and they're trying to stabilize her. It's not looking good right now. It's just a waiting game. She is 22 years old. Her husband John has been strongly waiting by her side, working hard to pay the bills, spending as much time with her as he can. They quite literally fell in love at first sight - and I didn't even believe in that. I regret missing their wedding, but there was nothing we could do about it. The pictures were beautiful. They are so happy together, and deserve to simply live a normal life, enjoying each other's company in their own space - not a hospital.
My prayers tonight and this weekend are to her, John, and their immediate families. She comes from a tough line of stubborn, strong blood, so here's to seeing her pull through and living the life she deserves.
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