" The Proposal " .. (also known as the Engagement)

...While i was in the hospital during the month of December 2006, I asked my brother-in law, Damon, (my sister Nellie's husband) to please go to the jeweler for me and pick the engagement ring I had ordered while I was at the hospital. I had called the Jeweler a few days earlier and told him the size, shape & clarity I wanted. My brother-in-law picked up the ring for me and I had it in the hospital with me. (I love my brother-in-law Damon by the way).

...I originally was going to propose to Isabel while I was in the hospital, however, after some thought, I decided to propose when I went home to rest and wait for the Bone Marrow Transplant.

...It was December 23rd 2006, I was temporarily discharged from the hospital and was home alone with Isabel. Isabel had the house nice and decorated for the holidays and the Christmas tree was up and lit. At about 9pm, I closed all the lights in the house except the Christmas tree lights and asked Isabel to come by the tree with me.

...I told Isabel I would like to say a prayer with her. I began praying to God and asking God to help me survive this Leukemia. I also was thanking God for my life up to that point and thanked God for all my blessings. I then thanked God for putting Isabel in my life and told God how much I loved Isabel.....

..I then dropped to one knee (I'm old fashioned like that) and said :

..Isabel, I Love You & want to spend whatever days I have left with you, will you Marry me ? Isabel began crying tears of joy for about 10 minutes and then said "YES". We then hugged, kissed and etc, etc.... (how u doin !!! )

...I will end this blog on a happy note. The next blog will talk about what I did for the next 4 weeks & what was going on in my mind before the readmission to the hospital for my Bone Marrow Transplant.

...Note: The picture above is a bunch of flowers i bought for Isabel...

Back to the Emergency room....

...After only being discharged two days earlier, I woke up at about 2am with sharp, knife pains in my lower back. It was the most pain i ever had in my life. I fell to the floor in the bathroom and screamed for Isabel to wake up and drive me to the Emergency room at NY Presbyterian. We first had to call my mom at 2am to come over and watch Isabel's son at our home. Isabel's son, Nico, was only 9 at the time.

...As Isabel and I were in the car driving to NYC at about 2:30 in the morning, I began screaming from the pain. I told Isabel i was about to passout.... Isabel yelled out: please don't pass out, I don't know how to get to the hospital in the dark. I ended up being able to stay up and screamed all the way to the hospital.

...We were in the Emergency room for 13 hours and i had so many tests done...however...they could not find where the pain was coming from. I was put on pain killers (oxycontin) and readmitted to the hospital. After a few more days of testing, they found the problem. I had a Fatal bloodclot in my right lung. My right lung by then had also partly collapsed and my right lung filled with blood. I was spitting up blood for the next 2 days.

...I had to begin to go on Lovenox everyday. Lovenox is a blood thinner used to help the bloodclot. It was injected in me twice a day by needles in either my stomach, back of my arms or legs. The Doctors believe the Bloodclot was probably caused by all the Chemo. I was just happy that they finally found out where the pain was coming from. A bloodclot in the lung is fatal and a person can die at any minute.

...I was then discharged again from the hospital on December 23rd, 2006. I was so happy to be able to spend Christmas with the family. I had lost about 40 pounds at this time and was looking forward to some good home cooked meals from my mom & Isabel. I was told i could stay home until January 18th, 2007. I then had to go back to the Hospital and get ready for the Bone Marrow Transplant...

...My next blog will talk about "The Proposal" (sounds like a movie :-)....
I had my brother-in-law pick me up an engagement ring while i was in the hospital.... I will share the story in my next blog.... Have a great day everyone....

...Note: The picture above is Isabel & her son Nicolas (Nico) at the Monmouth Mall...

The greatest Phone Call of my Life...

... My sister Nellie and my girlfriend Isabel (who is now my wife) called me at the hospital and told me my sister Nellie had to tell me something. My sister Nellie got on that phone and said that her DNA test results were in and that we were a perfect match for the Bone Marrow Transplant. I began crying like a baby, as did my sister, Isabel and my mom. I never cried that much in my life. I cried on and off for days. I still cry when i think about it. The doctors told me that a match will greatly increase my chance of survival. I was so happy and thanked God we were a match. I also thanked my parents for having a second child.... lol
...The next step was to schedule a date for the Bone Marrow Transplant. They set the date for January 27th, 2007. They told me i would have to go on a very intense pre-transplant procedure.
...In the meantime, i was in temporary remission from the Cancer cells in my blood. They asked me if i wanted to go home for Christmas and rest at home until my transplant. I was immune compromised at the time and had to keep away from people.
...I had recently had a port put in my chest to draw blood from and get my
anti-biotics from. I was running a fever before discharge and was told i had developed a staph infection. They asked me if i wanted to stay in the hospital during the next 4 weeks and get anti-biotics for my infection or go home and take them. I decided to go home and get treated there. I had to wear a backpack with a pump in it connected to the port in my chest to get my liguid anti-biotics 20 hours a day. I slept with that backpack for a month on my back. I'm glad i always use to sleeping on my stomach anyway. The pump would jam many times at nights and Isabel and i would be up for hours trying to fix it or call the 24 medical hotline to help us.
...Isabel and I were going out about 2 years when i was diagnosed. When i was discharged around December 15th, 2006, I asked her to move in with me. She gracefully accepted and boy did she have her hands full. I asked her if she was sure she can handle all this... i told her she could leave me and have an easier life.
I didn't want to put her through all this.
...Isabel said: I feel like i was put on this earth to love you and take care of you. Say no more... I told her she was in... :-)
..Isabel had to flush my port lines everyday, bathe me everyday (how u doin !!!) :-)
and so much more.
She has been a true blessing to me, sent by God.
Thank you Honey. I LOVE YOU....
...My next post will tell about how & why i collapsed at home at 2am and was taken back to the emergency room for 13 hours...
...Stay tuned. Same bat channel/same bat time.... :-)
* That was from the batman shows i enjoyed as a kid...

...Note... That is a picture of Lorenzo & his sister Nellie. (My Bone Marrow Donor). Thank you Nellie. I love you !!!!

Needles and Chemo....

... Once i was admitted, i was introduced to the doctors and specialists that would be taking care of me. Dr. Roboz was the assistant director of Leukemia at the the time and helped me very much with her positive attitude.
... Since Leukemia is a blood cancer, i was always getting poked with needles and getting blood drawn from me. I would have to give anywhere from 5 to 15 viles of blood a day. They would draw blood with those needles from my arms, top of my hands, fingers and wrist. I was black and blue all over. I still couldn't believe what i was going through and would start saying: why me ? why me ?
... It was now time to start my Chemo treatments. They put a bunch of bags on a long pole. I had to get about 5 different types of Chemo round the clock for a few days each week. Chemo is a poison that is used to destroy the cancer cells, it also destroys the good cells. It made me sick and nauseous. It also destroyed my taste buds. Everything tasted like metal to me. Even water didn't taste good. I could hardly eat and was losing weight everyday.
...I was very blessed to always have my family & girlfriend (Isabel) around me 24/7. Isabel quit her job and stayed with me at the hospital most of the day and night for about 14 days. They allowed her to sleep in the room everynight. Isabel and my mom then started taking turns staying at the hospital all day & night with me.
...I wanted to live..I love life...however...I'm a realist and knew that i could die any day and wanted someone to be there with me all the time.
... I am very thankful & blessed for the love and support i got from family and most friends. Some people disappointed me...however... i will not get into that. I still love them.
...The next step was doing a DNA test from my sister Nellie to see if she would be a match for a Bone Marrow Transplant.
The doctors at the time said i needed a Bone Marrow Transplant to have a better chance to survive..
A sibling only has about a 25% chance of being a match. They said if Nellie wasn't a match... they would try and find a match somewhere around the world. However... a sibling match would be best.
...After about 3 weeks of Chemo, i was put into temporary remission. The doctors said there was a 90-95% chance of relapse if i didn't get the Transplant and that the sooner i get the transplant.... the better.
...Most patients with my type of Leukemia would have a hard time to survive if they relapsed before the transplant.
...During my stay at the hospital i was also getting many blood transfusions. I'm thankful for all the blood donors out there.
God Bless You Donors.
You are all life savers. I encourage all to donate blood if possible.
You never know when you're going to need it.
...My next blog will talk about the most important phone call of my life...
Stay tuned.. Have a nice weekend everyone.. :-)

...Note: The picture above is of Lorenzo and his mom & dad at the annual NY Hospital Transplant cruise... It was a great day.

I was admitted to the hospital...

... I was admitted to the Hospital on Friday, Nov. 24, 2006. It was the morning after Thanksgiving. They told me they had to do a Bone Marrow Biopsy. I had no idea was that was...however...it turned out to be a very painful experience for me. They go into your lower back and cut out a piece of the hip bone. I never had a good tolerance for pain and i let the doctor know by screaming a few times. By them cutting out a piece of my bone, the doctors knew exactly what type of Leukemia I had and what my Chemo treatments would be.
...At this point i was in shock and could not believe this was happening to me. It really felt like a bad dream. I was so scared and kept thinking about my 3 kids. I said God... please keep me alive for my childrens sake.
I was so close to the kids and i know how much they needed me.
...I'm feeling kind of sad and will continue on my next post....

...Note : The picture above is of Lorenzo & his 2 sons. Joseph is 18 & Lorenzo Jr. is 16...

My life before Leukemia...

.....My life was going great until i got diagnosed with Leukemia in November 2006. Sure i had some bumps in the road, including a divorce in 2003 which was very hard for me because i had to move out of the house and leave my 3 kids who i love so much. I was so close to the kids and did everything with them. They called me Mr. Mom up here in Rockland County.

.....One of my biggest heartaches was my daughter Anna being born severely mentally disabled in 1994. She has a very rare disability. It is called 18p-syndrome. It is a Chromosome abnormality. She is missing a piece of the 18th Chromosome on the P side. She cannot speak at all. She has been in special ed programs all her life. Its very sad. However..she is in no pain and does not know she is disabled and for that i am thankful...

.....I was in business with my family when i got sick. I was doing very well financially and enjoying life to the fullest. I had gone on a great vacation to Italy in the summer of 2006. About 2 months later... i had severe back pain, night sweats and fever.

.....I went for blood work and got the bad news about having a very aggressive form of Leukemia. I'll never forget when Dr. King (my long time Doctor) called me at 8pm Wednesday night and asked me to come to his office and bring a driver with me. I knew it had to be bad news. I got to his office and he said: Lorenzo, I'm sorry to tell you that you have Acute Leukemia. It is a very aggressive and dangerous type of Leukemia. I thought it was a bad dream. I almost passed out. I fell on top of his desk and felt like my life was over.

.....Dr. King said I'm sorry to see this happen to such a good guy. He felt sad. I felt so sick. My life was just turned upside down. I kept seeing my kids in front of my eyes. I was then told to go to the emergency room at NY Presbyterian Hospital....

.....That's when my nightmare begins... i will continue this on my next post.

* Note*... That is a picture of my daughter Anna at age 3.

My first ever Blog...

...Hello everyone. I use to follow a blog from a girl named Debbie who recently died from the same type of Leukemia as me. I have a very rare and deadly type of Leukemia. I have Acute Lymphoblasyic Leukemia with Philadelphia Chromosome Positive. I also lost 2 friends i made at NY Presbyterian hospital who had the same type of Leukemia as me.
...From what I've studied and learned, my type of Leukemia only has about a 20-25% chance of a 2 year survival. It then has about a 33% chance of a 5 year survival. As of today... i have survived 32 months.
...I will write more next time. Thank you for following my blog. I look forward to sharing and maybe meeting some of you one day...

...Note: That is a picture of Lorenzo & Isabel at Pier Village Beach, NJ in July, 2009...