All is well

Sorry for the delay. Vlad came home Monday morning. What little nausea he had has disappeared for the time being. There are minor problems, but mostly small potatoes. He is taking it easy, at least when I'm looking.

He saw Conlon today and his numbers have not fallen super low yet: WBC 1.8; hemoglobin 10; and platelets around 145. Next week the neutropenia will begin probably. Don't really know how bad it will be.

Vlad is really wondering about his hair now. Will it grow back? Will it grow back thicker? Will it be the same color? He has some dark hair on his head, but it's very thin and may fall out again before it grows back again.

Stay tuned.

Running errands

Vlad's been sleeping almost nonstop since I got there this morning. Poor guy couldn't eat anything he ordered from the home kitchen. He's nauseous off and on. When he's not, he's afraid to eat. I ducked out aroud 12:30 to do some much-needed grocery shopping and other small errands. I'm headed back in. He gets more chemo at 5 p.m. and 5 a.m. I just don't know how this is going to go.

More of the same

Vlad was very sick yesterday, off and on. The further away from chemo, the less nausea. Sometime after he started chemo at 5:20 p.m., a strong wave hit him. Food, or more accurately, the food tray, seems to trigger nausea attacks. He's eating very little and keeping less down. He had one temperature spike Saturday, but it was short-lived and came between shift changes so it wasn't on their radar.

The tests from last night showed nothing unusual. Lungs clear and blood normal for him.

Today it's a 24-hour break. He won't get more chemo till tonight. Then it's two in 12 hours. If things keep up, he'll be really sick tomorrow. I'm wondering if they'll even let him go home. I guess there's a chance they might keep him till Tuesday.

He had visits Saturday by Alex's girlfriend, Kelly, Saturday afternoon and by Lana, John & Anna a little later. Vlad was able to enjoy both visits. Alex called to wish me happy birthday and so did my mom. We called Karla and Peter; we haven't checked in in over a week. He's doing really well. He's able to speak some, which seems like really good progress less than 3 weeks after the stroke.

I'm going to make Vlad some chicken broth and head in today.

Rocky road

On Friday, Vlad's temperature spiked around 7 p.m. to over 101. He slept most of the day and ate almost nothing. When he was awake, he was nauseated. He also was congested and his oxygen levels were low (89), which is weird for him. The nurses grew pretty concerned around 9 p.m. and called the on-call doctor who ordered some blood tests, X-rays and such. He also got oxygen about 9 p.m. They didn't think it was anything major. His lungs appeared to be clear. But they couldn't put their finger on what was going on, so they jumped on it.

This morning his congestion is gone. He slept pretty well. He took pain meds (for the line) and sleeping meds last night, so no problems there. His fever was about 99 at 8 a.m. And he's not hungry. (Better than nauseous?). They're hesitant to give him Tylenol because of his nausea and because it tends to mask symptoms. He is getting nausea medication also.

Anyway, I'm headed over within the hour.

The last scheduled chemo

Vlad's in the hospital; checked in this morning. He's not feeling great. He's not happy about being back there and a little apprehensive of things post-chemo. He got his line installed, even though the doctor forgot to order it. (!??) Then blood work. White cells 5.4; hemoglobin 11.2; platelets 347. The chemo started around 5:10 p.m. Yay!

He's in Room 1015; the direct line is 713-778-7078.

I've worked at home all day. Feeling very anxious and surly. The hospital deja vu makes me crazy. As I sit here in Houston, where we were in deep drought until yesterday, I'm enjoying the rain (finally!) that has been sucked up from the Gulf courtesy of Hurricane Dolly. Yet, I am dumbfounded that, within the hour, another leak in the ceiling has presented itself. It's in the office. Precariously close to my PC. It's not a bad one, but if the rain keeps up, ya know. I don't want to think about it.

Didn't I say something about hurricane season earlier? I should know better than to tempt fate.

Doctor day

Vlad had his full appointment with the doc Thursday. Numbers are up. White count is over 10, hemoglobin still a bit low at 10.7 and platelets are high at 827,000. All totally normal.

He'll go back for his LAST consolidation chemo on Thursday July 24. Which means he'll be there on what would be my birthday if I were having one this year. His release date will be July 28.

I suspect it will take him at least a month to recover. There seems to be a cumulative effect to the chemo. Every round is worse than the last.

He's had the worst time yet from the 3rd consolidation chemo. He has little energy. The sweats come and go. He had the mouth sores two weeks after the chemo, the timing of which was contrary to his experience. Sleep is elusive some nights. Almost all his hair is gone, including his eyelashes.

But there's a lot to be thankful for, like no pain. We are handling it as best we can. Life is good, seriously.

Saw my friend Carol yesterday, the day after her birthday. We exchanged gifts. Ate at Empire Turkish Grill, one of our favorite restaurants. We had a great time.

Got updates from Karla today. Peter's moved to a rehab center now, where he'll get intensive therapy for about a week. He can shower and shave and read e-mails. He and Karla watched "Cash Cab" together and she said he knew most of the answers but couldn't say them. Despite the speech problem, it sounds like he's making pretty big strides. Yay.

Terry is still battling very bad cellulitis, which may be from a staph infection. He seems to be turning the corner on that. Talked to him by phone the other day and he seemed in decent spirits. Better than I would be I think. He said the doctor was happy with his progress. Here's to Terry and Linda.

We took Keezee to the vet today. It's been a couple of years. But he was healthy. And too fat. He's 16 pounds and should be like 12. So we have to cut back and we don't feed him that much. He spends 80% of his time outside, so we suspect someone else may be feeding him from time to time. Fat cat.

More bad news from friends

Vlad is finally getting out of the fever funk. He's still feeling pretty light-headed and things seem a little dream-like to him sometimes. I think he's just working through the poisons they put in him. He seems better today than yesterday.

But we got some bad news about our friend Peter, who had a stroke Thursday night in his home in Tennessee. (He's above with me and my friend Karla, his wife). He can't talk at the moment. His left side is impaired; but he's moving his arm and leg, so that's good. There's some concern about his left eye, Karla said. It will take them awhile (I'm assuming a couple of weeks or more) to assess his situation. But I don't really know. Nobody will give Karla any idea about what Peter's outcome may be. We'll just keep sending good thoughts.

With Vlad's diagnosis, our friend Terry's fall a couple of weeks ago and now Peter's stroke, we're ready to erase this year from the books. Everybody, be healthy and don't sweat the small stuff. Hey, sometimes life is a cliche.

Anyway, here are some more photos from when Vlad and I visited Karla and Peter last year in the Smokies:

Here's Karla on the porch of their cabin in the Smokies.
Here's a view of nearby Watauga Lake. It was October.

Fever roller coaster

At Vlad's appointment with Conlon yesterday, all his numbers were up. He's out of nadir and neutropenia with WBC at 1.3. Saturday he battled low fever, which by Sunday evening was creeping past 101. I was relieved he had a doctor's appointment Monday morning. By 10 a.m. Monday, no fever. By 2 p.m. Monday, fever was back. It went away Monday evening, but returned during the night. So I stayed home both days with the patient.

We've tried everything. His mouth sores are back, too. Weird though, since his numbers are better, why all the fever and sores now? Why not last week? I think it's possible it's not just minor infections, it's also body heat generated by the marrow working to replenish the cells. I don't know. I've heard that about my own anemia.

We're thrilled this is about as bad as it gets. Could be so much worse. But it still sucks, you know? I've decided to cancel my birthday this year. He'll be in the hospital on my 50th for the last chemo. The fact it's the last chemo is gift enough.

We're hoping he'll be strong enough to visit my sister & mom when they bring the girls to Galveston in August. It looks pretty iffy.

Hoping to get back to the office tomorrow. Cheers all.

Long time, no post

We did make it to San Antonio last weekend and had such a wonderful time. I had not seen Jeff and Cindy since they lived in Vegas. That was probably 6-7 years ago. They've got a beautiful house in SA now. We had a wonderful visit.

After we got back, Vlad started his fall in numbers. His white blood cells are down to .6. His hemoglobin is below 9. His platelets were at 4, so he had to get a transfusion on Friday. He didn't get home till 11 p.m.

I've been working 12-hour days for reasons that are too tedious to talk about. I'm hoping this work schedule will end soon.

Yesterday was Alex's birthday party (22!) at his mom's and stepdad's house (photo above). He invited some of his friends and it was really nice visiting with them. We never see his friends much. They're really much older and wiser now than they were in high school. And fun. They're developing into great adults.

We were only there a couple of hours. Vlad was fading. He's sleeping now. I hope he'll stay in bed most of the morning anyway.

In the bad news department, our friend Terry, (above with Vlad and Linda on Vlad's birthday in 2006), broke both of his knees when the staircase at his beachhouse collapsed. He and a friend were working on the staircase at the time. He was in the hospital briefly and has some hospital stories from hell; worse than Vlad's. But he's home now with braces, crutches, a hospital bed and other accoutrements. He's not supposed to put any weight on his legs for three months. Crushed tibia caps, torn ligaments and damaged tendons in both knees. Linda's got her hands full. At least Terry's in relatively good spirits.

Here are some of my (terrible-quality) photos from San Antonio last Sunday, June 29. We ate at La Hacienda de los Barrios, famous for its "puffy tacos," which I highly recommend:

Cindy, Jeff and Aunt Ella

Mom and Bill

Suzanne and Ginny. Click here to see the video of Ginny talking about her new "haunted" school.

Vlad and Alex.