Dodged a bullet

Vlad's transfusion pushed his platelets up to 32,000, well over the 20,000 minimum for freedom. He got home around 9 p.m. I fed him and he's doing well. He's tired but feeling a little better.

2 stress relievers

Stress reliever #1: Friends and acquaintances

One of the garden bloggers is a cancer survivor. She knows about Vlad's leukemia. She occasionally asks about him and sends back some of the funniest "been there, done that" e-mails.

From today's dispatches:

"You know, whenever anyone says "after a long battle with cancer" I just
roll my eyes. If it were a BATTLE, at least you would have a better chance
if you fought hard. You can't really fight at all--what's to shoot?
As far as the patient is concerned, it isn't a battle--it is an endurance
contest and one part of the endurance contest is the part your husband is going
through now--where you just have to TAKE it. The other part is where I am
now--all seems well and I have to just keep my fingers crossed that I live long
enough to see a real cure come around the bend. Which it will,
eventually."

"I forgot about the mouth sores. My TONGUE even bled! ...
It wasn't every chemo, though--it seemed like one thing would go away and
then I would get something else. Once the house smelled like fungus--I
thought it was molding until I got in the car and THAT smelled like fungus,
too. And there was the dog poop chemo--everything smelled like dog
poop. AARRRGHHHH. This conversation is getting in the way of my
denial."

Stress reliever #2: Junk food disguised as health food



Kashi's dark chocolate oatmeal cookies. Just found this at Costco. Sigh.

Transfusion time

Today with Conlon, Vlad got new and lower numbers: WBC 800 (same), hemoglobin 8.1, platelets 4,000. He also has low blood pressure.

He's headed to the hospital to get a platelet transfusion. If his hemoglobin goes below 8 while he's there, he's to be admitted and will get a full blood transfusion. Keep those fingers crossed.

I'm downtown at work and he's navigating this by himself. I'm petrified, but he swears he's fine.

Whew

Well, we got through the weekend with nary a scrape. No fever, no serious fatigue.

But today Vlad felt every inch of his anemia. He drove himself to see Conlon this afternoon. WBC down to 800. Temp was about 99. He got a prescription for Levaquin (the crazy expensive antibiotic), so that will be his talisman for the next week. He was pretty tired after the doctor visit. No fever tonight, but he's light-headed and feels like the mouth pain is trying to rear its ugly head.

There's a birthday party for Dylan on Saturday. He'll be 1. There's no way Vlad can go; and I think I'll skip it without him as there will be very little English spoken and, as we all know, ya gavaryoo tolka ni mnoga pa-ruski.

Holding our breath

Vlad's numbers were good. 1.4 on WBC, so he's close to neutropenia. He's tired from anemia, but otherwise good, no fever.

Can you dig it?

Four of Mr. Rooter's finest came out today and fixed the sewer line. It turned out the hole in the line was at the edge of the patio and they didn't need to tear it up. Yay. There were a lot of tree roots in the pipe. Vlad said he didn't know how anything was getting through. The crew was great.

I was at work today. Vlad had strict orders not to go near this operation. What could be germier, I ask you? I think he mostly followed orders. Conlon's office is closed Friday-Monday. If there's a problem, we'll have to hit the emergency room. He has to get his blood numbers at Quest in the morning. If they're too low, Conlon will order a transfusion. But I think there's a good chance of a disconnect. Keeping fingers crossed.

On Wednesday his WBC was 2.4, which was up from a couple of days earlier. But Conlon said his numbers will dive. He said wobbling up and down is common.

Toilet meltdown

All three toilets died yesterday. The first plumber we called, a buddy of our handyman, Gary, didn't show, so we called Mr. Rooter, who sent Ramez. He got there about 2 and fixed the obvious blockage, but more importantly, diagnosed a broken sewer line on our property. Tree roots had strangled it. Ramez et al are coming back on Thursday to demolish part of the patio and then repair the pipe. We're not sure whether it will be a partial or full replacement.

Sigh.

We spent the night at a Courtyard Marriott around the corner. Nice little place, though we got what they told us was the last available room. It was dungeonesque. One pitiful little basement-style window. Didn't matter. They said there were only 3 rooms like this in the hotel and they gave us a discount. Now that I'm immersed in flora at work, I noticed a really nice landscaping job around the place. And I could identify most of the species. Amid the chaos, a feeling of accomplishment squeaked out.

We're back home tonight. Seeing Conlon tomorrow morning. I'm going with him since his numbers are diving so fast. I worry about his getting dizzy and tired.

I want him to get some antibiotics in light of the sewer fiasco.

Home again, jiggedy jigg

Vlad was more than ready to leave this morning. He got released around 9:30 a.m. after Conlon saw him briefly. Vlad's blood numbers are falling more rapidly than before, but are still in normal range for his situation. His WBC was 1.7 this morning. Hemoglobin was below 9 and Vlad said his platelets were very good. I don't have an exact number.

I was able to work uninterrupted from about 10:45 until about 3:45 -- a minor miracle -- when he started screaming for towels downstairs. It appears he got home from chemo just in time for all three toilets in the house to break. Simultaneously. To think we were joking about whether he should bring home his hospital pee jug. Murphy's law: he didn't.

I should note, the same Keystone Kops routine occurred Sunday that happened last time. Vlad had to start screaming for the nurses to give him his chemo. As it turned out, they were following orders. Conlon forgot to change the orders, or at least to make them more precise. It was difficult, but Rachael, my personal R.N. heroine, got to the bottom of it and he got his chemo on time.

Sunday morning

Vlad's feeling pretty good this morning, but still no appetite. He ate the yogurt and juice off the breakfast tray, even though he didn't want it.

Bill and I were with Vlad until he fell asleep last night. We watched poker most of the night. Vlad's WBC had fallen to 4.4 yesterday, which is not surprising, the nurses said, but I don't remember his WBC dropping this fast before. It was over 10 when he checked in. Yesterday platelets were 525 and hemoglobin 9.9.

He wasn't feeling real swell. He ate the Beck's hamburger we brought about 2 and some fries. If you've had a Beck's burger, you know that's a pretty ample meal, so I wasn't too worried when he wouldn't eat anything but the Jell-o from his dinner plate at 5:30, but nothing else. He didn't eat any of his hospital lunch.

His back pain returned on and off yesterday. They can give him two Vicodin every 4 hours, which they did. He looks puffy; has a perpetual "just woke up" look on his face. And his blood pressure remains on the low side, but nothing it's not serious.

It's a different ballgame every time he goes in.

Bill made white bread with our bread machine. He has the exact machine we have. Weird! We got some of that killer HEB chicken salad to make sandwiches. He also got some Sumatra coffee at Starbucks yesterday and made a pot this morning. It's wonderful.

Things have settled down

Vlad's BP is better today and last night, even though it had gone down to 80/40 yesterday. Actually, I took him a Quarter Pounder yesterday, predicting he would be hungry for something along those lines. An hour later, when they took his BP it was 125/80. We laughed about it being that junk food that raised his BP.

Anyway, Bill got in last night. We went to the hospital for a few hours and then came home. We started watching a Clint Eastwood movie, "Firefox," which was terrible! Alex stayed at Nick's last night.

I had to finish up some work this morning and now we're heading to the hospital. I'm sorry I sounded so bad earlier. But thanks to everyone who responded with calls and e-mails. You all are too kind.

Here's an e-mail joke I just got, enjoy:

Morris and his wife Esther went to the state fair every year, and
every year Morris would say, 'Esther,I'd like to ride in that
helicopter.'

Esther always replied, 'I know Morris, but that helicopter ride is
fifty dollars, and fifty dollars is fifty dollars'

One year Esther and Morris went to the fair, and Morris said, 'Esther,
I'm 85 years old. If I don't ride that helicopter, I might never get
another chance.'

To this, Esther replied, 'Morris that helicopter ride is fifty
dollars, and fifty dollars is fifty dollars.'

The pilot overheard the couple and said, 'Folks I'll make you a deal.
I'll take the both of you for a ride. If you can stay quiet for the
entire ride and don't say a word I won't charge you a penny! But if
you say one word it's fifty dollars.'

Morris and Esther agreed and up they went. The pilot did all kinds of
fancy maneuvers, but not a word was heard. He did his daredevil tricks
over and over again, but still not a word.

When they landed, the pilot turned to Morris and said, 'By golly, I
did everything I could to get you to yell out, but you didn't. I'm
impressed!'

Morris replied, 'Well, to tell you the truth, I almost said something
when Esther fell out, but you know, fifty dollars is fifty dollars!'

Blood pressure weirdness

This morning, Vlad's blood pressure was 90/56. They gave him something and now it's 100/60. He's had high blood pressure for the past couple of years, but doesn't take his meds while he's in the hospital at doc's request. So this has gotta be a chemo thing.

Last night he felt very strange about an hour after his chemo was through. Slight nausea and a clammy sweat on his head, shoulders and back. He hadn't had that before. Maybe his blood pressure fell? I stayed till well after 10 because I was concerned, but soon he fell asleep and was snoring like the old man I know, so I left him there, comfortable and at rest.

Conlon stuck his head in around 6 a.m. and declared Vlad "OK" and said his blood numbers were "great" then vanished. We don't know if he's been advised of the blood pressure. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but just worth watching closely.

Liliya called last night. Her grandson, Dylan, has been running a 105-degree fever. They were coming home from the hospital emergency room last night (2nd night in a row) after his fever finally came down to 100.

It's hard to understand in her not-so-good English, but I think he has something that's going around and possibly a virus because they told her there's nothing more they can do. And I know viruses have to run their course, pretty much. Scary.

Bill's coming tonight. I'm relieved. I need the company.

Back in the hospital

Vlad's back in. Alex took him this morning. Alex has been with Kelly all day and now he's at Nick's. I've been working from home. We launched the gardening calendar today. Had to scan in some disability paperwork. Lots today.

Vlad had his central line installed around his collarbone. Best they can do, apparently. Why not just stick it in his neck, or up his nose? That would be easiest for them, wouldn't it? Couldn't be any more painful for Vlad. He asked for pain killer, and once again, Conlon had not prescribed one ahead of time. You'd think this would be part of the check-in protocol for chemo patients. They had to wait for him to call back to give him a painkiller. Ridiculous.

We don't have any blood numbers yet. I'm heading to the hospital soon. But I've been sitting at this computer since 7:15 a.m. and I just have to take a nap first. A really bad day for both of us. I'm feeling very isolated.

Happy Mother's Day

Vlad is doing well, except for the anemia. Last week his white cells were normal for a healthy person, at 7.1 and the platelets were sky-high, which is a good sign.

He was way out of neutropenia so we were safe to go to Fort Worth to visit Mom & Suz & the girls for Mother's Day. My cousin Stevie received her master's degree from Dallas Theological Seminary on Saturday and we went by the reception to celebrate and to visit with her family, who Vlad and I don't get to see often. Her daughter Mary is with the State Department and will be going to Baghdad for visa duty. Her family is pretty much scared to death, but she says it's great for her career and is looking forward to the adventure.

Before that we stopped in Richardson to see my Dad's and grandparents' graves and leave flowers. Then we went to check out a new supermarket in my old Richardson neighborhood, Zituna World Market, that was advertised in the Russian newspaper, Our Texas. It turned out to be a smaller Phoenicia and though it was a nice place, it's not anything we need to drive out of our way for. In the same shopping center is the Euro Deli, a tiny store run by a Ukrainian guy. Reminds of of Grisha's place, Moscow, which closed a couple of weeks ago.

We had a nice time. On the way there we stopped at a roadside fruit stand in Fairfield. Run by Cooper Farms. We got some of their first peaches of the season, little clings, not overly wonderful, but they are fresh peaches. They also had red onions pulled from the ground that morning and killer strawberries. Much more. It was heaven. We stopped at Cole's there for a barbecue sandwich. It's some of the best barbecue I've ever had.

As it happened we stopped there on the way back as well. And Cooper's stand was still open at 5:30 on a Sunday, so we replenished what we dropped off in DFW. We hit 3 traffic backups on the way home and didn't get to our house until 9:30.

Anyway, we found out today Vlad will go back for Chemo #2 on Thursday morning. So we'll have more numbers to report then.

Thanks to all of you for your notes and calls and prayers!

Here are a couple of videos we shot of my sister's kids while we were there. Fun times.

Home again, home again

Vlad is home again, yay! He got out just before noon. We came home and had a big breakfast. Today's numbers are:

White cells: 1.6
Hemoglobin: 9.7
Platelets: 45,000

No more neutropenia, but the patient still has dizzy spells. And his mouth is going downhill again. We're hoping it will not be as bad this time.

Next appointment on Tuesday.

Happy Saturday from NBA title-less Houston

Rockets fell apart in Game 6 of their playoffs with the WWF, er Utah, last night. That's a photo of poor Yao shot last night in the uber-ugly fourth quarter by Nick de la Torre of the Houston Chronicle. I wish we were still in, you know: With Yao and Stevie and without Rafer's ankle injury last night. I think this disabled team played to its limits through adversity, but they just could not overcome the monster that was Utah. The Jazz are not only a physically aggressive bunch; they're smart and extremely talented. Watching them and the Lakers will be some fun.

But at the beginning of the Rockets season there was so much promise. Amazing team. And Bonzi was there, too. The painful trades made the team better. Then Yao was out. Then Stevie. And Rafer's ankle? Maybe he would have mended in time to get back in. But I don't think we could've gone all the way without Rafer.

Anyhoo, there are some numbers to report:

99.3 fever (eeuuuuuuwww)
1.3 white cells (yeah!)
29,000 platelets (yeah!)
8.5 hemoglobin (yeah!)
2.84 red BC (yeah!)

All is well but the fever. Conlon said this morning that Monday is the earliest he can go home.

I did some office work this morning. There's still so much more to do. I'm going to get coffee, maybe have a good cry, and put one foot in front of the other and get on with it.

We got good news yesterday. Vlad cleared the pre-existing condition hurdle with the short-term disability people. They're sending a check next week, retroactive for four weeks. That'll take the edge off any financial concerns. There's still some issues about how long they're covering us. We fully expect another "broomstick" event, and then probably another. Lucky for me, Vlad loves to argue with these people. If only I had a nickel for everytime I've heard him say, "I want to speak to your manager."

Blood numbers

This just in:

White BC: 700
Platelets: 27,000
Red BC: 2.6
Hemoglobin: 7.9

I don't know what it means post-fever crisis, but it kinda sounds like more normal neutropenia numbers, slouching toward nadir, if not nadir itself.

Morning report

Just talked with Vlad. His temp is 98.7 this morning. He woke up last night in a sweat. His T-shirt was wringing wet and Ruby disconnected his lines so he could change T-shirts.

Conlon came by at 6:30 a.m., but no numbers were (are) available from this morning's blood draw. Vlad told him since his temp was normal he was ready to go home. But Conlon's no fun. However he's on call this weekend, so Vlad plans to bug him about going home every single day.

Conlon said the dramatic platelet drop (from 15,000 to 4,000 in a couple of hours yesterday) isn't unusual for a neutropenic patient with a fever. Vlad also had red spots on one arm, like a rash, pop up about 11 a.m. yesterday. That was because of the platelet drop, Conlon said today.

Anyway, neutropenia sucks. In case you didn't know.

Platelets at last

Vlad finally started getting his platelet transfusion after 9 p.m. We started this journey about 12 hours earlier. Ruby is his night nurse; she is such a comfort. Found out tonight she's Filipino. Her husband is Thai and he speaks Thai, Tagalog and English. Their girls have learned to speak (but not to write) Thai. Ruby speaks Tagalog and perfect English. She and Vlad were comparing language stories; he was telling her about taking Alex to Odessa and his getting reaquainted with Russian.

Anyway, his fever went to 102 tonight. His platelets dived to 4,000, which is critical, Clementine said. She ordered the platelet transfusion herself. I don't know why Conlon didn't order it. Ruby said he never called after Susy, today's nurse, paged him on several questions. Oh well.

Vlad was very cranky tonight, but who can blame him. He feels like crap and he refused to get a glucose blood test because he couldn't stand being stuck any more today.

His fever finally started coming down. At about 101, Ruby gave him a bunch of Benadryl before the platelets, which should knock him out. As the platelets started flowing, I left about 9:30 p.m. All the gates were locked, save one tonight. I had to drive to the east side of the entire complex to get out. Maybe it's a new security deal.

Back in the pokey

Vlad was sentenced to another stay at MHSW when he showed up at Conlon's this morning with a 100.8 degree fever. He had gone in for a platelet transfusion but the fever changed the priorities. He finally got settled in around noon. The chemo is making his veins difficult to work with, so opening a line took the better part of an hour. In the end it took no less than 4 R.N.s to accomplish the task. He was in considerable pain off and on.

He's there probably through Sunday. He's in a different room: 1007. The number there is 713-778-7025. He also has his cell phone.

His numbers this morning: White cells 1.0, hemoglobin 9.3 and platelets 15,000. Now he's getting antibiotics through a drip. He's feeling "better," but it takes very little excitement for him to nosedive.

We had a mini-reunion with Clementine, LaVorne and Sarasu. Clementine was talking trash about the Rockets again. (Typical Lakers fan)

Anyway, came home for awhile to take a nap. Last night I pulled double duty and did today's work as well as yesterday's. So tomorrow I'll have to work all the more to get the weekend's work done. But it was nice not having to worry about work and the clock today.