Holy Saturday

What a joy to wake up and see the clarity on Bill's face.  The chemo fog has finally lifted!! 

Still waiting for the plumber...............  I know he will show up eventually since I have not paid him yet!

What a joy too to have such wonderful neighbors.  Georgia and Wayne have an Easter get together every year for the neighborhood.  Molly and I walked down to for a quick hello and thank all our neighbors for their continued prayers.  All of our neighbors are amazing, each and everyone have asked  "How can we help? What can we do?".  I wish I could adequately express how appreciative we are for taking care of Maxwell, the help with the yard, coming over and praying with us, and just knowing they are there to call for anything!    How very  blessed we are!  

Molly is off to training for work this summer, meeting friends for lunch, Starbucks to finish her paper( too many distractions at home), then home to dye Easter eggs with her dad!  Nice no matter how old she is traditions are sacred!

Monday Bill goes in to begin his stem cell harvesting process.  I will update sometime on Monday!


Thank you ALL for all the prayers and support! Wishing everyone a very Blessed Easter!

Good Friday

Trying to focus on what TODAY is really all about!  Bill had his blood checked today.  After 2 units of platelets yesterday he now has 34,000.  Not quite enough to start harvesting but we will see what Monday brings.  They need to be at least 40,000.  His white count is still .7 and undetectable neutrofils so.........  still no defense system.  Translation is housebound.  Hoping effects of chemo will begin to wear off and his body will start making some blood cells!

Plumber is coming back today to hydro flush our pipes.  Keeping our fingers crossed this does the trick and we have no more back ups! 

On a happy note.....  went to the grocery store with Molly last night.  How much fun it is to hang out with her!  Can't wait for her to be home in the summer for 3 whole months.  Not that we will get to see her much but just knowing she is in town always brightens our day!   She has really appreciated the opportunity to take her dad for blood tests and transfusions!  I have really appreciated having her back in the kitchen,  delicious blueberry coffee cake!

Roller Coaster 2

Well no transfusion!  They didn't order irradiated platelets. I thought both the docs were communicating but I guess not completely!   I asked what they were giving him before they started and when they didn't say irradiated I said stop.  I called the transplant coordinator and she said they should be to be on the safe side.  So tonight we are careful....... no falling or bleeding and tomorrow they will tank him up.  

Please dear Lord let this be the bottom of the dip!

Roller Coaster

Well..............there is a reason this is called a roller coaster!!!    Yesterday was such an up day but today...... As I am sitting in the computer room this morning waiting for the washer to finish  I heard our toilets gurgling!  That means only one thing!  I run to the mud room only to see sewage coming up the drain!  Now normally this is just a royal pain to get someone to come out and rod our main drain.  But Bill has no immune system so the thought of bacteria in the house was enough to set me in a tail spin! I jumped into action, we stopped the washer and I grabbed the bleach!   Long story short I have someone coming out tomorrow to take care of it so we are just rationing our waste water today!

Next the trip to get Bill's blood checked was not unexpected but....  White Blood .7( meaning no defense system)  Red was still decent but platelets were only 11 thousand.  Normal is between 145 and 400 thousand.  So they ordered platelets and we will go back to the infusion center at 5 today!

I hope this is the bottom of the dip and we are on our way back up!  Molly is on the road coming home so that for sure makes a brighter day!  I haven't told her yet she can't take a shower! 

A Day of Surprises

I got up this morning and to my surprise found Bill already up and reading the news on the computer!  He has ALWAYS been the early riser in our family until recently.  I had a moment when I felt like this has all been just a bad dream!  Today was the first day he has felt good enough for me to give him some alone time.  I was able to get into my office and begin some much needed catch up work!

Upon arriving at my office the next wonderful surprise was one of my dear coworkers brought me home made soup and chili!  I call her one of my angels because when I least expect it there is a meal to bring home!  We have been so blessed with the staff I work with.  When this journey first began each of our clinics provided us meals for a week.  With 12 departments we were set for 12 weeks!  How wonderful it is to be surrounded by goodness!

So then I arrive home and a box was delivered today!  Bill's nieces put together a care package full of the most thoughtful surprises!  Not only surprises for him but for me too!!!!  Complete with bubbles and both of our favorite candies!  Wow Wow Wow!!!

It is so amazing how SURPRISES no matter how big or small have a way of brightening up your day and can't help but put a smile on your face!

Thank you to all of our surprise angels!

A Good Day on the Journey

Just returned home from Dr. Menini's office ( our local oncologist).  Hemoglobin is stable and platelets were down to 26 so we are putting off transfusion.  We will recheck first thing Wednesday morning and anticipate needing the transfusion then. 

The latest  biopsy results were very encouraging!!!!!!!  The first round of chemo knocked out a significant amount of the cancer.  We are even more encouraged, now more than ever, that the transplant will be able to put Bill into remission!

Thank you everyone for those continued prayers.  There is no doubt God is hearing us and choosing to answer!

The only food that Bill has wanted to eat for the past few days was noodles with chicken broth!  I was so excited when he said how about a steak tonight!  Not sure if he said that because he really wants it or he is worried about me getting tired of fixing  the same thing!!!

The trip outside to the doctor totally wore him out so he is napping.  I know he is looking forward to watching the NCAA finals tonight so I hope the nap will do the trick!

Not much to Talk About

Today has been a day of "From the bed to the couch  from the couch to the bed"...  His appetite appears to be coming back a bit.    I did see one BIG smile today when Molly was texting him.  She can ALWAYS bring a smile to his face!!!

Tomorrow we will visit our local oncologist and get the result of the bone marrow biopsy that was recently done.  It will tell us how much the first round of this 24/7 chemo cleared out the cancer!  The more they can get rid of the cleaner his stem cells will be when they harvest them of the 9th!!!!!

They will also check his counts on his red blood and platelets to see if he needs a transfusion yet and his white blood to see how much his defense system is compromised at this point!

Will let you know tomorrow how everything is looking!!!!