Special Thanks at Thanksgiving

During this holiday season, we are truly blessed with SO many thoughtful people in our lives. Words can not begin to express our gratitude, but Michael and I want to begin with a special “THANK YOU” to all our friends, family, co-workers, and those we don’t know personally. Many of you have helped us in so many different ways over the last few months where a “thank you” isn’t enough. Please know you will always have a special place in our hearts.

Please continue to keep Michael, the kids, and I in your thoughts and prayers. We still have an extremely long road ahead. But with faith, love and laughter, we know will make it through this.

Please feel free to email us. He might not ever tell you, but he loves to hear from you. We hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving.

Back to see the Doctor – Next Treatment Scheduled

Monday we went back for his blood work and to visit with the doctor on his next treatment date. His counts actually are looking real good. His white blood count was 12.3K, much higher than his counts have been through all his tests. The doctors decided to have him come back on Monday December 1st to begin “Chemo Cycle 3”. This will be at 3 weeks again and allow the doctors to see what his counts are again on the 3rd day. If they begin to get low again, they will stop the treatment. With the holidays coming, the doctor has already scheduled “Chemo Cycle 4” to be 4 weeks out.

Week after Chemo

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Michael was extremely exhausted and didn’t really do anything. By Monday he started to try to get around. He is only able to do very little at a time or he gets real tired. We are still very concerned with his white blood counts.

By Friday morning, he started with the pain in his hips, ribs, and back. He did call the doctor. They do feel that this is a symptom from the Neulasta shot. Generally this side effect will be 3 – 4 days after the shot, but the doctor thinks since he stays in bed for the first few days when we get home that it will occur with Michael between the 7th and 8th day. These only lasted for a few days. By Sunday, he was feeling pretty good.

New Website

I have been working on a new website by Caringbridge.org. Please stop by and check it out. For now, I will update both sites with updates on Michael until I decide which one to use. Please let us know what you think.
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/hopesformichael

Chemotherapy Cycle 2

Michael went back into the hospital on November 10th for his second chemotherapy cycle. His cycle is suppose to consist of day 1, all three chemotherapy meds; days 2 & 3, only 2 chemotherapy meds; and day 4 only 1 of the chemotherapy meds.

Monday-Day 1:
Michael was his good ole’ self with the nurses, joking with them. He had his labs drawn. We met with the oncologist. Around 11:30am, they started him on his pre-meds. Around 2:00pm they started his chemotherapy meds. He received all three chemotherapy meds today. He finally finished up around 10:00 pm. He actually had a pretty good day, no nausea, or any of the other major side effects.

Tuesday-Day 2:
Michael was still feeling pretty good. He was still joking with nurses. Michael received his pre-meds and started his chemo. He only received the two chemo meds again today. He finally finished up around 9:00 pm. No nausea, but the fatigue did begin to set in some in the evening.

Wednesday-Day 3:
Today was pretty much the same as days before. Michael received his pre-meds and started his chemo again mid-afternoon, getting only two of the chemo meds finishing up around 8:00 pm. Still no real nausea, but his fatigue is increasing.

Thursday-Day 4:
Things looked good for Michael until this morning. His blood work on Monday and Tuesday looked good, but when they did his blood work this morning, his white blood count was already down to 1.9K (his normal is 7K and the normal range is 5K -10K). At 1.5K he would be neutropenic (risk of infection) and at 1K they would have to isolate him. Being at 1.9K is way to low at this point in this cycle.

They stopped his chemo treatment, went ahead and gave him his shot of Neulasta (to help stimulate growth of the white blood cells) and sent us home. We have to start him on an antibiotic on Monday for 7 days. They said hopefully (in his own environment) his counts won't drop too much; however at 10 - 14 days of the cycle is when they will the lowest. The last cycle his low point was 1.5K at 14 days.

The doctor said that he probably isn’t capable of taking the treatment at this rate. The oncologist is now going to change his cycles to be every 4 weeks instead of every 3. He also is discussing the possibility of changing his dosage on his next treatment. Not sure if he is going to decrease and of the dosage, change any of the meds, or change the duration of the dosages. We will know more next time we go in for his follow up. Even though we have him home, we do have to keep him monitored through the weekend. Once I got him home, you can see the fatigue that has set in again. He is extremely tired.

Senior Night / Parent’s Night

Last night turned out very nice. They had the senior presentation before the game started. They honored all the seniors in football, band, cheerleading and drill team. I escorted our son Michael, and Michael escorted our daughter Rebbecca. We all had a great time.

During the 4th quarter, all the senior band members played together on the track. They sounded great and had fun.

Of course the football team won the game and are once again district 12-3A champions. Now the play-offs start. We will just have to see how far they make it this year. The band will continue to perform at the games through play-offs.

Oncologist Appointment / Next Chemo Cycle Date Set

We went to his oncology appointment today. His blood counts are back up and they look good. He told the doctor he is feeling pretty good right now. He is making sure that he doesn’t “over do” anything. Michael’s 3-weeks to put him back in the hospital for his 2nd chemotherapy cycle would be this coming Thursday. But Michael asked the doctor if we could change but just a few days.

This Friday is the kids’ last football game / parent’s night / senior night. This is the last home game where the school will honor all the seniors that are in football, cheerleading, drill team, volleyball, band, and color guard. Their parents get to escort them on to the field for the presentation. Michael could not miss the chance to be there. So with us having 2 seniors, he will escort Rebbecca and I will escort Michael. Hopefully we get some good pictures out of it. Plus I know the kids are excited that he will be able to go and be part of this.

We had already decided that if we couldn’t change his treatment, we were going to sneak him out of the hospital and to the game. But the doctor understood and decided that he will go in on Monday November 10th for his 2nd chemotherapy cycle. This will work out better. If we stayed on “going in on a Thursday” it would have put him going in on Thanksgiving for his 3rd cycle. So I get to have him home and feeling pretty good to eat a big Turkey dinner.

The doctor did say that he and the radiation oncologist did discuss in detail Michael’s treatment plan and decided we would stay on the plan we are on for now (6 chemotherapy cycles, radiation, then possibly another 6 chemotherapy cycles).

Thanks to those that have sent well wishes, thoughts, and prayers. We really appreciate all of them. Please keep them coming. I know he would love to hear from any of ya. Call him, email him, or chat with him when you get a chance. Even if you are in the area, stop by... I am sure he would love to see someone other than me.

Hair Loss

We were told that he would begin to lose his hair about 10 – 14 days after his chemotherapy treatment. They did say that he would lose hair in various places. Wednesday some of his hair began to fall out. He noticed it falling out of his beard / mustache as well. He has always had a military cut, but by Saturday evening, his hair had “thinned” out pretty good so we trimmed it down shorter than normal. He decided not to shave it all off until we had too.

It is still a big shock for him to lose his hair even though he always wore it so short.