Extremely Busy 2 Weeks ~

We have had such a busy time the past few weeks. First, let me apologize to everyone. I am so far behind reading everyone’s care pages / caringbridge sites; I hope everyone is doing ok. Michael and I have been praying for everyone even though we haven’t had the time to read and post.

Michael has been working every hard on trying to get things done before coming in for chemo. We’ve had family in from out of town for the kids’ graduation. We had a great time with the family. It made for a nice few weeks. We spent some time at the lake. Michael had a chance to go fishing. It has been a long time since he’s been fishing. He also had a great visit with his mom. Just wish she could have stayed longer. It was nice to have her here with Michael.

I also had my brother come in from out of town. I was glad he was able to make it down with his family. We did get to meet his girlfriend’s 16 year old daughter. She is 2 years cancer free. She was diagnosed with Burkitt's Lymphoma. She and Michael hit it off from the beginning. You could see that connection. I think it was great for Michael to communicate with someone who had to go through what he has too. Plus she is just a great kid. Still can’t wait to meet the girlfriend and her other two kids. If any one is in Kansas City are this weekend, please stop by the Hyvee in Mission, Kansas, located on Martway. They have their own Alex’s Lemonade Stand on June 5th and 6th.

On Monday, June 1st, Michael and I got to watch both our children walk across the stage and receive their diploma. We are extremely proud of both our son and daughter. Yes, mom did cry. I think I cried for several times. Our son took off this morning for his freshmen orientation already down at Stephen F. Austin University. They just grow up so fast.

Michael decided that since he is going to lose his hair again to chemo, he wanted to dye his hair lime green. So, the night before graduation, Michael bleached out his hair and then dyed it lime green. Yes, doesn’t he look lovely? He sure gets all the heads to turn.

To check out more photos of the kids and Michael go to Michael's carepages website at http://www.carepages.com/carepages/HOPESforMichael.

This morning, we meet his PA at the Jackson Building and Michael was admitted to begin his 5-day chemo treatments again, green hair and all. The nurses just loved it. They did a chest X-ray before accessing his port to make sure it was still ok. Last week, he was taking care of our pig and was leaning against the fence and it slid forward against his port, causing it to move some. He also has been having headaches since he bumped his port. His port does look good and in place. He finally had his port accessed and his pre-meds started around 4:00 this afternoon. His counts don’t look that great. His WBC is at 2.3 and his platelets are at 87. They did go ahead and begin his chemo. This is the first time he will be receiving the Etoposide. Right now he is receiving his Ifosfamide. He did receive that one before. So far he is doing ok with the treatment. He does have some nausea, but he is able to control it for now. He still has 2 more doses of Mesna tonight and still has his post-hydration to get.

His doctor did call us around 5:30 this evening. He is very concerned with his blood counts and the headaches. He said he will be in first thing in the morning so we can come up with a game plan. He did mention the possibility of doing a brain MRI again for the headaches and possibly doing another bone marrow test to see if they can figure out why his counts are staying low. Michael does NOT want to do that one unless they can knock him out. The first time he had one of those, he said he could not stand the pain and he said he will tell the doctor no.

Ever since his last chemo back in January, his counts haven’t climbed back up to where the doctor would like them to be. They have been staying around 2.5K. Hopefully we will have better answers in the morning.

Michael and I are working on coming up with some fundraising ideas. As soon as we get somewhere with those ideas, we will let everyone know.

We ask everyone to continue to pray for everyone suffering from this dreaded disease and other cancers.