Harmonic Convergence

Every type of cancer has a different treatment schedule. It is very unusual to have treatment every day as Tim does. The nurses tell us that some days are very slow with very few patients. Then there are days like today when all the treatment schedules come together as a sort of grand harmonic convergence. Labs take forever, pharmacy takes forever and there aren't enough treatment rooms to go around. Tim is in a double room with another patient and I have been relegated to the most uncomfortable chair. So I have sought refuge in the lounge of the Women's Hospital.

Whew. This is the second time that I have typed all that. I enjoy posting from my phone, but it has it's drawbacks. Two finger typing on a touch screen is not the fastest way to type anything of any length. I also ran afoul of another "feature" of my phone. If you hold down the backspace key, it deletes your entire message. I was trying to back up several letters to correct a mistake and accidentally held the key a little too long. However, as I have plenty of time on my hands at the moment, retyping has killed a good twenty minutes.

We're supposed to get another three inches of snow tonight. I actually had to shovel the roof this morning. From the ground with a roof rake, so don't go thinking that I was climbing around on the roof. Just wading through a foot of snow with a thirty foot long rake, which was bad enough.

Hello, Goodbye

Today we said goodbye to Steven, who's been here for the past week. Many, many thanks to Steven for coming to help out. Many, many thanks to his family for letting him make his third trip to Chicago in as many months. Couldn't have done Christmas without you, Steve. Let me know what beer to buy to have on hand for your next trip.

We also said hello to Julie, Tim's stem-cell donor and sister. Julie will be here for almost two weeks. She has a whirlwind tour of the medical establishment scheduled for Tuesday, followed by a weekend of shots to encourage stem cell production, followed by harvesting next week on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The snow accumulation total was twelve inches. That's enough for awhile. We are looking forward to a high in the single digits later this week. Really missing our winter visit to Mom and Dad in sunny Florida. Maybe next year.

Why Tim hates methotrexate.

Today is one of those days that reinforces Tim's dislike of methotrexate. We did all the premeds exactly the same as last week. Only last week went well and today didn't. Luckily, things haven't been as bad as they could be. Tim's been sick a couple times, but he's resting now. I hope that if he gets a good nap, we'll be able to get home without too much trouble. His nurse agrees with my assessment, so now we wait. Posting from the hospital seemed a good way to pass the time.

Test Results

We got the results of Tim's latest bone biopsy the other day. Although he no longer has leukemia cells in his circulating blood and they aren't visible under the microscope in the bone marrow, there are still leukemia cells present. So Tim hasn't achieved remission yet. Likewise, his spinal fluid is still testing positive not for leukemia cells but for other cells that indicate leukemia is still present. We have spoken to Dr. Tallman, the Northwestern Memorial doctor, about these results. He said that it is not uncommon for more than one course of arsenic to be needed to achieve remission. So he is not planning on changing Tim's treatment. He is also pleased to see that the spinal fluid numbers are improving. However, Dr. Grinblatt, Tim's oncologist in Evanston, wants Tim to return to weekly methotrexate injections. So, not good news, but not bad news.

More fluffy snow today.

Guess What, It's Snowing!

Tim and I went to see the opthamalogist yesterday evening. He told us that Tim's cornea transplant was in good shape, just very dry. So he's adjusted Tim's medication schedule to help with that. What a relief!

Steve took Tim to the hospital today. So I had a normal afternoon at home with the boys. Brendan got to have a friend over. Theo got sole control of the HDTV upstairs. I got to do the laundry, make dinner and pay bills.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. Tim has chemo in Evanston in the morning and an appointment downtown in the late afternoon. Steve and the boys are going out for pizza, since Tim and I could be very late getting home. We've already talked to the chemo nurse about getting some extra anti-nausea medication to help with the drive. Hopefully, by that late in the afternoon, Northwestern will be all caught up and we won't have to wait too long. We won't hold our breath.

Oh, yeah, and there's very pretty, white, fluffy snow falling.

The Calm Before the Storm

When someone in your family has cancer, you have to enjoy the (relatively) good days, because bad days are sure to follow. We have been enjoying a good couple of days. Other than being extremely fatigued, Tim has felt a little more like his old self lately. He even hooked up his computer and downloaded his email. He is trying to get his gmail account to send mail directly to his phone, rather than getting lost in the mass of work email. Once he gets this working, I will let you know.

Brendan taught Tim and I to play rock band last night. I'd like to boast a bit and say that I was better at drums than Tim was. Tim will tell you that it's the chemo brain. I also think that actually having training on drums is a disadvantage. You have to connect the eye and hand and disconnect the ear, in my opinion. Since Tim's eyesight has been negatively affected by the chemo, this really doesn't help.

Theo got his very own phone for New Year's. So he's joined the texting generation. He's also started going out with his friends to the mall and to movies. I guess we should get used to living with a teenager in our house. He's even started to sleep like a teenage boy. I think I made him get out of bed at 10am the other day.

Tomorrow we start the consolidation round of arsenic. We are seeing fewer leukemia cells in his blood, so we hope that things are working. His platelet count is up, which is good. His hemoglobin count is low, hence the fatigue, but it is stable. Unfortunately, his white count is very low and the doctor doesn't know why. So Tim has to stay away from people, fresh fruit and flowers.

Tim's siblings (and aunt) have graciously volunteered to come out for a week or two at a time to provide us with help through the beginning of February. I am very grateful for the assistance. Knowing that there's someone at home for the boys no matter how long the hospital takes is a great stress reliever for me.

We will continue to enjoy this respite for however long it lasts. Hopefully, whenever the low comes, it won't be too bad. Tim is worried about the cornea transplant he had last summer. He said that the vision in that eye is quite bad. So we will be contacting the opthamalogist tomorrow. That is our biggest cloud at the moment. That and knowing that twenty five days of arsenic and two weeks of ATRA start again tomorrow. Soldiering on...

Happy New Year

Well, I can't say as it's been a happy new year so far. Hopefully, we will end better than we begin. We've been having a break from chemo and visits to the hospital. Tim has been feeling very run down. His hemoglobin count is very low, which accounts for a lot of that. His white blood cell count is also low, so we're hoping he doesn't catch the cold that's been running around the house. Tomorrow Tim has a methotrexate injection and a bone marrow biopsy. Next week we start arsenic again.

Thanks to my folks, who've been here the last two weeks. They've had enough winter and they're heading south again. Tim's brother Steven arrives Sunday for a week's stay.