 | 12/1 - We received the call from TCH
this evening just after 10pm. Jeri and I are headed to the medical
center. It's taken a while but we're ready to go. This is the
regimen than has been showing promise so it's been anxious days to get going
again and maintain momentum. I'm spending this evening and Virginia
will come down tomorrow. |
| 12/2 - The chemo got started today. The first
drug was Etoposide (VP16). It
has to be closely monitored so the drug wasn't administered until later this
morning and was followed by Mesna. Jeri seems to handle it better than
some of the previous treatments. Virginia came later during the day
and brought a late lunch from Beck's
Prime, a local Houston hamburger place. I called after I go home
this evening and she had held it down. That's a good sign.
Virginia is taking the night shift. Oh yeah, right after I left, some
of Santa's helpers were walking the halls and delivering bags of Christmas
gifts to the kids in the hospital, Jeri included. |
| 12/3 - (Virg update) Jeri sent me out for supper
last night from the Epicure French Bakery and Tea
Room. She enjoyed
her grilled salmon with Caesar salad so much that she sent me back for a
repeat for lunch today. She is feeling good enough that she hopped
into the chair and we wheeled down the hall for a visit with a young lady
that she met in clinic. Both girls discussed how much they disliked
being in the hospital and compared notes. Then Jeri got to walk up and
down the hall on her crutches as part of her PT (physical therapy) evaluation. She will
be tired tonight. Sleep was a little sketchy last night as it was
"wax the floor from midnight until 6AM night." Not only are
the machines that do the waxing very loud but the crew operating them had to
shout their conversations over them. I must admit to a little middle
of the night testiness. |
| 12/4 - (Randi Update) Jeri had her ankle and
chest x-rays today...both are fine. She had Fuddruckers for lunch and
for supper. She enjoyed it so much for lunch, she wanted it again for
supper. Jeri visited with her 17 year old friend, Kristina
tonight. She's just down the hall. Kristina also has bone
cancer. Other than that everything's fine. |
| 12/6 - (Virg Update) Jeri got out of the hospital
at 11 this morning. (With thanks to the doc's who made it possible and
extra special thanks to Angel, Jeri's nurse, who kept everything moving and
facilitated our exit.) She spent the afternoon resting and getting all
dolled up for the Lombardi
Award banquet tonight. She had to be at the
Feigin Center in the medical center by 5 to catch the limo to the
banquet. There were ten cancer patients from TCH
that went together in
the limo. Jeri had a great time but she is really tired now. The
limo returned them to the Feigin Center at 10:30 and we were home by
11:15. Now we have stay up long enough to give Jeri her G-CSF
injection and flush her central line. Then we will both crash and
burn. When Brit, our official computer technical advisor returns this
weekend, he will download some of the banquet pictures for everyone to
enjoy. Typing the update is about the outer limits of my computer
proficiency. (click here to see the
picture.) |
| 12/7 - Jeri has taken it very easy today as she is
really tired. Her banquet meal from last night didn't stay down but
she has had no trouble with that today. She will have her first
post-chemo physical therapy tomorrow and that is always tough. |
| 12/8 - Not much going on today for Jeri. She got
lots of rest and relaxation except for physical therapy which she really did quite well at
(considering she just got out of the hospital). Tomorrow Brit returns. |
| 12/9 - Jeri made cookie dough for molasses Christmas
cookies. That's about the agenda for the day. I'm back in town
so I've updated the hyperlinks for the previous updates. I've also
scanned the picture from Jeri's trip to the Lombardi
Award banquet. It's in the Photo Album
now. |
| 12/10 - This was a day to sleep late. Jeri still
tires easily. The good news is that she's eating reasonably well (for
Jeri) and it's all staying down. That's a pretty good accomplishment
this soon after chemo. The main activity for today was a bit of
studying for school tests yet to come. I think she's ready for the
semester to end just as much as Randi. |
| 12/11 - Jeri is beginning to recover from the
chemo...she spent more time up on her crutches today and less time in her
wheelchair. She had school today with big test in both geometry and
biology. Jeri thought that she did well on both. Tonight,
Randi, Jeri and I made Christmas cookies. Now the hard part will be
making them last until Christmas! |
| 12/12 - Today was another long clinic day. We
had a 9am appt. and were excited when the blood was drawn quickly, the exam
followed immediately afterward, and even the lab cooperated by having the
counts back quickly. If Jeri's counts would have been higher we would
have set a new record by getting in and out of the clinic in under an
hour. Alas, it was not to be! Jeri's counts were all low but the
doc decided that the hemoglobin count was the immediate concern. That
meant that Jeri had to get a transfusion. Since it takes a while to
get the blood from the blood bank, Jeri and I (Virg) went out to
breakfast at our old favorite, The Buffalo
Grille (great cinnamon coffee),
and then did a little Christmas shopping at the Galleria. About noon,
we got the word that the blood had arrived and we headed back to the
clinic. Just to show that it is truly a small world, we saw Jeri's
friend, Kristina, and her mom and dad at the Galleria. What are the
odds? Jeri got two bags of blood and we headed home at 5:10pm.
Gotta love that rush hour!
|
Category (see
link for definitions)
|
Normal |
Adequate / Acceptable |
Jeri |
| Hemoglobin |
12 |
8 |
7.3 |
| Platelets |
250,000 |
100,000 |
19,000 |
| White Cells |
4, 000 - 10,000 |
4,000 |
400 |
| ANC (Absolute Neutrophil
Count) |
1,500-5,000 |
1,000 |
20 |
|
| 12/13 - Today was both a school day and a PT
day. Jeri received her grades for the first semester and they were all
A's. She finished up all of her schooling until after the
holidays. PT just keeps going on though. Today's exercises were
very difficult for Jeri but she made it through them all. For the
first time in several months, she was able to completely straighten out her
left leg. Out of such steps is progress made! |
| 12/14 - Jeri relished having no clinic, no school and
no PT today. She slept late (typical teenager), took life easy and
then finished off the day with some Christmas shopping. (while pointing out
things to her mom that would make excellent Jeri gifts.) It is 11pm
and she is still up watching TV. I guess she will just sleep late
again tomorrow. Our home health nurse, Patty, will be coming at 8 in
the morning to draw blood for the counts. We hope that the platelet
count is sufficient so that we don't have to travel down to the clinic for a
transfusion. |
| 12/15 - No trip to the clinic for a transfusion
today. Jeri's blood counts are still low but she managed to squeak
through on the platelets today (minimum requirement = 20,000). Tuesday's transfusion must still be
helping. That left PT (physical therapy) as the other event of the
day. Here are the counts. Note that the white count is artificially
inflated due to the G-CSF
shots.
|
Category (see
link for definitions)
|
Normal |
Adequate / Acceptable |
Jeri |
| Hemoglobin |
12 |
8 |
10.2— |
| Platelets |
250,000 |
100,000 |
20,000— |
| White Cells |
4, 000 - 10,000 |
4,000 |
12,700— |
| ANC (Absolute Neutrophil
Count) |
1,500-5,000 |
1,000 |
not given |
|
| 12/16 - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at
our house. Brit, Randi and Virg picked out the Christmas tree today,
got it set up at the house and while Randi decked the stairways with
garlands and lights, Brit watched football, and Virg and Jeri decorated the
tree. Tonight, Randi and Jeri went to see the Applause production of
"A Christmas Carol". Just a nice normal December day! |
| 12/17 - Jeri just slept late this morning, took life
easy and then had a nice visit with one of her friends. She is getting
around really easily on her crutches now and even showed me that she can
take a few steps with no crutches. She will be getting lots of
"reminders" (nags according to Jeri) to practice with her cane
this week. |
| 12/18 - Today, Jeri, Randi, Chris (Randi's boyfriend)
and Maggie (Chris's sister) went shopping at the Galleria. They had a
great time shopping and going out to lunch. Now, Jeri's chief job
(according to her) is to figure out what is in those packages under the
tree. Tomorrow is another clinic day. We are keeping our fingers
crossed that there will be more shopping time and less time at clinic.
Hope those counts cooperate. |
| 12/19 - Our wish came true. Our appointment time
for clinic this morning was 8:30. Due to the absence of traffic, we
were there 30 minutes early (what a strange start to the day!) We were
finished at clinic by 9:10...our fastest trip ever through clinic!
Merry Christmas to Jeri (and her mom). Since we always plan on
spending the entire day at clinic, we were given the gift of a "free"
day.
Jeri and I celebrated by going to the Houston Zoo and checking out all of
the animals including the new baby koala. Jeri liked the
orangutan. After we got home, we went to the movies with Charlie,
Brit's dad, who just arrived from the panhandle today. We got to see
"What Women Want". Cute movie! What a fun day but Jeri
is really really tired now. Her counts are:
|
Category (see
link for definitions)
|
Normal |
Adequate / Acceptable |
Jeri |
| Hemoglobin |
12 |
8 |
11.1— |
| Platelets |
250,000 |
100,000 |
42,000— |
| White Cells |
4, 000 - 10,000 |
4,000 |
27,800— |
| ANC (Absolute Neutrophil
Count) |
1,500-5,000 |
1,000 |
not given |
|
| 12/20 - Jeri has taken it real easy today
(other than a trip to Physical Therapy, that is). She is really pooped
after all of the fun yesterday. We are looking forward to Brit's
homecoming tonight. |
| 12/21 - Jeri was still a bit tired today.
Probably a combination of low blood counts and physical therapy from
yesterday. That didn't keep her from being nagged a bit to do some
exercises today. |
| 12/22 - The official physical therapy (PT) session was
today. Jeri did well once again. She should work so hard at home
but that's a parent talking. We all continued a Christmas tradition
and watched Christmas Vacation
this evening. It was disgusting as usual but we all enjoyed being
reminded that our family gatherings can never quite compare to the Griwald's. |
| 12/23 - The weekend has arrived and it brings lazy
days. Jeri didn't get much done today until late in the
afternoon. She went to a movie with one of her friends. Didn't
get her to do much in the way of physical therapy today. Of course,
the truth be known, I didn't try too hard either. I'll have to become
more of a nag tomorrow. We had Christmas Carolers outside our front
door early in the evening. |
| 12/24 - It rained all day today. That made for a
lazy day around the house. |
| 12/25 - MERRY
CHRISTMAS |
| 12/26 - Things started getting back to normal
today. Virginia took Jeri to the clinic for the regular blood
counts. There wasn't much traffic. Things also went quickly at
the clinic. Jeri's blood counts are improving even though the white
counts and ANC are trending downward. That's because she's
discontinued the G-CSF
shots. She may be ready for the next chemotherapy next week. In
the meantime, Virg and Jeri had time to do a bit of retail therapy at the Galleria.
Jeri did a bit of shopping with some of her Christmas spoils. Here are
the counts:
|
Category (see
link for definitions)
|
Normal |
Adequate / Acceptable |
Jeri |
| Hemoglobin |
12 |
8 |
9.3ò |
| Platelets |
250,000 |
100,000 |
73,000ñ |
| White Cells |
4, 000 - 10,000 |
4,000 |
1,500ò |
| ANC (Absolute Neutrophil
Count) |
1,500-5,000 |
1,000 |
570ò |
|
| 12/27 - The routine continued today. Jeri
had physical therapy this morning. She's increased her
repetitions. I keep telling her that I sure would like to catch her
doing some of the exercises at home. She insists that she's doing them
up in her room. We'll see. Sounds like a teenager to me. |
| 12/29 - No update yesterday. My age is
showing. I thought I did it....... No official physical therapy
today. The clinic called and said that they sent the person home that
helps Jeri. She was sick. That's good. Jeri doesn't need
to be around anyone that might have a cold or flu. We substituted home
based physical therapy. Jeri complained but did everything she was
supposed to do. I may have to increase my nagging level and she can do
even more! |
| 12/30 - Seems a bit like the dog days of summer in a
lot of ways. Not much going on around the house. Jeri is reading
a few books, listening to music and doing her exercises. I've even
gotten her to watch a bit of football this week. I forgot to mention
yesterday that Jeri moved the last of her things from downstairs back up to
her room. She had a small storage cabinet on wheels that stored her
makeup, craft supplies and other things that she wanted to keep handy.
She's getting up and down the stairs pretty easily these days even though
she still uses her crutches. She's also starting to spend more time
upstairs listening to music in her room, reading and using the
computer. She's always had an independent streak and needed
space. It's nice to see that she's getting back to the routine.
Now if she can just handle this other stuff.............. |
| 12/31 - Jeri continued reading books and doing some
exercise along the way. She's also gotten into The
Sims computer game over the last month or so, so she played that as
well. We had a few fireworks early in the evening but the rain started
again and that came to an early end. Evidently, that was not the case
for everyone in our neighborhood because I can still hear things exploding
every once and a while. We all stayed up until midnight and celebrated
the arrival of the new year. Tomorrow (New Year's Day) will be the
last day of rest before Jeri's next trip to the clinic to check her blood
counts. She's at the point now where she will be admitted for the next
chemo just as soon as her blood counts permit. |
