 | 2/1 - We're now coming to the month that will represent
the one year anniversary of this journey called "Jeri's Unplanned
Adventure." Much has happened but so much more to go. The
month started out slowly. Jeri spent the day studying. She's
been dedicated to keeping her schoolwork complete to her standards.
She's also said that we can tell about her wish from the Make-A-Wish
Foundation. She's asked to go to Los Angeles to meet the cast and
make a cameo appearance on her favorite TV show, 7th
Heaven. They said they would try but they best they may be able to
offer is to attend the taping and meet the cast. They've called back
and said that it should work out and are working on a time to do it this
month. It should be an interesting trip. We should be getting
confirmation of a date in the near future. Then it will be time to
face the reality of answering the question, "What's next?" |
| 2/2 - Jeri had school today. It was followed by
physical therapy. She enjoyed both even though the physical therapy
was a bit more difficult than usual. Her left ankle is a bit sore from
all the work with the cane. |
| 2/3 - Today was girl's day out to lunch at McCormick
& Schmick's. I'm afraid there might have been some light
retail therapy mixed in. Fortunately, I haven't seen much
evidence. It doesn't take a large sack to make a dent in the life
savings when shopping around the Galleria area. |
| 2/4 - Jeri had an easy day today. She spent a
little bit of time on schoolwork but nothing serious. She's convinced
her teachers to let her have another day at school tomorrow. It also
shows how much she wants to regain her normal life. She said that
she's got about a month before she has to worry about more medical
procedures and she would appreciate if everyone would refrain from talking
to her about medical things. I think she deserves a month of trying to
be as normal a 14 year old as possible. Of course, as her Dad, it's ok
if I worry about what happens at the end of that month. |
| 2/5 - School was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for
Jeri. She wants to get back to a normal life as bad as anyone
could. School was an island of normalcy in the midst of this terrible
storm. She saw her friends, participated in classroom discussions and
talked Randi into taking her to get a snack after school. Sometimes
it's nice having an older sister that drives. She was exhausted this
evening. I caught her napping in a chair while the TV played a special
on the 1980 USA Olympic hockey team. The hockey was my clue that
something was amiss. I might be able to catch Jeri sneaking a peak at
a football game as I develop her appreciation for the finer points of the
game, but hockey.....I don't think so. |
| 2/6 - Jeri and Virginia made today a shopping and movie
day. I'm not sure what they were shopping for but I'm glad to say that
it was mostly shopping with very little buying. |
| 2/7 - Today was a pretty quiet day for Jeri but we did
take a small retail trip to the mall for some new makeup colors. Jeri
struck her modeling pose tonight as she showed off her "evening
look". I guess we never get too old for dress-up. |
| 2/8 - Jeri got to sleep until noon today...something
that she really enjoys doing. She is definitely a night owl like her
dad and most definitely not a morning person like her mom. She did
manage to escape the house long enough to get a pedicure this
afternoon. Now if I can just get her to clean up her room.... |
| 2/9 - Jeri didn't feel very good today. Allergies
seem to be attacking her. Her worrywart mother took her temp and did
several "passes on the forehead" but so far, so good. Now
she has instructions to go to bed early (HO<HO!) It is parent
bragging time again. Both of the girls received their grades for this
term and we are very proud. Jeri has straight A's and Randi has all
A's except for one B in Advanced Placement English. Jeri is chomping
at the bit to go back to school. She misses all the classroom
camaraderie. Randi is enjoying her senior year while continuing to
work very, very hard. Brit comes home from Anchorage tomorrow and we
are looking forward to it. It is always too quiet around here when he
is gone. |
| 2/10 - It's the weekend. I suppose that means
more retail therapy. One of Jeri's friend's mom treated her daughter
and Jeri to "Build-a-Bear's" at the Galleria.
The girls all had fun putting their bears together. Virginia treated
all to lunch at King
Fish Market. They reported that there was no lunch menu on the
weekend and the portions were too big. They didn't seem to mind that
much. Randi and Jeri went to our local mall this afternoon. Jeri
used her crutches for both expeditions. That means her leg is getting
stronger. She was tired by this evening. |
| 2/11 - Jeri continued her
mode of taking it easy during the weekend. She accompanied her mom on
some errands but other than that, it was a stay at home day. I added a
hyperlink to Build-a-Bear
in response to a couple of emails asking about it. My apologies.
I didn't think to check on it last night. I should have known
better. Most everything has a web site these days. I should
mention that we have an appointment with the solid tumor team at M.
D. Anderson Cancer Center on Tuesday. We decided to get a second
opinion at this stage and our doctors at TCH
agreed. M. D. Anderson Cancer
Center has a team that also specializes in treatment and clinical trials
for solid tumors in children. The two hospitals staffs' share
treatment protocols but sometimes participate in different clinical
trials. That's the stage Jeri is at so we felt that we should see what
they have going. |
| 2/12 - The highlight of
Jeri's day was the receipt of this very large box from some of my friends
and coworkers in Bartlesville. Yes, they can be both. It
contained an extraordinarily large mass of assorted Valentine's Day
goodies. Jeri was in modeling mode when I got home from work this
evening. Check out some of the results in the Photo
Album. Extravagant doesn't begin to describe the contents.
She (and we) are always thankful that we have such good friends that
remember Jeri.....even if they all spoil her too much. That's my
job! But, ok, I can always use a bit of help. Who needs retail
therapy anyway. |
| 2/13 - Jeri started her
morning at the TCH cancer clinic getting blood counts as well as a check-up
in preparation for our trip to L.A. next week. The counts are good
(see below) and everything else checked out ok. I called Brit, who
left the office, picked up some fast food and met us at M.
D. Anderson.
We ate our lunch in the lobby and then started our afternoon off at new
patient registration. After we finished there, we went upstairs to the
pediatric clinic where Jeri was examined and we answered lots of questions
about her treatments so far. Then we met with
Dr. Jaffe. After
he examined Jeri a little bit more and viewed her CT-scan, he gave us his
recommendations for treatment. There are a few options, but Jeri is
already lobbying for the option that can be done on an outpatient
basis. I don't blame her a bit. The one thing, in
Dr. Jaffe's opinion, that is a certainty, is that Jeri will need to have lung surgery
again to remove the existing tumor nodules. Whether or not this will
be done before or after the next treatment has yet to be decided.
After we get back from our trip next week, we will meet with
Dr. Berg from
TCH and get her recommendations for treatment. Then, a decision of
some kind will be made. At this point, we are just trying to gather as
much information as possible. Until we return, we are just going to
concentrate on having a blast in California.
|
Category (see
link for definitions)
|
Normal |
Adequate / Acceptable |
Jeri |
| Hemoglobin |
12 |
8 |
10.4 |
| Platelets |
250,000 |
100,000 |
160,000ñ |
| White Cells |
4, 000 - 10,000 |
4,000 |
2200ñ |
| ANC (Absolute Neutrophil
Count) |
1,500-5,000 |
1,000 |
1270ñ |
|
| 2/14 - Happy Valentine's Day! If Brit were here,
he would decorate this entry in a seasonal fashion but, alas, that is beyond
my realm of knowledge (way, way beyond!) Jeri struggled through her
physical therapy today. She said that she just felt exhausted and her
heart was definitely not in it. As the day progressed, Jeri perked up
and she was fine for her schooling this afternoon. Now it is late and
she is going strong....strange schedule! Tomorrow morning she will get
to sleep in while I attempt to dodge the raindrops and play a rain makeup
tennis match from last Friday. |
| 2/15 - Yesterday, Jeri might have been tired and cranky
but she was her sunny energetic self today. She attributes it to being
able to sleep in and not having to deal with an overly perky mom first thing
in the morning. She even cleaned her room today! Since she gets
to sleep in again tomorrow, I am hoping for a stronger physical therapy
session than she had on Wednesday. Her sore ankle does seem to be
improving and she is walking well with crutches and pretty well (though
reluctantly) with the cane. Tomorrow will be her last physical therapy
session and home schooling session before we leave for California on Monday. |
| 2/16 - Jeri slept late today. She must have
thought it was the weekend. Not much happened until physical
therapy. She came home feeling good since she had done well. She
did a lot of work using a cane, including starting to step over
objects. We also had a visit from the Make-A-Wish
Foundation representatives to give us the itineraries for the upcoming
trip. I'll add more detail when we return. It looks like a fun
time. They do wonderful things. |
| 2/17 - The day was going well for Jeri until late this
evening. She was using her crutches and trying to carry too
much. She insisted she didn't need any help. She stubbed her
right toe and in moving back, she stepped on her left foot in an unusual way
and felt a severe pain. We felt of her foot to see if we could feel
anything unusual and could not. We applied ice while having her keep
her weight off the foot. There was no swelling by bedtime so we'll
wait until the morning to see how things are going. On another note,
this is the one year anniversary of the diagnosis. I was in
Bartlesville that day and received a phone call that evening that I'll never
forget. We had hoped that Jeri would be through all the chemo
treatment by now but it just hasn't worked out. What a difference a
year makes. |
| 2/18 - Jeri and Virginia made a quick trip to the
hospital emergency room today to have Jeri's foot examined. It was
hurting a lot this morning. We were fortunate to have a hospital
nearby so it didn't take them too long. Nothing was broken.
She's sprained her arch. She has to stay off it for a few days, apply
ice occasionally and keep it wrapped. The rest of the day was filled
with anticipation of Jeri's Make-A-Wish.......and
packing. We leave at 6am in the morning to head to the airport and to
Los Angeles via Salt Lake City. Thank you Delta
Airlines. We'll be staying at the Beverly
Hilton. Thanks you Hilton Hotels.
Most of all, thank you to the sponsors and volunteers of Make-A-Wish
Foundation for creating such a special event for Jeri.
Here's a thumbnail of the trip.
 | Monday - travel day, free time upon arrival |
| Tuesday - Bus tour of Los Angeles |
| Wednesday - Universal
Studios |
| Thursday - the Wish |
| Friday - free day |
| Saturday - return home |
I can see too much time in the itinerary for retail therapy. I
suppose the good news is that we will be in close proximity to Rodeo
Drive and that's too expensive. The Make-A-Wish
Foundation didn't include that in the budget. That won't stop any
of my crew from looking. I've even promised that I would not do any
email this week and enjoy the vacation with everyone else. That's what
it's for. Work will be there when we return. This is a special
trip for Jeri and we will all do what we can to make sure it turns our to be
a wonderful time. The next update to the diary will be when we
return. We hope to have plenty of stories to tell and pictures to
show. |
| 2/19-23 - Make-A-Wish
trip. Click here to go to the
trip diary, if you dare. |
| 2/24 - We all made it back this evening. A
good time was had by all. We'll be working on a travelogue to detail
the trip, complete with pictures. I didn't take my digital camera so
we'll have to get them developed and scanned. I go out of town again
on Sunday so don't expect the write-up until this time next week.
Virginia is doing the first draft and then I'll get to edit it. The
taping of 7th
Heaven was an interesting experience. They
weren't doing crowd scenes so Jeri only got to watch from behind the
camera. She met the members of the cast that were working that
day. She met Beverly Mitchell (Lucy), David Gallagher (Simon) and
Catherine Hicks (Annie). Mackenzie Rosman (Ruthie) was there but was
sick. It was best to not expose Jeri. The cast members she met
were all very friendly and took some time to visit with Jeri for a
bit. Like I said, more later. |
| 2/25 - Brit took off for Norway and England
today. Poor guy...his body will have no idea of what time zone to
relate to. Of course, that is why the travelogue won't be published
quite yet. It just wouldn't be complete without Brit's insights.
Besides a little light laundry and unpacking, the rest of us resembled a
pack of slugs today. Tomorrow, we will swing back to routine with
Randi heading to school, Virg to tennis and Jeri getting to sleep in.
Jeri and Virg will head to clinic tomorrow afternoon for a conference about
the experimental procedures available at Texas Children's
Hospital. Jeri's ankle continues to be sore and tender and will
probably slow her physical therapy for awhile. |
| 2/26 - This was a good day for Jeri. She got to
sleep late (which is always a plus for her) and she got good news to
boot. She has been invited to join the Sunshine Kids (a volunteer
organization dedicated to increasing quality of life for kids with cancer)
in a week long trip to Las Vegas. We got the official ok from her
doctors today, so she will be traveling again in two weeks. Before she
leaves, she will undergo all of the necessary tests and scans so that she
can resume treatment as soon as she returns. Meanwhile, with the
exception of that sprained foot, she continues to feel great. |
| 2/27 - Jeri rested up today so that she could party the
night away tonight. Well, not exactly... Randi and Jeri are at the
rodeo tonight watching the Duran Duran concert (with tickets donated by Make-A-Wish). I'll have to remind Jeri how much fun she had tonight
when I try to blast her out of bed in the morning for her physical therapy
session. I am sure that I will be growled at. |
| 2/28 - My prediction from yesterday was certainly
true. Physical therapy was shortened today since she still cannot put
much weight on that sprained foot. For all you daily readers of the
update, technical difficulties will prevent me starting a March calendar
tomorrow. (I don't know how to put up a new month! and Brit
doesn't get back until Friday.) So, until Brit's return, February will
just keep getting longer and longer. (Ed. note - I returned and got
things moved to the March page.) |
