There Is No Place like Home

John was discharged yesterday. Seven hours after he got home he had a fever so off we went to visit our friendly neighborhood emergency services. By the time we got there his fever was mysteriously gone so we skipped out of there and went home. He has been running a very low grade temperature since then but I am not too worried. If it was something bad his temperature would stay up. Tomorrow he has an appointment with the renal specialist. We will see what he has to say about it if anything. He has started to eat solid food. He had eggs for supper and said that they were the best eggs that he has had in a long time. I said that those eggs are the first eggs he has had in a long time. Now that he can eat I am sure that his recovery will speed up.

Baby It Is Cold Outside

How cold is it? It is so cold that my eyelashes want to freeze closed with the tears that the freaking cold causes my eyes to produce. It is so cold that the metal on my eyeglasses hurts my face. Apparently, this is not going to go away any time soon. Oh well! I would not know what it was like to go out Christmas shopping in warm weather and HEY! we Canadians are made of tough stuff. We simply like to hear the sound of our voices whining. It harmonizes with the song our vehicles make when we try to start them.


We did brave the cold and went to church this morning. One nice thing about coming home are all the nice warm hugs you get. A whole bunch of us stayed after and ordered pizza. We had a nice time and I did not have to cook lunch.

I am a little closer to being ready for Christmas thanks too my brother in law and sister in law who sent us a really nice care package. They sent one large box of Christmas baking and a swack of lasagna, chili and home made spaghetti sauce. They live a couple of hours away otherwise they would be wiping my slobber off of their faces already. Big hugs and kisses to you guys! Today was a day of blessings.

Home Sweet Home

John is doing well at home this time. I think that he will be staying. We are starting to get out and about a little bit. Yesterday we went to the Cancer Center for his blood work. After that he took me to Lawson Mall. He bought a new purse for me for my birthday. I got a huge bag seeing how my other purse was always stuffed to the max. Now I can bring a book for each of us and a water bottle for John when we go to his various appointments. After that we went to the Sally Ann to get some used stuffed toys for the dog. I don't know how but that dog knew what John had in the bag when we got home and just about did a Dino on John to get the toys. We also stopped off a Wal Mart to get a birthday present for Noah. Jonathan and Melissa and Noah came over for supper. John did very good with all of this activity. His legs get a little stiff. This morning he went to the store to get coffee and went and collected the mail. It is so nice seeing him doing mundane things. He is making his breakfast right now. Nice and normal.

John has an appointment on Friday with the kidney specialist. Pray that his kidneys will fully recuperate from all of the treatments that he has received. On Feb. 28 he has an appointment for a stress test. Pray that his cardio respiratory system recuperates as well. So far he has had no more short breath episodes since he has come home.

I am going to be working a bit the rest of this month. I will be training my replacement at the end of the month. Pray that everything keeps going well so I feel O.K. about leaving John alone at home. I think he will be fine. Don't worry, If I think that he is not O.K. I will stay home.

We Are Home

We hope to stay.

9 Second Thermometer

The last couple of days John has had a bit of a sore throat. He may be coming down with a cold. He doesn't feel sick other than the sore throat. Pray that it doesn't develop any further. I talked to his nurse before we left the hospital. His white counts are very high. She said he would probably be O.K. but just watch him so I have been shoving ye ole thermometer into his mouth frequently. He can't complain as much as he did before. I bought him a new one that processes in 9 seconds. If he does complain I only have to listen to the whining for 9 seconds. Why did I not buy a 9 second thermometer sooner? He used to sit on the couch and bluster every 9 seconds "is this stupid thing done" Ha...not a peep out of him...sigh...

We went to Jonathan's and Mellisa's for supper last night and then to the Forestry Farm to see the Christmas light show. Jonathan had got a free ticket from work. Noah was delighted...he would not stop talking...it was fun.

We Are Home

Becky, I wish I could put your Hallelujah song here. Anyway Dr. V. is satisfied with the amount of stem cells harvested. We go to the Cancer Center Monday for blood work and to get the schedule for the pre-transplant appointments. They have to give him a good work over before they do the transplant and it has to get registered with some federal transplant board or something like that. The tentative date for him to be admitted for transplant is December 27. He is supposed to try to maintain his weight over Christmas because he just has the right amount of cells for transplant so no stuffing John with too much junk over Christmas. LOL He hardly ever reads this so I can probably get away with the don't over feed John conspiracy. I want to build him up as much as possible. Actually he has a little leeway with the weight gain. They just don't want him gaining 20 pounds or something like that. If he put on a couple of pounds it wouldn't matter. Becky, the Grey Cup was at the mall on Thursday, so I guess he missed it.

Waiting To Go Home

We are sitting at the hospital...waiting...waiting...waiting! Yeasch! I don't ever think that we have got out of here before lunch before and I don't think that today will be any better. John has already gotten himself into trouble this morning. He went to the desk and asked when Dr. V was going to get here to let him go home. One of the nurses (lets call her grumpy nurse) told him to just relax...ha...he told her not to tell him to relax...hahaha...Nurse Carol came to his room after and told him that grumpy nurse was a grouch and that she has had her run ins with her as well and good job on sticking up for himself but not to take grumpy nurse seriously. Anyway we should get out of here today for sure. So later...

Harvest Complete

John spent about nine hours today getting his stem cells harvested. They had a very nice recliner chair for him to sit in and television to watch. The two technicians were wonderful and very amusing and helped pass the time. They stayed over time to make sure that we got enough cells to do two transplants. They were able to get the minimal amounts for these transplants but not the maximum. What that means is that he will be neutropenic for two to three days longer after the transplant than he would be if he had been able to have the maximum amount of stem cells harvested. We are happy to have reached this goal. If they had not been able to achieve this they would have had to prime him again and do another harvest in January. He would not have had to do chemo for that. Dr. V. could always decide that he wants to do this still. We will see.

Angela helped Dr. V. remove the central line out of Johns jugular vein. (She assisted) She enjoyed doing this. I was quite happy to leave and not watch that. She is very tough. I went to Safeway and got all the prescriptions filled and did some grocery shopping so we don't have to do that tomorrow. John gets to come home tomorrow! Yeah! Whew! That is so good to have behind us. Everybody breath out now.

Pray that John will really get built up for the transplant and that he will go into that healthy and strong. Pray that his body can take care of anything infections. Pray that his jaw would be completely healed and would not cause anymore problems. Pray that he would be able to have the pamidronate to strengthen his bones without any complications. Thank God for the harvest of his stem cells and for taking us this far and for being patient with me when I become afraid.

Not Feeling Very Good

We spent the day at the Cancer Center yesterday. He received I.V. to wash the cyclo. out of his system. He felt fine when he got up in the morning. After he was up for about an hour the stomach cramping began. He suffered intermittent severe cramping all day and all evening. He did sleep alright last night. He feels a bit nauseated this morning...the cramping is mostly gone...so far. Dr. V. and the C.C. pharmacist think that it was a combo of two of the drugs he was taking, one to prevent nausea and one to prevent constipation. One of the other drugs they were giving him cause constipation. This is NOT his problem. Pray that he has a better day today. Thanks. Today he will still be on crackers and water. I guess I don't have to worry about what to cook today!

Fine, I'll do it.

So, since Dad has apparently forgotten how to use his computer, (elderly, possibly senile) and since many of you have asked me how he's doing, I'll tell you.

He's fine. He's at home and doing well.

We're all still waiting for his biopsy results. Once the doctors have that information they will know how much of the cancer is still left to kill and what chemicals to use before his stem cell transplant. Then they will harvest his stem cells, hopefully clean them, one last chemo, stem cell transplant, and hopefully REMISSION!

(If I've got that wrong, Mom and Dad will have to fix it. I may not be elderly, but I get confused easily. I'd blame it on my hair, but it's pretty dark these days. I'll blame it on Mikey instead. Just for kicks.)

Why Dad Hasn't Been Posting...

He's kind of got his hands full.

Ready... Set...

Just so you all know...

Dad's home. He has been since Monday.

I think it would be quite appropriate for you to harass him to write a post for himself.

Aaaaaaaaaaand... GO!

Home In Sight

Yes...You read the title correctly! Home is in sight. Johns white blood cell count is on the rise. It is still too low to come home. They have to finish the round of antibiotics he is recieving. That will be completed tomorrow. He can have a day pass for Sunday. Monday they will do the bone marrow biopsy here at the RUH. Then he can come home. Dr. F. brought us that good news this morning. Dr. F. always seems to be the one to bring the good news. I like Dr. F. He is short, wears a cute ascot and has a Brittish accent.

If the testing goes good the next step will be the stem cell harvest. I am going to dig out our resourse material and check out how that goes down. I don't think that it involves a very long hospital stay. I really feel like we are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. I feel kind of excited.

John is feeling pretty good. He has very little back pain right now and can walk quite far. He is looking forward to getting home and getting some exercise to regain all that lost muscle. I think that we could do this together as I have gotten out of shape myself. About the only exercise that I get is knitting! Pray for some more nice fall days so John can get out for some good walks before the snow falls.

Day Pass

John got to come home on a day pass today. He doesn't have to be back until this evening sometime. He may get to come home tomorrow for a day pass depending on his white blood counts. He is out to look at how Peters house is coming along. I got a lot of house work done and didn't have to feel bad by leaving John stuck by himself all day.

John is now shorter than me. Unbelievable! His hair has been growing back a bit. It appears to be very blond. I am sure that it will fall out again. I think that it will be blond (we are talking as blond as Ben)

That is all I have to say. No news is good news.

Back to the RUH..possibly...

We have to go back to the Cancer Centre today for blood work and examination with Dr. V. Then depending on whether there is a bed and whether John is fit to go....he will be readmitted for round two of the D PACE chemical treatment. Only another three to four weeks to endure! I was talking to Lynn (our cancer connection multiple myeloma survivor who we may actually meet as she has an appointment herself today ) She had to go through four of those D PACE treatments. I don't know how she did that! She is an inspiration to us. Anyway...I do hope that he gets in today because there is no point in putting off the inevitable. I do hate it too but I'm sure it is not as hard on me as it is on John. The last ten days were so nice. It is nice to get up in the morning and know that I don't have to go anywhere but can just go about my business or do nothing at all. Its nice to have John at home... have his company right here... and say good night here...and say good morning here...also I'm getting fat sitting around the hospital. I think that I should try to discipline myself and go for a long walk in the afternoon when John takes a nap. Wish me luck on that one! I will try to post and let you know how it went today...so... later!

Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.

So if anyone is wondering where Dad is and what he's been doing... Here he is, and this is what he's been doing. He brought Mom along for the ride (and for my enjoyment) and is spending some time visiting with two of his grandsons. Tomorrow they go home and get to babysit the other one (and my bestest nephew) Noah, so they should just about get enough of their favorite people. Well... Maybe not enough. Is it ever really enough when it comes to something like that?

Anyways... Dad's been enjoying his freedom. In addition to being able to visit with the boys he also has a less strict renal diet to put up with for a while. (He can have potassium right now because of the chemo depleting it from his system, which makes cooking for him much easier and more fun.)

On Wednesday Dad goes back to the hospital for some tests, and the doctors told him to expect to be admitted for his next round of chemo. He'll almost certainly be in the hospital over Thanksgiving, so he won't get to see any of his favorite boys. (They aren't allowed once he is nuetropenic.)

I've sure enjoyed having him and Mom around and I know the boys have loved every second. I don't think any of us are looking forward to sending Dad back to the hospital so soon. I'm trying to look at it like Mom does, "Just get it over with and get to the recovery stage", but I'd sure like to keep him here for a few more weeks...

To Bic or Clip

Going bald is not a problem. Partial baldness (when the hair comes out in clumps and patches) looks bad. Today it was time to get the clippers out (John decided that was the way to go). I kind of think that shaving would be better because no matter how many times you buzz the head it still looks patchy although his head looks much better. He still has not lost the mustache or eyebrows so his appearance doesn't look different. I think Becky should start a poll. When Johns hair grows back will it be: 1.the same 2. curly 3. thick and lush 4. a different color 5. less than he ever had.

We are doing good except for the back pain. This will take time to resolve. I also think he should eat more. I do have a tendency to fuss so......maybe I should phone Mum for some chicken noodle soup.

WE ARE HOME

I AM GOING TO WRITE THIS POST IN CAPITAL LETTERS IN CELEBRATION BECAUSE WE ARE HOME FOR 10 WHOLE DAYS. then we have to go back for round two BUT FOR NOW WE ARE HOME. JOHN IS SITTING IN HIS CHAIR WATCHING HIS TELEVISION AND JONATHAN , MELISSA AND NOAH ARE COMING OVER THIS EVENING. IT IS A BEAUTIFUL DAY SO WE CAN GO OUTSIDE AND ENJOY. WE PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE A BAR-B-QUE.