Sunday, August 29, 2010

Dad has been at UCSF for 5 days now and looks like he will be released tomorrow, pending some blood test results. They got a late start with the chemo drip as they like to do lots of testing before they start and they just really aren't in a hurry!

Nancy will be here tonight, so she'll stay at my house and play with my kids tomorrow while I go down and get Dad. He should be home for at least a week before he goes back for another round of the same.

Jen

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Dad heads back to UCSF today for his 36 hour chemo drip. He should be back home by this weekend, return travel courtesy of Jerry Gridley. Thanks, Jerry!

Dad had his checkup yesterday for his gall bladder surgery and he said all is well, except his weight has now dropped to under 200 lbs. His blood work came back somewhat low, but after they called UCSF, they said it was fine and he's clear to start more treatment.

Nancy arrives Sunday night and will stay with dad all week while Becky is back at work in Santa Maria and starting to prepare for her move up here.  Craig and Doug should also be showing up around Thursday sometime to stay for the weekend. Then, Dad heads back to UCSF sometime the next week for another 36 hour drip. After that he goes back to the two longer stays at 3 to 4 weeks each.

Jen

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Dad's home from the hospital and recuperating from surgery. He did go to the Feather River clinic today to try to have his ears cleaned out. He's been having a hard time with some stubborn wax buildup that he just can't get rid of. It's been causing him quite a bit of grief. They got a lot of it, but not all.

He has a follow up appointment with Feather River for his surgery on Tuesday, and then UCSF wants him back on Wednesday. It's great that he gets to stay home for awhile to try to get some energy up before he has to go back for another 3-5 treatment. At UCSF they will be giving him a 36 hour drip, then watching him for a bit before they release him home for another week. We're expecting he'll be released on Saturday or Sunday, and I'll go down and pick him up.

Nancy had plans to come out this Wednesday when we had anticipated he'd be home, but due to the unexpected gall bladder surgery, he'll be in the hospital for the entire time she's here. Luckily, Southwest airlines only charged her $19 to change her tickets to the following Sunday through Friday! This way, she can stay with dad while he's at home while Becky works an extra week. Then, Craig and Doug might be driving out for the weekend.

In other fabulous news, Becky applied for a transfer to the Red Bluff office to be closer to dad, and got an interview on Monday morning. (She's been waiting for this job to open up for years!) They called her back today and told her she got the job! Woohoo! Congrats Becky!

Jen

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Dad's getting released from Feather River today! Yippee! They took his drain out, and are just waiting to have the needles taken out from the IV and he should be heading home. 

He has been eating a little bit and is on oral painkillers and antibiotics. His blood values are coming up as they should, so things are getting a bit better.

Becky will call UCSF tomorrow to see when they want him back. Hopefully not for a couple of days, he needs to be at home and relax a bit before starting anymore procedures!

Jen

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

I just saw Dad today at Feather River Hospital. He's doing o.k., but seems to be in quite a bit of pain from the gall bladder surgery. He's on pain meds every couple of hours but hopefully the pain will lessen by tomorrow. 

He's been walking the halls which should also help with some of the pain, but just getting out of bed really hurts the abdominal muscles. So does laughing. I didn't do it on purpose, he started it - but it did seem to hurt quite a bit! Why he kept trying to gross me out I don't know...

Anyway, he could be released as early as tomorrow. They want him to start solid food and have that for 24 hours which he just started at lunch today as I was leaving.

He's in a double room which is not the most comfortable, but his roommate is a nice enough guy.

I'll have another update tomorrow when we know if he'll be released or not.

Oh - and here's a great link to send Dad a "cheer card" while he's at Feather River. He's in Room 295.
http://frhosp.netreturns.biz/CheerCards/

Jen

Monday, August 16, 2010

So Dad was scheduled to have his Gall Bladder removed today at 12:00 p.m. They were hoping to do it all laproscopically, but depending on how it goes, they might have to cut him open and/or place a drain. Becky will call me after the surgery to let me know how it went and what his recovery time will be.

His blood counts went up a bit after his transfusion yesterday, but his liver values were a bit off - a side effect of the malfunctioning gall bladder. The liver values were better today, so they felt he was safe to have the surgery. After they remove his gall bladder, his blood counts should bounce back to healthier levels. 

UPDATE: Out of surgery, they were able to do it all laproscopically, and it went great. The surgeon even showed Becky pictures of the before and after!


Jen

Saturday, August 14, 2010

I saw Dad last night and brought him dinner which he loved - Chicken Bundles with gravy and Cherry Turnovers - yum! He was in a great mood and seemed to have a near normal amount of energy. He did start to wear down pretty fast around 9 p.m., but heck, so do I! 

He has lost a bit more weight and is down to 204 - over a 65 lb. weightloss from a couple months ago. His pants are falling off, and his skin is fighting a good fight trying to tighten up after such a rapid loss. His hair has all fallen out except his eyebrows (I told him I'd draw them in if they fell out - so I think he's kept them out of sheer willpower!) and arms. I'm curious to see how his hair grows back in, some people get more hair, or it goes curly, or turns red, or some other strange thing. I have my fingers crossed for just such a thing - a head of thick, curly, red hair. Who's with me?

Anyway, everything seemed great UNTIL I got a call from Becky today. Looks like he was up vomiting around midnight and was told by UCSF to go to the ER. (NO, it wasn't my cooking!) So, off they went. Turns out he has Gall Stones that need to be removed. They diagnosed this 2 months ago at Feather River, but I think the Leukemia diagnosis orvershadowed that and they were pretty much forgotten about and never dealt with.

He had an ultrasound today and is waiting on talking to a Dr. about what that showed. I'm guessing they won't do surgery until tomorrow or, most likely, Monday. Until then, he's on morphine to help with the pain, a liquid diet, and more blood transfusions to get his low platelet count back up. I'm not sure how long he'll be in there, or how that affects the schedule for chemo at UCSF. 

Here's a website for some info on Gallstones: http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/gallstones/

Jen

Friday, August 13, 2010

Dad made it home from the hospital last night and should be at home for at least 7 days before he needs to go back for another 3 to 5 day stay. He'll call the hospital on Thursday, the 19th to see if there is a bed available. On his next hospital stay he gets a 36 hour drip of chemo then home for about 7 days, then go back and do it again.

He's feeling a bit yucky, can't remember very much, gets tired and agitated kinda easy, but still seems to maintain his sense of humor when he has the energy. He has some sort of ear infection going on that's driving him crazy but they're going to try to get something today to help alleviate some of it.

I'll be heading up to his house tonight to bring him dinner so I'll get to see him and really see how he's doing. Hopefully Craig, Nancy and Doug will be able to come out in 2 weeks to see him when he's on one of his home stays.  He prefers visitors at home and not at the hospital. Too small of a room, not enough privacy, nurses in/out, etc. 


I'll be seeing him several times over this next week, so I'll have some better updates. Hard to get a good idea of how he's doing with short phone calls to him and Becky!

Jen

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

I just talked to Becky and it looks like he'll be getting released and heading home this Thursday. He should be home for about 10 days before he starts the next cycle which should be the 4 days in, 10 days out.

He moved down to the 9th floor today from the 14th and I think that threw him for a loop. He's doing o.k., but feeling a bit down about things. I think that's probably normal considering what he's going through. He seems to have great days and then really crappy ones depending on how he feels and what he's thinking about. He's sleeping a lot which Becky said is caused by his white blood counts coming back up and wiping him out. Hopefully he'll start feeling a lot better when he gets back home and settled in.

I'll see him this weekend and I'll get a better idea of how he's doing. I'll try to send an update in a more timely fashion next time. :)

Jen