Sunday, March 20, 2011

We all (Mom, me, Wendy, Craig and Nancy) visited with Dad last night at his house. It was a nice visit, lots of laughing as usual and some moments of sadness. He gave us all our "birth shirts" from when we were born. For every kid, he took a white T-Shirt, wrote our name, date of birth, weight and height on the back, and wore it for a picture. He did this with all 7 kids. I was really happy to get mine! We've seen those pictures our whole lives, and it's such a great memory to have.

Dad was really weak and got tired easily. He would take a break, go lay down and fall fast asleep for 10 or 15 minutes, then emerge a bit refreshed. We left when he started to look like he was done for the night. 

It was a very nice visit and I'm glad everyone came to see him again. It was a bit hard for me to see him say goodbye to Wendy and Nancy as it may very well be the last time they see him. It's hard to lose your dad, and it's hard to say goodbye and walk out the door. I'm glad we get the opportunity to do it though, I just never thought it would be this soon.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Preliminary results came back. Cancer is still there. Not good news. I'm heading down today to meet up with Mom, Wendy, Craig and Nancy. We'll talk to the doctors today to see what the plan is from here. Sounds like there's another treatment option available that's had success before. Let's hope.

UPDATE:
We're here at UCSF and it looks like they'd like to give dad a break before starting the next round of chemo. He'll most likely go home today, have blood tests every couple of days, then return to the hospital a week from Monday. The next treatment plan will be a 5 day course of chemo drugs, with a 3 week recuperation.

At this point, there is still a slim chance of remission, but it's not likely. The doctor did tell us that we should look into clinical trials at clinicaltrials.gov. He thinks there might be some at Stanford and City of Hope in Los Angeles. We'll look into those and see if he is a candidate.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Dad got platelets today and his bone marrow biopsy. We should get the preliminary results this evening.

Blood counts were down a bit again today, so he'll get red blood today too. He still has no pain but is quite nauseous, so they give him Zofran for that every 6 hours or so. He's feeling good, so that's a great sign!!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Talked to dad this morning. His numbers did not come up again, and in fact dropped a little bit. He was going to ask the doctor about putting him back on the neupagen to get those numbers to climb again. He really wants to go home this weekend, especially since most of the kids will be here to visit!

The great news is that since yesterday, he has been sleeping well, feeling great, has had NO pain meds, and NO PAIN! He said he hasn't felt this good in a long time. That was very promising to hear. 

They have scheduled the bone marrow biopsy for 1 p.m. today and hopefully we should get the preliminary results tomorrow. Everyone is still hopeful that he is in remission, and if they way he feels is any indication, he will be!

UPDATE:
Nurses overruled the doctor on the biopsy since his platelets are so low. They want to give him platelets before the biopsy and they couldn't get them in time today. So, the biopsy is scheduled for 10 a.m. and the platelets an hour before at 9 a.m.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Doctors came in last night and were hopeful that the increase in numbers from Sunday to Monday were a possible sign of remission. They took him off of the neupagen to see if his numbers will climb on their own and if it will help alleviate some of his pain. Dad seemed to have some renewed hope of remission. The next couple of days will be a good sign of that. He also told the doctors that he would like the biopsy before he is released home regardless of what his numbers are doing. He doesn't want to be sent home without knowing if his bones are packed with leukemia or not.

His numbers today weren't as we were hoping. They dropped a bit. This could be due to the lack of neupagen helping out, but we won't really know much until the doctor comes in this afternoon/evening to decipher the results. Dad is bummed as you can imagine, and with the new chest pain that he's having today, he's quite worried. It would be nice to have some answers soon.

UPDATE: 
Doctor came in and said that they would like to do a biopsy soon. Could be as early as tomorrow. They are still pretty positive that he's in remission and that his pain is due to the neupagen and his good blood cells increasing. Becky will also be going down tomorrow to be there with him this week.  They are also saying that he could possibly go home this weekend.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Talked to dad this a.m. His numbers have been coming up, although very slowly. His platelets are still too low and he's been getting transfusions several times a week. They said that if his numbers continue to climb, he could be released as early as this weekend. They want to do a bone marrow biopsy before he leaves.

Seems his head has been hurting for the last 2 days, and he's having some bone pain in his shoulders and thigh bones. In the past this has always been bad news, but it could also be a reaction to the neupagen shots that's he's been getting. He's never had this kind of reaction before, but he's also never been in this poor of shape before either!

I'll call him again tonight to find out if and when they will be scheduling the biopsy. That will give us the information we are looking for to see if he is in remission, or if the pain he is feeling is because the leukemia is back and progressing fast.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Talked to Becky tonight who was on her way home from spending the weekend with Dad in the hospital. She said his counts have finally started to come up, although very slowly. That was to be expected, so even though it's frustrating, it's good news. She said he's actually put on a little bit of weight too as he's been eating more. They've given him something to stimulate his appetite and it seems to be working! She said he had to get up in the middle of the night to go get some pretzels to snack on!

I'm sure he'll be at UCSF for a bit longer as his numbers need to come up a lot from where they're at.