It is a wonderful day today!! Hope everyone is enjoying their Easter and time with family and friends.
Eric's numbers have gone crazy this weekend. Yesterday (Saturday) his numbers were:
WBC = 1.91
Platelets = 31
Absolute Neutrophil count = 783
Today --- big drum roll please!!!
WBC = 8.83
Platelets = 71
Absolute Neutrophil count 3532
They almost let him come home today, however his blood pressure dropped considerably today. One of the results sometimes of your numbers rising so quickly. He is still getting shots of neuprogen daily. Neuprogen works to increase those WBC's quickly. Sudden spikes like this will sometimes cause a person to fell light headed, lower blood pressure and feel kind of yucky.. Something to do with the bone marrow and the neuprogen wanting to do all this stuff in the body. It is like your system has ADD now and is bouncing off the walls to do what it is suppose to do...
Anyway, they say it is nothing to worry about. Nurse is checking on Eric regularly to make sure.
Good News - Eric is set to be released TOMORROW!!! Yes, we will be packing up and heading home tomorrow.. Hopefully the doctors and interns will get all their paperwork done early and we can get on the road by noon or so. I think we are both more than ready to get home.
We don't have our "home" orders yet. They said that Eric shouldn't be around crowds for a couple weeks at least so he will probably lay low for awhile.. But looking forward to seeing all of you very soon. Keep watching for more to come on a "Welcome home celebration" for Eric. WE have many things to celebrate and be thankful for!!!
Happy Easter & God Bless!!
E&C
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
Half way there!!
We are shooting for Monday as the big release day!!! Eric is doing great. His WBC = 0.54 today. They are basically doubling daily. Dr. B is very pleased with Eric's progress. I came into the hospital yesterday and the nurses commented on how well he we doing.
In a way, it will almost be hard to leave.. We have come to know the nurses well... Eric has even been trying to play match-maker with one of the nurses and Brian. HA! Usually I am the one doing that! We will miss and continue to think of some of the other patients and families too!! Some have been fighting for weeks now and have many more weeks left!
My project went live yesterday!!! YAHOO!! It all went good. We were up Wednesday night until 10:30 p.m. testing and validating and then I was up til midnight preparing for the next morning when all employees came in to find their new system. All went well. I few expected minor things.. We worked through them yesterday. I left the office late yesterday afternoon for the weekend. NO work today!!! I am looking forward to spending the weekend with Eric. Oh, I am going to see some of my family tomorrow. Should be an interesting day!! :)
Saturday night Chris and Andrea come home. Eric is glad he will get to see them again before he is released. I plan to spend Easter at the hospital with Eric. We brought "The Passion" and was hoping to watch it. However the hosptial wing doesn't have a DVD player. All they have are VCR's.. What is that???? We might have to see if we can borrow one from somewhere for the day. Maybe more people in the unit might be interesting in watching the movie on Easter day.
I am going to miss the kids and grandkids this weekend. Adam, Bonnie and the kids always come home for Easter. Last year Cole and I made a bunny cake and we enjoyed Grandma Lois and her fun/creative games in the yard!!! We will have to have a late Easter celebration sometime after we get home.
Well, I am off for the day. Gonna go enjoy the beautiful weather and hang with Eman.
Happy Birthday Clayton!!!!!! LOVE YOU!
In a way, it will almost be hard to leave.. We have come to know the nurses well... Eric has even been trying to play match-maker with one of the nurses and Brian. HA! Usually I am the one doing that! We will miss and continue to think of some of the other patients and families too!! Some have been fighting for weeks now and have many more weeks left!
My project went live yesterday!!! YAHOO!! It all went good. We were up Wednesday night until 10:30 p.m. testing and validating and then I was up til midnight preparing for the next morning when all employees came in to find their new system. All went well. I few expected minor things.. We worked through them yesterday. I left the office late yesterday afternoon for the weekend. NO work today!!! I am looking forward to spending the weekend with Eric. Oh, I am going to see some of my family tomorrow. Should be an interesting day!! :)
Saturday night Chris and Andrea come home. Eric is glad he will get to see them again before he is released. I plan to spend Easter at the hospital with Eric. We brought "The Passion" and was hoping to watch it. However the hosptial wing doesn't have a DVD player. All they have are VCR's.. What is that???? We might have to see if we can borrow one from somewhere for the day. Maybe more people in the unit might be interesting in watching the movie on Easter day.
I am going to miss the kids and grandkids this weekend. Adam, Bonnie and the kids always come home for Easter. Last year Cole and I made a bunny cake and we enjoyed Grandma Lois and her fun/creative games in the yard!!! We will have to have a late Easter celebration sometime after we get home.
Well, I am off for the day. Gonna go enjoy the beautiful weather and hang with Eman.
Happy Birthday Clayton!!!!!! LOVE YOU!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Numbers climbing
Thought I would drop a note during the day for a change. Seems like I never get to this blog until after 10:30 at night.
Eric's numbers are rising. Today his WBC = 0.12. Good jump, however we are now doubting that we will be home for Easter. Dr. B thought Monday was more realistic. We have to accept his estimate and he has been spot on so far... Spot on-- do I sound like a Brit yet??? As my project goes live tomorrow a.m. I have been having numerous calls a day with our friends in the UK..Plus the Chicago office is full of Brit's. I love the accent and their quirky sayings.. Sometime when Eric is up to it.. we will have to make a visit to London. I haven't been their yet and would love to go check it out...
Ok, back to Eric.. I walked in the hospital room yesterday and he is beginning to look younger!! All his facial hair, along with the hair on his head he let grow out... is falling out.. He is going to have a clean baby face very soon. I wish I would of brought my camera..
All in all things are good. Eric is doing remarkably better. His walking is good, his thinking and reactions are better. It will be good to get home and start living life again. I am sure he will have a whole new perspective on things. He is anxious to see if he can start minimizing some of his current medications.I think the pain he use to have if much less.
Life is good and we are very thankful for this opportunity!!!
Eric's numbers are rising. Today his WBC = 0.12. Good jump, however we are now doubting that we will be home for Easter. Dr. B thought Monday was more realistic. We have to accept his estimate and he has been spot on so far... Spot on-- do I sound like a Brit yet??? As my project goes live tomorrow a.m. I have been having numerous calls a day with our friends in the UK..Plus the Chicago office is full of Brit's. I love the accent and their quirky sayings.. Sometime when Eric is up to it.. we will have to make a visit to London. I haven't been their yet and would love to go check it out...
Ok, back to Eric.. I walked in the hospital room yesterday and he is beginning to look younger!! All his facial hair, along with the hair on his head he let grow out... is falling out.. He is going to have a clean baby face very soon. I wish I would of brought my camera..
All in all things are good. Eric is doing remarkably better. His walking is good, his thinking and reactions are better. It will be good to get home and start living life again. I am sure he will have a whole new perspective on things. He is anxious to see if he can start minimizing some of his current medications.I think the pain he use to have if much less.
Life is good and we are very thankful for this opportunity!!!
Monday, March 29, 2010
14 Days and Counting
Today was day 14. It was 2 weeks ago today that we got Eric all situated in his room and he started his 1st round of cytoxen. We feel like we are kind of in this boring spell right now. Not complaining..just not much happening. They said Eric's numbers would climb slowly and then all of a sudden multiple. Well, things are very slow right now. His WBC climbed from 0.04 to 0.05.. So, now is the time to not get anxious.
Eric is feeling great. I can't wait for all of you to see how well he is doing! He now has bald patches on his head. He did a lot of walking around the unit today. Starting to get sick of hanging out in his room. I think it will be harder this week knowing that it is going to be so nice outside. 70's this week.. Can't wait...
It is Monday and Dancing with the Stars night. We brought out the Easter basket full of candy and had a little DWTS party in the family waiting room. We all think Kate G should go home. What a cry baby and really lacking with the dance moves. We all felt sorry for Tony. At least Buzz seems to be having fun!!!
Eric is feeling great. I can't wait for all of you to see how well he is doing! He now has bald patches on his head. He did a lot of walking around the unit today. Starting to get sick of hanging out in his room. I think it will be harder this week knowing that it is going to be so nice outside. 70's this week.. Can't wait...
It is Monday and Dancing with the Stars night. We brought out the Easter basket full of candy and had a little DWTS party in the family waiting room. We all think Kate G should go home. What a cry baby and really lacking with the dance moves. We all felt sorry for Tony. At least Buzz seems to be having fun!!!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Small Uphill climb
It has been a busy weekend. Dad, Lois and Brian arrived late Friday night. Got up Saturday morning and the guys started installing a dishwasher and garbage disposal for Chris and Andrea. We made them stop at noon so we could go see Eric and enjoy some time downtown.
Eric was a little under the weather on Saturday. His throat was hurting alot. The way the nurse and intern discribe this is... the cytoxen breaks down and kills all your cells from your throat all the way through the other end! So what that means is there is no protection there and the throat gets sore and irrated from just swallowing. They like to get a handle on it right away with medication before it gets unbearable so they put him on morphine..small dosages but still morphine..so he was kind of a zombie yesterday. His numbers fell more over the weekend. He received a bag of platlets on Saturday. AND his hair (or what he has for hair) is falling out. Right now it is primarily his facial hair but I think soon he won't need to think about shaving his head.
I think you will all be amazed at how well Eric is walking, talking and more on top of things. We really feel blessed and in awe of all the amazing stories we hear from the nurses of the other patients who have gone through this procedure. It still seems like a dream to us.
Yesterday afternoon, me, Brian, Dad & Lois went downtown. Took Brian to millieum park.. saw the bean, walked around the park and enjoyed sites and sounds around us. We got a little shopping done and then went to Harry Carey's for dinner. Brian and Adam were both Cubs fans and I thought he would get a hoot out of going there. Adam.. next time it is your turn.. Would of loved to go to game, but a little to early for the season.
We made it back to the hospital in time to visit with Eric a little more before he was ready to call it a day. That morphine kicked his butt yesterday. Today is much, much better. He is off morphine, the numbers are beginning to creep up...
WBC = Yesterday was 0.03, today 0.04
Platelets = yesterday was 8, today (after the tranfusion) back up to 21
We are still hoping to be home by the end of the week. They say the WBC will just start to excelerate at a very fast pace, BUT we are not going to be disappointed if we need to wait a few days longer.. We are just grateful to be here and want to maintain and keep Eric as healthy as possible. No need to rush things!
Dad and Brian finished their handyman work this morning. They wrapped up around noon today and we headed back to the hosptial. It was fun to see Eric in a good mood and interacting with the family. We ordered a Chicago style pizza, played some yahtzee and had a little party in the family visiting room.. Everyone left around 5 p.m. and I came back to hang with Eric for the evening.
Tomorrow we are all back to work. My project got moved and will go live this Wednesday night.. I think we are as prepared as we can be but I predict a crazy week ahead!! Starting to feel a little home sick.
Talk to you all soon!!
Love Eric & Cindy
Eric was a little under the weather on Saturday. His throat was hurting alot. The way the nurse and intern discribe this is... the cytoxen breaks down and kills all your cells from your throat all the way through the other end! So what that means is there is no protection there and the throat gets sore and irrated from just swallowing. They like to get a handle on it right away with medication before it gets unbearable so they put him on morphine..small dosages but still morphine..so he was kind of a zombie yesterday. His numbers fell more over the weekend. He received a bag of platlets on Saturday. AND his hair (or what he has for hair) is falling out. Right now it is primarily his facial hair but I think soon he won't need to think about shaving his head.
I think you will all be amazed at how well Eric is walking, talking and more on top of things. We really feel blessed and in awe of all the amazing stories we hear from the nurses of the other patients who have gone through this procedure. It still seems like a dream to us.
Yesterday afternoon, me, Brian, Dad & Lois went downtown. Took Brian to millieum park.. saw the bean, walked around the park and enjoyed sites and sounds around us. We got a little shopping done and then went to Harry Carey's for dinner. Brian and Adam were both Cubs fans and I thought he would get a hoot out of going there. Adam.. next time it is your turn.. Would of loved to go to game, but a little to early for the season.
We made it back to the hospital in time to visit with Eric a little more before he was ready to call it a day. That morphine kicked his butt yesterday. Today is much, much better. He is off morphine, the numbers are beginning to creep up...
WBC = Yesterday was 0.03, today 0.04
Platelets = yesterday was 8, today (after the tranfusion) back up to 21
We are still hoping to be home by the end of the week. They say the WBC will just start to excelerate at a very fast pace, BUT we are not going to be disappointed if we need to wait a few days longer.. We are just grateful to be here and want to maintain and keep Eric as healthy as possible. No need to rush things!
Dad and Brian finished their handyman work this morning. They wrapped up around noon today and we headed back to the hosptial. It was fun to see Eric in a good mood and interacting with the family. We ordered a Chicago style pizza, played some yahtzee and had a little party in the family visiting room.. Everyone left around 5 p.m. and I came back to hang with Eric for the evening.
Tomorrow we are all back to work. My project got moved and will go live this Wednesday night.. I think we are as prepared as we can be but I predict a crazy week ahead!! Starting to feel a little home sick.
Talk to you all soon!!
Love Eric & Cindy
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Little fever today
I think they have this study down pat.. which means that they can and will find new ways to improve with each patient. As predicted, Eric had a fever today. Mild, but still a fever and they waste no time treating it very rapidly. He was back on IV with antibiotics and fluids asap. He also have developed an irritation of the throat, again something predictable.. They drew blood cultures today to try to pin-point where the fever is coming from. The results were a urinary infection. So hopefully 24 hrs and he will be feeling much better. He also received his 2nd shot of neuprogen...
I was at the hospital most of the day today. Dr. B came in at lunch time and we discussed all of these symptoms with him along with his estimate on how soon his WBC will return to normal ranges. According to Dr. B... it will take 5 - 7 days for his immune system to build back up. He says it starts very slow... and them will shoot up very quickly. His WBC must be at least 1000 before he can go home. I am estimating sometime mid-next week. Seems amazing that we are talking about maybe going home next week!!! Yahoo!! We talked about about vitamin D.. Dr. will immediately put Eric on a high dosage of Vitamin D when we leave. I can't even begin to repeat the science behind it, but in a nutshell, they have done a lot of research with Vitamin D and auto-immune diseases.. I will have to do more research so I really know what I am talking about. No huge restrictions when we get home other than being smart and keeping bad bacteria away.. Don't be around people that are sick, no fresh fruit or vegetables unless boiled..careful around grandkids and other kids with colds, dirty hands, etc... Just being cautious cause even though his numbers will be normal his immune system will take awhile before it is strong enough to fight off all those nasty bugs... I am sure we will get the low-down before we leave...
All in all, I think Eric looks good. I am anxious for Gary, Lois and Brian to see him this weekend to see what difference they notice. I see him everyday so probably not a good judge.
On that note, I am looking forward to the weekend. Saturday is suppose to be nice and hoping to go explore in the city in the afternoon.
I was at the hospital most of the day today. Dr. B came in at lunch time and we discussed all of these symptoms with him along with his estimate on how soon his WBC will return to normal ranges. According to Dr. B... it will take 5 - 7 days for his immune system to build back up. He says it starts very slow... and them will shoot up very quickly. His WBC must be at least 1000 before he can go home. I am estimating sometime mid-next week. Seems amazing that we are talking about maybe going home next week!!! Yahoo!! We talked about about vitamin D.. Dr. will immediately put Eric on a high dosage of Vitamin D when we leave. I can't even begin to repeat the science behind it, but in a nutshell, they have done a lot of research with Vitamin D and auto-immune diseases.. I will have to do more research so I really know what I am talking about. No huge restrictions when we get home other than being smart and keeping bad bacteria away.. Don't be around people that are sick, no fresh fruit or vegetables unless boiled..careful around grandkids and other kids with colds, dirty hands, etc... Just being cautious cause even though his numbers will be normal his immune system will take awhile before it is strong enough to fight off all those nasty bugs... I am sure we will get the low-down before we leave...
All in all, I think Eric looks good. I am anxious for Gary, Lois and Brian to see him this weekend to see what difference they notice. I see him everyday so probably not a good judge.
On that note, I am looking forward to the weekend. Saturday is suppose to be nice and hoping to go explore in the city in the afternoon.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Rebuilding
Eric's immune systme is basically non-existent today... As of the blood draw last night the numbers are as follows:
WBC = 0.08
Hemoglobin = 10.9
Hematocrit = 32.4
Platelet = 72
ANC = so low they couldn't get a reading
He got his first shot of Neuprogen and now we try to keep him free of germs and wait for the WBC to start climbing. No Mr. B today. Not sure what the scoop is.. he is either very busy, sick or in meetings. I am hoping to work some from the hospital tomorrow, visit with Eric and hopefully see the doctors. Eric still has a rash.. It has spread some, but not bad. They took him off the benedryl.. thank goodness.. Eric was bouncing off the walls yesterday. Everyone is in good spirits today.
Just played the Yahtzee game of my life.. I think I just got my highest score ever...557 (3 yahtzee's and bonus)..
Going to head out of here earlier today. Drank a latte way too late last night, couldn't sleep.
More to come tomorrow.. Hopefully a doctors report.
WBC = 0.08
Hemoglobin = 10.9
Hematocrit = 32.4
Platelet = 72
ANC = so low they couldn't get a reading
He got his first shot of Neuprogen and now we try to keep him free of germs and wait for the WBC to start climbing. No Mr. B today. Not sure what the scoop is.. he is either very busy, sick or in meetings. I am hoping to work some from the hospital tomorrow, visit with Eric and hopefully see the doctors. Eric still has a rash.. It has spread some, but not bad. They took him off the benedryl.. thank goodness.. Eric was bouncing off the walls yesterday. Everyone is in good spirits today.
Just played the Yahtzee game of my life.. I think I just got my highest score ever...557 (3 yahtzee's and bonus)..
Going to head out of here earlier today. Drank a latte way too late last night, couldn't sleep.
More to come tomorrow.. Hopefully a doctors report.
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