Dear Family and Friends,
Lots of news today... some good, some not so good. For the good news - Bob and I are engaged! That really caught me off guard and I never in a million years thought I would be proposed to in a hospital! Of course I accepted... Apparently he asked my Dad for his permission while my Dad was visiting him this morning. Now for the not so good news, Bob's had a pretty rough day today- by far the worst day yet. He's in a severe amount of pain, and really didn't have the energy to even sit in the chair today. His pulse is also high, he's laying in bed and it's at 152, and they just did some imaging of his stomach to make sure everything is okay. Earlier this morning they had to give him another blood transfusion as well. Bob asked me to spend the night in hospital tonight for the first time just to keep an eye on him.
Thanks again for all the prayers and keep the comments and emails coming,
Michele
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Day 5 of Chemotherapy
Friends and Family,
Unfortunately as expected day 5 is another day of nausea and weakness. Bob hasn't been able to walk the wing in a few days because he's been so tired. This morning they took some blood, they were trying to be proactive in trying to type him in case he ever needed a stem cell transplant. However, the doctor realized that it's super expensive and they would need to do it over again at The Dana Farber Cancer Center in Boston anyway, so they basically drew his blood for nothing. Now he may need to get a blood transfusion tomorrow. We have to wait and see.
Speaking of Dana Farber, I started the paperwork to get Bob registered there today. Now all I have to do is get Bethesda to fax Bob's medical records to Boston for them to review. The people up there in Boston were very nice, and it looks like Bob's doctor up there will be the one his mom went to when she had Leukemia. (I asked them and they said no problem)
That's all that is going on here. Special thanks to Alwyn for the email he sent. Bob said he's going to watch "Secrets of the Founding Fathers" on the History Channel tonight.
Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers,
Michele
Unfortunately as expected day 5 is another day of nausea and weakness. Bob hasn't been able to walk the wing in a few days because he's been so tired. This morning they took some blood, they were trying to be proactive in trying to type him in case he ever needed a stem cell transplant. However, the doctor realized that it's super expensive and they would need to do it over again at The Dana Farber Cancer Center in Boston anyway, so they basically drew his blood for nothing. Now he may need to get a blood transfusion tomorrow. We have to wait and see.
Speaking of Dana Farber, I started the paperwork to get Bob registered there today. Now all I have to do is get Bethesda to fax Bob's medical records to Boston for them to review. The people up there in Boston were very nice, and it looks like Bob's doctor up there will be the one his mom went to when she had Leukemia. (I asked them and they said no problem)
That's all that is going on here. Special thanks to Alwyn for the email he sent. Bob said he's going to watch "Secrets of the Founding Fathers" on the History Channel tonight.
Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers,
Michele
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Day 4 of Chemotherapy
Family and Friends,
Day 4 of Chemo is not going as well as yesterday. Bob spent almost all day in bed. He watched the Red Sox lose, and he's feeling even more neausous than day 3. Christopher came over again and showed us his toys and we played on the computer.
A special thank you to Kim Russo, who posted a comment on day 3 and sent us a link to her blog. There are other people here locally in South Florida who are going through the same kind of Leukemia and that Bob is not alone. When he's feeling up to it, I'll have him read Kim's blog.
Day 4 of Chemo is not going as well as yesterday. Bob spent almost all day in bed. He watched the Red Sox lose, and he's feeling even more neausous than day 3. Christopher came over again and showed us his toys and we played on the computer.
A special thank you to Kim Russo, who posted a comment on day 3 and sent us a link to her blog. There are other people here locally in South Florida who are going through the same kind of Leukemia and that Bob is not alone. When he's feeling up to it, I'll have him read Kim's blog.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Day 3 of Chemotherapy
Family and Friends,
Today is day 3 of Chemotherapy and I asked Bob to tell me how he's feeling. He says "very tired". He spent the majority of the afternoon in bed and didn't have the energy to walk today. His feet are very swollen with adema due to all the fulids from the chemo, so he might try walking again tomorrow.
He was visted by Christopher today, Chris showed us his flag football trophy he received since today was the last game. Bob had been Christopher's coach up until last weekend. (I took this photo of Bob and Chris 3 weeks ago) Other than that, Bob's been watching the Red Sox game on TV. He wanted me to say hello to everyone as well.
I'll post more tomorrow, Michele
Today is day 3 of Chemotherapy and I asked Bob to tell me how he's feeling. He says "very tired". He spent the majority of the afternoon in bed and didn't have the energy to walk today. His feet are very swollen with adema due to all the fulids from the chemo, so he might try walking again tomorrow.
He was visted by Christopher today, Chris showed us his flag football trophy he received since today was the last game. Bob had been Christopher's coach up until last weekend. (I took this photo of Bob and Chris 3 weeks ago) Other than that, Bob's been watching the Red Sox game on TV. He wanted me to say hello to everyone as well.
I'll post more tomorrow, Michele
Friday, June 26, 2009
Day 2 of Chemotherapy
Dear Family and Friends,
Today is day 2 of chemotherapy and so far, things are not as good as yesterday, but not horrible either. Bob is a little more nauseous and I didn't help things by mopping his floor with anti-bacterial wipes. (I was trying to get his room as sterile as possible, so he won't catch anything...) I'll know not to do that again....
I went to Bob's office this morning to pick up some of his personal effects (photos, his glasses, etc...) everyone there was fantastic, and it was great to see everyone again. Also, I dropped off the paperwork to put Bob on short term disability.
Other than that, not much new to report. My mom and Bob's mom stopped by this afternoon to visit him and drop off some candy and cookies (candy to bribe the nurses, and cookies for him). Also some much needed Gatorade.
That's about it. Bob said he was a little disappointed with Burn Notice last night, he didn't think it was as good as usual. He is also in the process of trying to find out if he gets TBS so he can watch baseball during the day. Finally for all the powerlifters out there, you'd be happy to know that Bob is maintaining a daily workout: He walks 4 times a day around the wing!
He wanted me to tell everyone a huge thank you for the comments you've been posting.
Michele
Today is day 2 of chemotherapy and so far, things are not as good as yesterday, but not horrible either. Bob is a little more nauseous and I didn't help things by mopping his floor with anti-bacterial wipes. (I was trying to get his room as sterile as possible, so he won't catch anything...) I'll know not to do that again....
I went to Bob's office this morning to pick up some of his personal effects (photos, his glasses, etc...) everyone there was fantastic, and it was great to see everyone again. Also, I dropped off the paperwork to put Bob on short term disability.
Other than that, not much new to report. My mom and Bob's mom stopped by this afternoon to visit him and drop off some candy and cookies (candy to bribe the nurses, and cookies for him). Also some much needed Gatorade.
That's about it. Bob said he was a little disappointed with Burn Notice last night, he didn't think it was as good as usual. He is also in the process of trying to find out if he gets TBS so he can watch baseball during the day. Finally for all the powerlifters out there, you'd be happy to know that Bob is maintaining a daily workout: He walks 4 times a day around the wing!
He wanted me to tell everyone a huge thank you for the comments you've been posting.
Michele
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Day 1 of Chemotherapy
Dear Family and Friends,
Today Bob began his first day of "Induction Chemotherapy". I'm not sure how detailed everyone wants me to be, so I'm going to be just for the first entry because I know a lot of people want to look this stuff up, so here it goes:
Bob will be taking a 7 day course of the drug Cytarabine and on the last three days they will add Idarubicin to the mix. Per his doctor this is used to wipe out the bad cells from his bone marrow. The main side effect aside from nausea will be a risk of infection and blood loss due to not having an immune system. For this reason and the fact that his platelets are so low due to the prior internal bleeding, they are taking "Neutropenic Precautions" with Bob which means no flowers in the room, no fresh fruit or veggies, no tap water, and everyone wears masks and washes hands before we see him. Right now it is immediate family only due to his compromised immune system. Bob is also being given Zofran to combat any potential nausea.
On the 14th day after Chemotherapy begins, they will repeat the bone marrow biopsy to determine how effective the chemo was. On the 30th day they will begin "Consolidation Chemotherapy" which is an even higher does of the Cytarabine which lasts for 3 days. They will keep repeating the chemotherapy cycle 3-4 times. The next step after this depending on how much of the cancer cells were eradicated would be a possible stem cell or bone marrow transplant. We don't know about this part yet.
Unfortunately now we are still awaiting the results of the final cancer cytogenetic testing. We do not know which subtype of Leukemia Bob has, and this would help the doctors determine how strong it is. We hope to have these results by Monday.
On a more positive note, Bob is doing very well on his first day. He ate dinner and is just minimally nauseous. He says hello to everyone and is excited to watch "Burn Notice" tonight. (He wanted me to say this!)
Finally I would like to especially thank my friend Rana today. She will be running a 5k in Hyde Park, London on July 19th to raise money for cancer research. She is dedicating her run to Bob. Also, many thanks to everyone who has made donations on this site. Thanks again for all the texts, phone calls, emails, and comments as well. I assure you I am telling Bob about each and every one of them. Thanks again for everything and I'll keep you posted.
Michele
PS. you can click at the bottom right of this blog if you want to follow it
Today Bob began his first day of "Induction Chemotherapy". I'm not sure how detailed everyone wants me to be, so I'm going to be just for the first entry because I know a lot of people want to look this stuff up, so here it goes:
Bob will be taking a 7 day course of the drug Cytarabine and on the last three days they will add Idarubicin to the mix. Per his doctor this is used to wipe out the bad cells from his bone marrow. The main side effect aside from nausea will be a risk of infection and blood loss due to not having an immune system. For this reason and the fact that his platelets are so low due to the prior internal bleeding, they are taking "Neutropenic Precautions" with Bob which means no flowers in the room, no fresh fruit or veggies, no tap water, and everyone wears masks and washes hands before we see him. Right now it is immediate family only due to his compromised immune system. Bob is also being given Zofran to combat any potential nausea.
On the 14th day after Chemotherapy begins, they will repeat the bone marrow biopsy to determine how effective the chemo was. On the 30th day they will begin "Consolidation Chemotherapy" which is an even higher does of the Cytarabine which lasts for 3 days. They will keep repeating the chemotherapy cycle 3-4 times. The next step after this depending on how much of the cancer cells were eradicated would be a possible stem cell or bone marrow transplant. We don't know about this part yet.
Unfortunately now we are still awaiting the results of the final cancer cytogenetic testing. We do not know which subtype of Leukemia Bob has, and this would help the doctors determine how strong it is. We hope to have these results by Monday.
On a more positive note, Bob is doing very well on his first day. He ate dinner and is just minimally nauseous. He says hello to everyone and is excited to watch "Burn Notice" tonight. (He wanted me to say this!)
Finally I would like to especially thank my friend Rana today. She will be running a 5k in Hyde Park, London on July 19th to raise money for cancer research. She is dedicating her run to Bob. Also, many thanks to everyone who has made donations on this site. Thanks again for all the texts, phone calls, emails, and comments as well. I assure you I am telling Bob about each and every one of them. Thanks again for everything and I'll keep you posted.
Michele
PS. you can click at the bottom right of this blog if you want to follow it
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
First Entry
Dear Family and Friends,
This is the first entry of my blog to keep everyone up to date on Bob and how he's doing. I guess I should start from the beginning and let everyone know what has happened thus far. As most of you know Bob and I went with his friends Dave and Traci on vacation to celebrate his 39th birthday this past week. A few days before the trip, Bob was complaining of stomach pain and I wasn't feeling well myself so we thought we had both picked up a bug of some sort. We started on vacation and I was feeling better, but Bob was feeling much worse. So for the first 2 days of the trip Bob stayed in the room. The next few days Bob was actually feeling better, so much so that he went scuba diving with me in Honduras, and went and climbed the Mayan ruins with Dave, Traci and I in Belize. Unfortunately, he started to feel worse again, so much so that when our vacation ended Sunday (on Father's Day) I persuaded Bob to go to the walk in clinic near our house to see a doctor because he hurt all over. The doctor there had concerns that his stomach was so tender and did a test to determine if Bob was bleeding internally. It came back positive and I rushed him to Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach. Thank god the emergency room people were very quick to act. They told me that they were surprised Bob was still walking with all the blood he lost. They had to drain blood from his stomach and immediately started a blood transfusion. He needed 6 pints of blood initally (the average person has 8-12 pints of blood in their whole body... just to give you an idea of how much he lost!). We spent the night in the emergency room, and on Monday morning they transferred him to the intensive care unit. They needed to get him stable before they could perform the remaining colonoscopy and upper GI endoscopy on him Tuesday. In the meanwhile, they decided to perform a million tests to try to figure out where he was losing blood from (he needed an additional 3 pints of blood Monday night). He was tested for everything from Swine Flu to bacterial infections, they decided to include a bone marrow aspiration as well since they found enlarged lymph nodes in his stomach. The colonoscopy was normal and the upper GI showed a few ulcers. His blood was starting to maintain itself on Tuesday night, so we hoped for the best and I went to work Wednesday morning. Unfortunately, while I was at work the oncologist came by the ICU and informed Bob of the bad news. Preliminary test results from the bone marrow aspiration showed that he has Leukemia. Acute Myeloid Leukemia to be exact. The exact same cancer that his mom has believe it or not. So Wednesday morning they moved Bob to the Cancer center at the hospital and will start chemotherapy first thing in the morning. I have been getting lots of emails from people wanting to come visit Bob. Unfortunately, his immune system right now is pretty much shot to hell due to the blood loss, so he is living in a sterile environment right now, masks and everything. Chemo starts tomorrow and lasts for 7 days so I'll be writing more soon.
I'd just like to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the support, love and prayers that everyone has given Bob. It really means a lot to him. I am especially grateful to Dave, Jim, and Alwyn from elitefts.com, all his powerlifting buddies, his co-workers and all of our family and friends. He won't be able to check his email much starting tomorrow so we've decided that I'm going to try to read to him all the comments that people make here on the blog for him. So keep the comments and support coming!
~Michele
This is the first entry of my blog to keep everyone up to date on Bob and how he's doing. I guess I should start from the beginning and let everyone know what has happened thus far. As most of you know Bob and I went with his friends Dave and Traci on vacation to celebrate his 39th birthday this past week. A few days before the trip, Bob was complaining of stomach pain and I wasn't feeling well myself so we thought we had both picked up a bug of some sort. We started on vacation and I was feeling better, but Bob was feeling much worse. So for the first 2 days of the trip Bob stayed in the room. The next few days Bob was actually feeling better, so much so that he went scuba diving with me in Honduras, and went and climbed the Mayan ruins with Dave, Traci and I in Belize. Unfortunately, he started to feel worse again, so much so that when our vacation ended Sunday (on Father's Day) I persuaded Bob to go to the walk in clinic near our house to see a doctor because he hurt all over. The doctor there had concerns that his stomach was so tender and did a test to determine if Bob was bleeding internally. It came back positive and I rushed him to Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach. Thank god the emergency room people were very quick to act. They told me that they were surprised Bob was still walking with all the blood he lost. They had to drain blood from his stomach and immediately started a blood transfusion. He needed 6 pints of blood initally (the average person has 8-12 pints of blood in their whole body... just to give you an idea of how much he lost!). We spent the night in the emergency room, and on Monday morning they transferred him to the intensive care unit. They needed to get him stable before they could perform the remaining colonoscopy and upper GI endoscopy on him Tuesday. In the meanwhile, they decided to perform a million tests to try to figure out where he was losing blood from (he needed an additional 3 pints of blood Monday night). He was tested for everything from Swine Flu to bacterial infections, they decided to include a bone marrow aspiration as well since they found enlarged lymph nodes in his stomach. The colonoscopy was normal and the upper GI showed a few ulcers. His blood was starting to maintain itself on Tuesday night, so we hoped for the best and I went to work Wednesday morning. Unfortunately, while I was at work the oncologist came by the ICU and informed Bob of the bad news. Preliminary test results from the bone marrow aspiration showed that he has Leukemia. Acute Myeloid Leukemia to be exact. The exact same cancer that his mom has believe it or not. So Wednesday morning they moved Bob to the Cancer center at the hospital and will start chemotherapy first thing in the morning. I have been getting lots of emails from people wanting to come visit Bob. Unfortunately, his immune system right now is pretty much shot to hell due to the blood loss, so he is living in a sterile environment right now, masks and everything. Chemo starts tomorrow and lasts for 7 days so I'll be writing more soon.
I'd just like to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the support, love and prayers that everyone has given Bob. It really means a lot to him. I am especially grateful to Dave, Jim, and Alwyn from elitefts.com, all his powerlifting buddies, his co-workers and all of our family and friends. He won't be able to check his email much starting tomorrow so we've decided that I'm going to try to read to him all the comments that people make here on the blog for him. So keep the comments and support coming!
~Michele
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