Bob's surgery a success

Family and friends,

Bob's surgeon just came out to see me and said everything went well. The hole in his trachea was covered by muscle and he has 5 stitches that will need to be removed next week. He also looked at Bobs vocal chord and said the left one is "bowed out". At this time there is nothing they can do about it but wait until the stitches heal. Overall a success. Bob is in recovery and I'm hoping his voice is better. Thanks to everyone for you support.
Please keep Bob in your thoughts and prayers. If recovery goes well he'll be out of here by noon tomorrow just in time to see Christopher dressed up for Halloween.
Love and thanks,
Michele


-- Posted from my iPhone

Surgery scheduled for Friday...

Family and friends,

After calling the oncologist and explaining how it doesn't make sense for Bob to have a surgery scheduled for the same day that he is supposed to be discharged (Saturday), she spoke with the ENT and they have scheduled surgery for Friday - time TBD. I guess we'll take it and hope Bob recovers quickly before he is discharged. I also submitted the final paperwork for Bob's long term disaiblity claim. That was a nightmare. I am hoping finally that they will approve him and send him the last month's worth of checks. Other than that, everything is going pretty well with Bob. He is very tired, but spends his day watching NCIS, CSI Miami and playing on his iPhone. He wanted me to say hello to everyone for him.

Thanks to all who keep reading the blog. Please continue to keep Bob in your thoughts and prayers.
Love and thanks,
Michele

Bob saw ENT doc, going to have surgery...

Family and Friends,

Thanks so much for all the encouraging words to myself and Bob regarding his neck and speech. I really think it did the trick because when I woke up this morning I got a text from Bob saying that the ENT doctor came by and Bob let him put the scope partially down his throat. I was very proud of him. Now for the not so good news. There is still a hole where Bob's tracheotomy site is and the doctor wants to close it. It would involve placing a flap of muscle over the hole in the trachea and sewing the skin together above that. Bob would not be fully knocked out, but in twilight. The doctor would then put the scope down Bob's nose and see what else is wrong. The doctor said Bob's left vocal cord is not fully functioning. The ENT doc is going to consult with Bob's oncologist to see about a timeline for surgery, but it sounded like he wanted to do it on Halloween morning (Saturday). Now I spoke with Bob's doctor last night and she said that if he had surgery she'd preferably like to do it as soon as possible because of the chemotherapy and the fact that all his blood counts go down exponentially day by day as well as his immune system and his ability to clot. Since I had to go to work today I told Bob to tell the oncologist that he wants to see if they can do the surgery tomorrow. Bob's response was "The doctors know best". I started laughing!!

So needless to say, I'm going to call the oncologist today and see what we can do about pushing this surgery up. It doesn't make any sense to do it on Saturday, the day he's supposed to be discharged. If they did it today, at least they could observe him for a few days - one would thing that would be the most logical thing. But as I have learned over the past few months, there is no rhyme or reason to the doctor's decisions.

I am still fighting with Bob's insurance company trying to get him long term disability. They won't release any checks yet. I did however get him unemployment. Did you know the max unemployment in the state of Florida is $275 a week? what the heck can you buy for that?? It's ridiculous. I've got to get this crap straightened out ASAP.

Please continue to keep Bob in your thoughts and prayers.

Love and thanks,

Michele

Bob back in hospital...

Family and friends,
Bob is back in the hospital for his second to last round of chemotherapy. He's in good spirits (as you can see from the photo), but still very tired all the time. He's going into this round with high counts which is good, but still having issues with the tracheostomy site not healing. I actually think it's infected again. But... Bob is stubborn and does not want the ear nose and throat doc to look at it with a scope unless they knock him out. The doctor won't do that because of the chemo, so everyone is stuck looking at the wound from the outside only. I'm just hoping there is no permanent damage to his vocal chords. He's still speaking at a whisper and no one can understand him on the phone. That's about it. I'll be hopefully giving regular updates this week since he'll be in there until Saturday.
Please keep Bob in your thoughts and prayers.
Love and thanks,
Michele


Bob with hair? Not...
-- Posted from my iPhone

Bob doing well, going back in for next round on Monday...

Family and Friends,

Sorry it's been 10 days since my last post. Things here have been hectic but good. The good news first - Bob has been doing fantastic on his blood counts - White blood and platlets are back in normal ranges and his hemoglobin is at 9.6 which is pretty high for him. Bob has been very tired and spends most days sleeping on the couch. We are working with his doctor on tweaking his pain medication which causes him to twitch -especially at night when he gets tired. They are trying to wean him off the pain patches first. Bob is still having issues with his tracheotomy site. At one point it looked like it was getting better, then we decided it would be a good idea put neosporin on it, and now it's getting worse. While Bob is in the hospital next Monday for his next round of chemo, they are going to have the surgeon look at it. I don't know how well that's going to go seeing as Bob won't let them look up his nose to get to his throat, but we'll see.

I'm still fighting for Bob to get long term disability. They have approved it finally after a month, but won't disperse until I get a letter from one of his doctors from 2008 stating he was receiving muscle relaxers for his back pain and not for cancer. It's just ridiculous. In addition, I received a phone call last week from Bob's work advising me that they laid off Bob. THANK GOD my company offers domestic partner medical and dental benefits, or Bob would be screwed. Cobra wanted almost $600 a month for medical alone. In addition, Bob has racked up over $1,000,000 in medical costs (yep, that's a Million with a capital M!) It's pretty screwed up- the insurance company tells you that you have a $5k co-pay, but then once you've reached that then they tell you they'll only pay 90%. So Bob's portion of the medical bills for the last 4 months is $100,000 out of pocket. Nice. I think we're better off living in Canada or Switzerland or something, but Bob won't have any of that. Sorry for the complaining, but it gets very frustrating fighting with these companies. At least Bob has Aetna now. I'm hoping they are much better.

Please continue to keep Bob in your thoughts and prayers. He'll be in the hospital Monday October 26 and get out on Halloween afternoon - just in time to watch Christopher trick or treat!!

Love and thanks,

Michele

PS. I'll make sure to post some pictures of Bob soon.

Bob hanging in there...

Family and friends,

Bob is hanging in there. He's been napping alot. His blood counts unfortunately have been dropping steadily to the point where his platelets were at 6,000. Normal is between 150,000 and 350,000. He went in as an outpatient yesterday for two units of platelets. He's keeping busy today watching football and wanted to say hi to everyone.

Please continue to keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Love and thanks,
Michele

Ps. Thanks to Powerhouse Gym for the t-shirt and get well card. That was so thoughtful!


-- Posted from my iPhone

Bob is home and happy

Family and friends,

Sorry its been a few days since ive updated the blog. Bob is home now and doing pretty well. He's been trying to sleep as much as possible. I'm going with him to the doctor tomorrow so they can show me how to flush his picc lines. His counts are doing surprising well so far too.

Please continue to keep Bob in your thoughts and prayers.

Love and thanks,
Michele


-- Posted from my iPhone

Chemo a success so far, Bob coming home tomorrow...

Family and Friends,

Bob is holding his own very well with regard to the chemotherapy. His blood counts are holding steady and so are his platlets. The doctor said that Bob will be going home tomorrow. Bob is looking forward to eating real food (as opposed to hospital food) and getting to have Christopher come over to our house to play video games. The only issue that I'm dealing with now is fighting with Bob's insurance company Guardian to get him long term disability. They are making prove that Bob's Leukemia isn't a pre-exisiting condition (which is ridiculous).

Please keep Bob in your thoughts and prayers. As soon as he gets out tomorrow, I'm going to take a picture of him and post it so you can see his progress. He's been mainly living off snickers bars and whatchamacalits so he's putting on a few pounds since the hospital food isn't the greatest.

Love and thanks,

Michele