Bob out of hospital, hopefully for good!

Family and friends,
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and long weekend. I'm happy to report that Bob is finally out of the hospital as of 9:30am yesterday morning. He got home, took a shower, and spent the afternoon with his parents. Last night he picked up Christopher and they watched GI Joe and had a sleepover at grandma's house. Both of them really enjoyed themselves.
Today we are going over to Bob's aunt and uncle's house to re-create Thanksgiving dinner for him.

Finally, Bob should get the results of his specialized blood test tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed and please continue to keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Love and thanks,
Michele

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy Thanksgiving

Family and friends,
We are so thankful to have family and friends like all of you. Thank you for all the love and support you have given Bob and I. I have attached a photo of Bob's Thanksgiving surprise from his son. Bob has been extremely tired and sore all day. He doesn't want me to bring him turkey until 7pm since he's still sleeping.

Here's his blog from today:
I was going to put this up last night, but felt like crap and was very tired. I watched the UConn vs LSU basketball game. Then, I got really nauseous. It sucked. I had my forth bag of chemo at 4:00am, so I didn't get much sleep. I was already tired to begin with and now I am exhausted. I'm going to spend the day napping and watching football. I did get my three walks in, but it wasn't easy. My knees were really sore. I'll report on today later.


Please continue to keep Bob in your thoughts and prayers.
Love and thanks,
Michele


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 2 of last round of chemo

Family and friends,

Today was a super busy day for me. After work I brought Bob and Christopher McDonalds at the hospital. Did you know a double cheeseburger has 1,150mg of sodium? I'm sure that can't be good for Bob. I read that on the side of the happy meal box. That's scary. Anyway, Bob is sore and tired. He's excited to see what surprise his son has in store for him tomorrow. I'm sleeping at my parents' house tonight in order to help with prep early tomorrow. With Bob and my brother-in-laws family we will be about 25 people. That's alot of turkey!

Here's Bob's blog:
Day 2 went without event. No nausea yet. Not much too good on TV. I am starting to feel more tired than usual. I did do my three laps around the floor again. My joints are still killing me, especially my knees. My son, Christopher, came over for a visit. He made the Honor Roll at school and had a really good report card. I was very proud of him. We played on the computer for a while and thumb wrestled. We finalized our plans for Saturday. We are going to sleep over my parents house. Michele will be out of town at her cousin's wedding. So, I figured I should stay at my parents to make sure I'm doing okay after a week of chemo. We are planning on watching GI Joe the movie. Christopher is VERY excited to see it. Talk to yopu tomorrow.

PS. I'm really looking forward to Sons of Anarchy tonight. It's one of the few TV shows I watch on a weekly basis.

Please continue to keep Bob in your thoughts and prayers and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Love and thanks,
Michele


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 1 of last round of Chemo

Family and friends,
I'm going to let you read from Bob's blog first and then I'll tell you what the doctor said regarding the blood abnormalities...


From Bob's Blog:


Day One of chemo...
I arrived today at the Bethesda Memorial at 9:30. I was in my room by 10:30, not bad by hospital standards. They did the usual panel of blood work. I received my first IV bag of chemo at 2:00pm. I'll get the next one at 2:00am. so, not much sleep tonight. How consolidation chemo works is you get chemo twice on days 1, 3, and 5. You are off on days 2 and 4. If all goes well, I should be released sometime Saturday morning.My Oncologist told me they found some abnormalities in my blood cells while doing their review. She thinks it is due to some of the drugs she has me taking to aid in white blood cell formation. She's not too worried, but she is going to do further testing to verify that he cancer is not back. I should get the results in 3 days. I have gotten semi used to stuff like this and just try and roll with it. But, it's always in the back of your mind that you could be sick again.The chemo doesn't really make me feel worse for a couple of days. I feel fine right now. Well, fine for being on round 5 of chemo. I'm still tired most of the time and my joints are killing me. For exercise I took three walks around the whole floor. I would guess the distance to be 1/8th of a mile. I don't have much stamina right now. I'm hoping to improve that once I get this last round of chemo done.


Michele- Okay, Bob is in good spirits today. Bob's doctor called me yesterday and wanted to fill me in on the blood abnormalities. She first wanted to start off by saying that she was very happy that Bob's counts had recovered so quickly. His hemoglobin was at 11.1, platelets at 244,000 and white cells within normal ranges. The problem was that when they did the initial blood test they found that Bob had 1% blasts in his blood. The definition of "Blasts" is the following:

Blasts: Immature blood cells. Leukemic blasts do not grow and age normally; they proliferate wildly and fail to mature.

Bob's oncologist said first that everyone has blasts in their body, but that most likely Bob's could be due to the fact that because his counts recovered so quickly the blood cells didn't have time to mature, or because of the Nupogen injections this could possibly cause the increase in blast cells. She is sending his blood off for full spectrum testing but that it could take as long as week to get the results back (although she has expedited them). She had originally thought to ask Bob if he wanted to go back home and wait for the results because in the off chance that it comes back positive for the Leukemia (which she does not think is the case) Bob would unfortunately need to have re induction chemo again and it would be time to consider a stem cell transplant. Bob is very positive and knows that this is just an anomaly and wants to continue with his last round of consolidation chemotherapy so that he can finally be done. I cannot blame him. 6 months of this is tiring for me, I cannot even begin to think how hard it must be for Bob.

So now we just sit and wait for the results. Both the doctor, Bob and myself feel that it is not the Leukemia coming back.

Please continue to keep Bob in your thoughts and prayers and I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.

Love and thanks,
Michele

Bob is back at Elitefts.com and answering questions...

Family and friends,

Bob made his first public apperance yesterday at my neice's 1st birthday party. His white blood counts were high enough that he could fight off infection of 25 germy 2-5 year olds. Everyone was thrilled to see him and alot of people didn't recognize him with hair and long sideburns. (The picture I'm posting does not do him justice).

Bob is back in the hospital this morning for his last round of chemotherapy. He was very anxious to get there just to be over and done with it all. (I can't blame him). 6 months of this fiasco and I'd be anxious to get it over too! Anyway, as most of you know Bob is very active in the powerlifting community and for the last 7 years or so has been a fixture on the Q&A and logs at elitefts.com. Bob is finally strong enough to reintroduce his log. Here is a brief exerpt:

"Hi Everyone!For those who don't know I was diagnosed with leukemia in June of this year. I have been under going chemotherapy for the previous 5 months. During that time there have been some complications. To the point where I was read my last rights and my family was told twice I wouldn't make it through the night. My fiance, Michele, has been keeping a blog from the start of this and it can be found at:Bob Youngs - Cancer Blog The reason I am doing a log now is in an effort to promote the Lift Strong line of clothing Elite Fitness Systems is offering. I am going to chronicle my last week of chemo and then my rehab. I am hoping to bring more awerness to the EFS community."

If you are interested in either reading Bob's blog or asking him a question on the Q&A you can do so by going to http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/training-logs.asp?tid=61&__N=Bob%20Youngs

Bob will be missing Thanksgiving this year because he will be in the hospital but everyone is going to come and visit him and he's expecting an extra special dinner prepared by his son Christopher. Please continue to keep Bob in your thoughts and prayers.

Love and thanks,

Michele

Bob has kicked the cold and is in good spirits...

Family and Friends,

Thankfully Bob has kicked his cold with minimal issues, the ZPac worked! In addition he's been in good spirits and we spent some time with Christopher over the weekend. He and Bob played Star Wars and Bob's voice is coming back. His voice has improved by leaps and bounds and he's letting his hair grow out. I swear I think he gained hair during the chemotherapy!! He's got sideburns that are funny as heck. I'll try to post a photo later. Bob goes back into the hospital for his final round of chemotherapy on Monday November 23rd (during the week of Thanksgiving) and then he's done. He is very anxious to get it all over with and I can't blame him.

Thanks for keeping him in your thoughts and prayers.
Love and thanks,
Michele

Bob has a cold... and blog reflections

Family and Friends,

Bob got out of the hospital late Tuesday but yesterday started showing signs of coming down with a cold. I was very worried last night because Bob's immune system is so weakened that any little thing can progress very quickly into something large and life threatening. So we went to the doctor this morning and his oncologist prescribed him a ZPac and either Sudafed or Mucinex and said as long as he doesn't get a fever he should be okay. The good thing is that Bob's levels are starting to slowly go up on their own. His hemoglobin this morning was 9.9 and platelets at 29,000 so he won't need any transfusions today. We just have to monitor him closely for any signs of fever, but so far he hasn't had any.

That being said, I'd like to stop for a minute and say something about this blog. I write this blog for all of our family and friends to keep everyone up to date regarding Bob's progress. I know at times I can be a little harsh about what's going on, but because I have an iPhone I have the ability to write from anywhere and usually right as everything is happening. So the majority of my posts are uncensored and mostly stream of conciousness, and I usually don't take time to sit down and reflect before writing them. I know at times I can be hard on both the doctor's and the nurses that are providing care for Bob, but I feel it's my obligation to be thorough because Bob's life is at stake. That being said, I would like to say that for the most part I have been very impressed with the care that Bob has received at Bethesda as well as with his oncologist. She is a good doctor and I would not hesitate to recommend her to anyone. I realize that everyone is human and sometimes things just slip through the cracks, but I am confident that she has Bob's best interests in mind. She has gone out of her way to be there for both Bob and myself throughout this process, and has been patient and has answered all of our questions. I realize that sometimes I should stop and say a few good things in this blog as well and going forward I will do more of this.

Finally, I met with the people from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society yesterday morning regarding "Woman of the Year" fundraising event for next April that Bob's doctor recommended me for. I have decided that I will participate and try to give back to a cause that has deeply affected Bob's family. I will post more about this at a later date.

Thanks for all the recent emails and phone calls about Bob. I read all the comments posted on this blog as well and even though I may not respond to all of them, they are all very much appreciated. Please continue to keep Bob in your thoughts and prayers.
Love and thanks,
Michele

Veteran's Day and Bob out of hospital...

Family and friends,

Bob was released from the hospital around 9:30pm last night. His hemoglobin was 8.5 and platelets at 25,000. These are still pretty low but he will go back to the oncologist Thursday and will more than likely need additional transfusions. Both myself and Christopher have the day off today so we are going to bake cupcakes with grandma and possibly go in the pool and have a cookout with Bob's aunt April and uncle Tom if the weather holds up. Please continue to keep Bob in your thoughts and prayers and have a great Veteran's Day.

Love and thanks,
Michele


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bob still in hospital... Needs more blood still

Family and friends,

Bob is still in the hospital. He received 2 units of platelets and 2 units of packed red blood cells yesterday. He also received an additional unit of blood this morning. Unfortunately his counts are still low- hemoglobin at 7.2 and platelets at 26,000 so he will remain in the hospital today and get two more units of blood, then they will reassess. I have attached a photo of Bob's foot to give you an idea of peticulae - what happens when you have low platelets. The peticulae itself is not life threatening. We hope Bob will be released from the hospital early tomorrow morning if all goes well. Please continue to keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
Love and thanks,
Michele


-- Posted from my iPhone

Emergency admit to hospital...

Family and Friends,

I am beyond pissed off right now to the point of spitting nails. If you've been following the blog you know that last week I ranted about the fact that no one apparantly except for me feels it necessary about Bob's blood counts. On Friday Bob went to the doctor (and at that point should have gotten two units of blood). Well no one tested his blood counts on Friday because the doctor was moving her office. I was pissed. Fast forward to yesterday... Bob's face was broken out with peticlui (looks like measles). By this morning it had spread all over his body and when he woke up his tounge was twice it's normal size and fill with bloody postules. So needless to say we rush to the doctor, she says his low platelets are causing all of this and that he needs an emergency platelet transfusion. At this point it takes everything that I have to not start yelling because this whole damn thing could have been avoided if someone would have been proactive. So now here we sit, Bob and I at the hospital. It took an hour to get the blood results. His hemoglobin has dropped to 5.8 it's surprising to them he is still concious. Normal is between 12-16. His platelets are at 2. Seriously. They are supposed to be at 150,000-350,000. His white cells are non exisitant which means he has no immune system. I hope everyone can understand how frustrating this is because it all could have been prevented with some proactivity. So they are doing an emergency admittance into the hospital for Bob. I'll be here all day if you need me.
Please keep bob in your thoughts and prayers.
Love and thanks,
Michele


-- Posted from my iPhone

Surgery stitches removed, throat update...

Family and Friends,

Bob went by himself to the ENT surgeon this morning. He said that the doctor told him the wound was healing perfectly and his voice seems to be making progress. The stitches were removed. Time will tell if he needs further surgery or if his vocal cord will repair itself. After that he went to the oncologist. Bob has been getting Nupogen shots to bring up his white blood cell count this week. They are still low and so are his hemoglobin and platlets. I was very disappointed that his oncologist was not more proactive and would just give him 2 units of red blood cells and one unit of platlets. He's going to get to her office Monday morning and probably need 3 units of blood and 2 units of platlets and without being typed or crossed at the hospital he'll be at Bethesda ALL DAY and most likely all day Tuesday. I just don't get why doctors are reactive and not proactive. I'm in no way a doctor, but I can see the trend in Bob's bloodwork. How you could let anyone walk around with 50% of the blood in their body and not be proactive about it is beyond me. What if something happens to Bob over the weekend? I'm just saying...

It's annoying.

So, it looks like Bob doesn't qualify for unemployment benefits because he is unable to look for a job and from what the lady said Bob couldn't work at his last job so he technally wasn't laid off due to a lack of available work. Whatever. It's ridiculous. I'm just glad I got the long term disability straightened out. I'd recommend to anyone getting this insurance if it's available.

Please keep Bob in your thoughts and prayers. He only has ONE MORE ROUND OF CHEMOTHERAPY LEFT!!! (Thanksgiving week)

Lots of Love and Thanks,

Michele

Bob out of hospital, doing well after surgery

Family and Friends,

I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween. As I said in my last post, Bob's surgery went well. That Friday I really noticed a difference in Bob's voice. He was speaking much deeper and not whispering at all. But then Saturday (most likely due to the fact that the swelling went down) Bob was back speaking in a hoarse whisper. He is going back to the ENT surgeon Thursday or Friday this week to have the stitches removed and once it's healed they will begin vocal testing to see the extent of the damage to his vocal cords. I am hoping things will get better with time.

As expected, Bob got out of the hospital on Saturday afternoon. He was in good spirits and insisted that he walk out of the hospital rather than get wheeled out. (He was very stubborn about this). In addition, he also insisted that I get him a costume for Halloween so that he could trick or treat with Christopher, Bob's uncle Tom, and myself. I went out and bought us matching pirate costumes and Bob was a real trooper. He walked his butt off and let me tell you it was hot as heck. Like 85 degrees, so hot that we had to bring poor Christopher home to change out of his polyester costume and into a RedSox t-shirt and shorts. We all had a fanstastic time on Halloween. I will post photos later.

Bob and I went to his oncologist this morning so that he could get a check up and a Nupogen shot. His counts are actually pretty good today and he didn't need any blood. He'll be going back every day this week for more shots and follow up. I also got a call from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Palm Beach wanting me to participate in their Woman of the Year. I have to call them back today. Bob's doctor was the one that nominated me and I was very honored that she'd think of me.

I will keep everyone posted of Bob's progress throughout the week. Please continue to keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Love and thanks,
Michele