January 8, 2009

Roll up your sleeves Blood Drive Today
For those of you in the Lima area today between 8:00am -2:30pm the Allen County Department of of Job & Family Services 1501 S. Dixie Hwy.Lima, OH 45804 (in the old Westinghouse building) is holding a Blood Drive in my honor. This is open to the public, walk-ins welcome. My Aunt Debe has been working real hard with her employer & they have made great strides ensuring this is a very coordinated effort with multiple agencies involved. Unfortunately I am still admitted at the James Cancer Hospital in Columbus finishing my 4th & hopefully final round of hospitalized Chemotherapy treatment however please know that I am there with you all in spirit!

Here are today's labs:
Date------Day----WBC----ANC--------Hgb--------PLT---- Transfusions
24 Dec-----113----3.3-------1400------7.3---------45----1 Unit of Blood
26 Dec-----115----32.5-----29600------8.8-----------70--------------N/A
29 Dec-----118----3.6-----1836------9.6-----------121--------------N/A
2 Jan-----122-----2.7-----1400------10.1-----------193--------------N/A
4 Jan-----124----4.4------2640------10.0-----------225--------------N/A
5 Jan-----125----2.9------1380-------9.9-----------214--------------N/A
6 Jan-----126----6.8------6100------10.1-----------203--------------N/A
7 Jan-----127-----4.8----4200-------9.3-----------171--------------N/A
8 Jan---128-----3.9---3800------8.6-----------181--------------N/A

I forced myself to get back on the treadmill again yesterday. It was a lot tougher than Monday. I stayed on it for 40 minutes walking most of the time but I did manage to get up to a decent jog intermittently. My muscles ached through out it, but not my bones which was interesting. I managed to go a little over 2 miles. I was tired after that I went back to my room & laid down sweaty & all. I didn't take a shower or change my bed until 9pm & it took all the strength I could muster to do that.

My roommate left last night around 11:30pm & I am supposed to be getting another new one around noon today. My favorite nurse practitioner Carlie is back today, she has been the most informative & up front with me throughout my hospitalizations. She is ensuring I have my new prescription for Neupogen Shots & a few others prior to my last does of Chemo tomorrow night so there will be no delays getting out of here. She also gave me a heads up that it looks like I will be getting my 5th Bone Marrow Biopsy as soon as my counts recover from my last set of consolidated chemotherapy treatments to ensure I am still in remission before we move on to the 3rd phase, Maintenance Decitabine treatments. This is a lower dose of Chemotherapy that will be treated in out patient. I will receive it 1 hour per day for 5 consecutive days with cycles repeated every 6 weeks for a total of 8 cycles (the total course of treatment is 42 weeks) My understanding is this treatment is what they give to a lot of the elderly patients that have the same type of cancer as me that cannot tolerate the high doses of Citerabine I have been going through. It all sounds very promising.

Well 2 more days & I am outta here, I can't wait the clock moves a little slower each day. I miss Marc & the kids so much. I told Marc not to come up this time because the kids need him at home.

Brandon competed in a wrestling meet at Miami Trace last night & won both of his matches in the 160lb weight class. All of the Christmas decorations I took down before coming back to the hospital Marc & Brandon stored them for me, I just need to get the actual tree & outdoor decor down when I get home & then it is all done. Seems like there was so much more space in the house afterwards. I love the decorations but it does tend to clutter things a little.

I brought the prayer blanket with me to the hospital that Betsy & her church made for me. It is really pretty & warm. All the knots around it each represent a prayer someone has prayed for me. Again thank you so much to everyone for your support.

Benefit Scheduled
Many of you who know me may remember I used to be on the Board & the Treasurer for the London Assembly #208 Rainbow Girls when Katie & Paige were in Rainbow. I was contacted by Mom Wendy Hall, Mother Advisor from The London Assembly #208 Rainbow Girls & they are holding a Spaghetti Dinner Benefit for me on January 24th from 5:00 pm-7:00 pm at the Chandler Lodge located at 65 North Main Street, London Ohio. The Menu will be Spaghetti, sauce with meatballs, bread & butter, salad with dressing & a drink for $5.00. Desserts will be available for a donation & you can dine in or carryout is available. If you would like any information please contact Keith Hall @ 614-302-0431or airforcekeith@sbcglobal.net