Hope everyone has a great labor day weekend.

And my honey… I love and miss you!

My sweetie made it safe and sound to Lancaster…. No real travel hiccups. I’m so glad. I love that woman!

I didn’t blog yesterday… I haven’t been feeling that well.  Probably a combo of things… I’m stressed about Karen leaving, and I have been running a low grade fever on and off since yesterday.  We contacted the powers that be at oncology and heard that unless my fever gets to 101 we shouldn’t panic.  I don’t really have any other symptoms.  I feel tired, a bit worn down, but then again I didn’t sleep great last night… checking my temp every time I got up to go to the bathroom.  It made it up to 100.5 at one point, but then went down from there.  If it does hit 101 I will probably have to go back into the hospital for antibiotics and other tests to make sure I’m OK.  We are hoping that doesn’t happen.  The nice thing is that my oncology office called today to check on me.  Asked Karen a bunch of questions about me.  Like I said… no real other symptoms… other than tiredness.   I feel like I’m getting great care from them.  It’s awesome.  It will be interesting to see what my blood work looks like tomorrow.  Mom and I will probably go in in the morning, just to get in there and get it done so we can know earlier about what’s what.  I’m hoping my RBCs and platelets are fairly stable and that my WBCs and neutrophils, if not up, are at least stable.  Hoping for them to rise in the next week or so.   Wouldn’t it be great to not be neutropenic for a week or more before I have to go back into the hospital for the next round?  Yes… yes it would.

So, I have avoided talking about Karen leaving… which I mentioned earlier.  I am really glad she is going to be with Mary, Martin, and the baby.  It will be wonderful for her to be there for the birth of our first grandchild and to help Mary… and Martin… through it.  It’s a good thing.  I just miss her already.  We have not been separated for more than a week since we’ve met.  This is going to be strange.  Good thing I have my momma here with me.  She will take good care of me (which makes Karen feel better… and me), and be great company in the absence of my honey.  Karen and I plan on skyping every day and talking on the phone as well.  It will work out.  It will be OK.  And before you know it we will have a new bouncing grand baby and Karen will be winging her way back to me.  :-)  It will go fast.

Otherwise I am hanging at home, watching the US Open first round on TV, Karen is working and gathering stuff to get ready to pack tonight, and things are pretty normal around here.

Hope everyone is having a great day….

We got home late afternoon, early evening, and rented a free paper view movie (we got a couple free from DISH so we took advantage).  Now it’s just hanging at home on a Sunday night.  Dinner of leftover chicken with BBQ sauce, fake mashed potatoes with cottage cheese (I can’t have the real thing when I’m neutropenic… and we are starting to act as if I am), and some canned green beans.  I think Karen is skipping the cottage cheese (she doesn’t understand this particular delicacy that my mom has passed down to me… cottage cheese on potatoes… so tasty) and is going for some red beans with her chicken.  She always makes my dinner first if we are having a sort of left over night.  That way we both get what we want.

It’s been a nice weekend.  Too fast.  Much too fast… but a nice weekend.   I love hanging out with my honey.

I’m a tad tired today.  Just still dealing with the after effects.  It goes in waves.  I at least got on the treadmill this morning for 15 minutes.  Not a super long time, but at least I got on there.  That’s earlier than I did last time I got out of the hospital.  It just felt good to move a little.  I may get on there again tonight for another 15… have to see how I’m doing.  It’s sometimes a moment by moment thing.

So Karen and I, based on last time, are thinking I should be heading toward neutropenia again pretty soon.  Probably by Monday or so… which would be 10 days from the day I started the last treatment.  It was about that last time… maybe a couple of days longer.  Time to make sure there are no fresh veggies and no people with colds around…  It’s a roller coaster.  Just like the doc said… take you down, then build you up, just to take you down again.  All I can think of is that I only have one more consolidation round… and it’s only two days.  Granted it’s back up to full strength of the chemo, but only two days.  The first round… the induction, I had full strength for four days, every other day.  This last time I had a different med at about two thirds full strength for five days straight.  And now I’m rambling…

For now… it’s Saturday… and I got a haircut. One day, one thing, at a time.

I’m ensconced in the family room, heating pad on my back, blanket on my lap, cup o’ green tea sitting next to me, and some design show from HGTV on the TV.  I’m plugging through, as usual.  This will pass.  I will sleep tonight, I have confidence… and a sleeping pill if I have to.  At least the mucous in the throat thing seems to be getting better.  Yay!

Karen is working away in there… as usual.  She is such a… I don’t even know… I love her so much.  She is my strength, my solace, my split apart, my family, my life.  There are no words to explain it really…. It’s love… plain and simple.

Not feeing too terrible today.  I am having little bouts of queasiness and this nasty mucous thing happening in my throat still, but this all will pass once I get the chemo from this round totally out of my system.   Good news is that when I’m not feeling queasy I’m not feeling too bad.  Karen called Nancy this morning to make sure I didn’t have to go in for my regular Thursday blood draw… I don’t.  They did it yesterday and my numbers were all in the normal range so I’m not neutropenic and my red blood counts are also up and good.  Still feel tired though, which is a side effect of the chemo and having that poison in me.  Again though… it’s just good to be home and it will get better.

Next appointment with my oncologist got set up for September 16.  If all goes as planned I will go into the hospital for the last of the consolidation rounds on Saturday, September 18 and 19.  It’s only a two day deal the last time (yay!) and the chemo med is idarubicin again, the one I have had and know better.  It’s a push again, and back up to the full strength, but again… only two days.  In one, out the next.  I like the sound of that.  This time around, five days was a lot.  Karen and I were both pretty sick of it by the fourth day.  We both just wanted the day to end so we could go to sleep, get up the next day, get my round done, and go.  So two days sounds great to me.

As I know it, after the last consolidation round in September, I will then have to have another bone marrow biopsy after my numbers come up again, and then I will be on two years maintenance.  We believe that involves three months of one kind of drug, then ATRA every three months for 15 days, and also some other drug which in the protocol says a weekly shot.  We will know for sure after the bone marrow biopsy and such. We’re getting there though… one more consolidation round in the hospital.  One more.

Today they premeded (not exactly a word, but you know sometimes there are no words but the ones we make up) the heck out of me…. Steroids, anti-nausea, Ativan, Tylenol, and an in iV dose of benadryl. It seemed to do the trick along with holding warm compresses to my vein/iV site during the infusion. Quite the process. The new IV site is in a smallish vein and my veins are small anyway… And they shrink up when I get nervous. Like I said, a process. But hey, one more day in this round. Yay! Almost over and home.

Karen went to Spaghetti Factory again this evening. Food and another dose of Ativan (which is for nausea as well as nerves), plus a walk, has calmed the nausea I was having. That was awhile ago. Now I’m having some tea my honey made. Decaf green mandarin orange. She also rubbed my feet during the infusion and then my back later… Earlier this evening. She is amazing.

In other news Karen went to get us some dinner tonight after she worked all day. She was able to get online via the card today so that was great. Made it easier for her to be with me and to do the meetings she had to do. The dinner was from Panda Express…. Orange Chicken over rice for me in a bowl and orange chicken and Beijing Beef with rice for her. Tasty. For dessert we were going to have cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory because my honey thought she saw one at the Clackamas Town Center. Alas, after getting our taste buds all psyched for it she got there and realized there wasn’t one there. The dessert alternative? Chocolate and toffee nut cookies from Panera (also a great choice!). It was all good if you ask me. We only ate a chocolate cookie each so we still have some for snacks tomorrow. Yay! It’s the small pleasures in life!

We are both anxious to get out day after tomorrow. We’re tired of being here. Everyone is wonderful, as usual, but we would much rather be home. We are over the hump now and heading to the home stretch. Not long and we will be back at home. Two more nights. One more take out dinner.