A Surprise Visit and Checking in

Tuesday was Joe's last day off before heading back into MDACC for his next chemo regimen. Marina Peed, a MPD Greater Atlanta Support Group member, had flown in from Atlanta with her family to spend the Thanksgiving holiday at her Mom's ranch in Huffman, TX. Her Mom's name is Eileen and I found out where Marina inherited her outgoing personality and positive attitude with a huge zest for living as well as having a heart of gold - all from her Mom. Huffman is about one hour northeast of Houston where most of the homesites have acreage for horses.

Marina and her daughter ran to greet us as we stepped out of our car. Three friendly dogs of various mixed breeds also greeted us and Max. Hugs and great greetings were shared. Marina introduced us to Eileen, her Mom, who also hugged us as if she had known us for years. Eileen took us on a tour of her ranch where she has five beautiful horses. Jack, an 18 year old  palomino, is a horse she saved from abuse and neglect by its owner. She made the owner  an offer that he could not refuse or she would report him to ASCPA. You should see how handsome Jack is now with the love and great care Eileen has given him. Three others were auburn and black. There was a white horse staying away from the darker horses and I wondered why. Eileen stated that horses are racists that they alienate the lighter colored horses. Eileen works full time and still manages to take care of her beloved animals which is a huge job. What energy she has! She states that this is her passion and gives her zest for living.

While we were at Eileen's ranch hanging around talking around the kitchen bar, I got a text message from Dr. Elliott Winton, top hematologist for lymphoma and myelofibrosis at Emory Winship Cancer Center that he accepted Joe as his patient so Joe could continue the chemotherapy in Atlanta till April 2011. It has given me such peace of mind knowing that is all set up and Joe will get the best of care under him and agreed to collaborate with Dr. Romaguera at MDACC. Thanks be to God since He answered my prayers.

Marina cooked a fabulous meal with a tasty perfectly cooked roast pork, home fries with caramelized onions which were the "best" that I ever had, and green beans, and rolls as well as lots of wine. Marina said a wonderful touching Grace before the meal. We had wonderful fun conversations over dinner. Joe was in heaven being out in wide open spaces and in a real home. Having a terrific homecooked meal before having to check back into the hospital was perfect to boost his spirits. Max was a perfect gentleman as he sat on the floor while we ate without making a sound. Max also enjoyed his day at the ranch. Eileen and Marina invited me to come to their Thanksgiving feast with 23 guests. Oh that sounds like so much fun. They also believe like me that more makes it merrier. I will bring Joe a Thanksgiving prepared dish from what is left when I return to stay with him Thanksgiving evening.

We had an early 8:15AM appointment at MDACC Lymphoma department to get Joe his Fast Track Labs work done so it would be ready for our important meeting with Dr. Romaguera at 10AM. Goley, his clinical nurse, saw Joe first and asked him the 100 questions on how he felt. Joe lamented how much he missed eating salads. She said Romaguera is stricter than the younger doctors and way more cautious. Romaguera came in and stated that he was pleased with Joe's progress and his adjustment to the chemo. He stated Joe's white blood count went up to 46 but that is offset by Joe's neutrophils which were at 33.12. In this case the high white blood count is neutrophils and not lymphoma which is good news. Joe's platelets (77) and red blood counts are holding somewhat steady but I am sure that he will need red blood transfusions when he does the chemo. Romaguera also stated that this time with Part A Joe will be given the full dosage since they were cautious the first time as well as starting this round with Rituxin and also give the "A" part of the HyperCVAD which they did not do on the first Part A. Joe and I tried to pin Romaguera down as to when we could go back to Atlanta. He told us that he would like Joe to stay around for two weeks after the chemo that starts today. He wants to make sure he is stable and also wants to get CT scan and a BMB completed so we can see what changes have occurred before he releases us from MDACC. Now it may be 12/15 or even later before we get back home. Shucks!

Shortly after Joe was admitted back as an in patient in room P910. We know that when a bed is available that he will be moved to the lymphoma ward as he was the other two times. We already had Joe's bags packed so we got them out of the car and then went to check in where we were greeted very quickly by the nursing team. I unpacked Joe's bag and put everything away. I had Joe give me a list of stuff he still needed such as white socks, eye drops, orange juice, V8, fig newtons, and toothpaste. The nurse came in to go over the Doctor's orders for chemo and all it had was the "C" and the "R". I told her that it was wrong and that Romaguera had told us that Joe was to get HyperCVAD-R. The nurse wisely listened to me without any fuss and called Dr. Romaguera and he told her that Mrs. Evans is correct and that corrected doctor orders would be forthcoming. When she received the new orders, she made a copy for me since they know that I want a copy of the orders and lab results.

I left the hospital room at 5:15 PM to go take care of Max, get my stuff, go to the store for Joe and get something decent to eat. As I got to the hotel, Joe calls me and states that they are going to start the Rituxan at 6PM which would not give me much time to do what I had to do and get there in time. I decided to get my dinner later at the hospital cafeteria so I got back to his room at 6:30 PM and he had his first 15 minutes of 50 ml/hour of the Rituxan. They would take Joe's vital signs every 15 minutes and they kept a close eye on him. I was waiting for him to hit 150 mg since the last time he developed a fever and rigors. Knock on wood and Thanks to God it is now 10:10 pm and Joe's rate of Rituxan is now at the maximum rate of 400ml/hour and will stay that way until the IV bag is finished unless he has issues. The only little thing Joe had so far is red cheeks on his face but no fever. Joe is in great humor and is cracking jokes with the nurses who are so sweet and caring. We got a great crew for this 12 hour shift that runs from 7PM to 7AM. 

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Joe and I have so much to be thankful for. God has blessed us with our loving families, friends, church, MDACC and now Emory University Hospital. We are thankful for all the powerful prayers that have lifted Joe and me up spiritually and given us the strength to continue this journey. Thank you for being there. We feel your love everyday.

Happy Thanksgiving and hug your loved ones and give thanks to all that God has given each and everyone of us.

Ciao!