4/5/11 Tuesday: Timber......Challenges Faced

It is hard to believe that 10 days has passed since I last updated the blog. The first week things were going very nicely which means there were no surprises or challenges. The weather in Atlanta was cold and gray for most of the first week. It meant we slept late, caught up on mail, enjoy watching our HD TV, watched the DVR programs I recorded, went to our church, enjoy our local restaurants, read my backlog of magazines, give Joe daily IVs of ERAXIS. Joe 's cough seemed to improve each day so perhaps the meds were working and being home was adding to the wellness regimen.

The first blood test on 3/31 we had at Winship at Emory showed that Joe's counts were improving. One shocker on the hematocrit count was that it was a high 51.2. It was at a level when Joe had Polycythemia Vera (PV) from 1997-2008 that he would need a plebebotomy. A plebebotomy (plebe) is the opposite of a blood transfusion. Blood is actually removed from the body and is normally done at a hematologist office. I scanned the blood test (CBC) and attached it to an e-mail to Dr. Romaguera (R) who responded very quickly. He had already discussed the findings with Dr. Vertosovek (V) who is the expert in Myeloprolifative Neoplasms (MPN which used to be called MPD). He told Dr R that Joe should have a plebebotomy. Dr R was also concerned that Joe's White Blood Counts (WBC) and Neutrophils were low and he instructed me to give Joe only one shot of Neupogin since Joe's history of its use cause his counts to recover very quickly. Joe should have have another CBC before the end of the week as well as a plebe.

I contacted Jessica Neely, the Physician's Assistant (PA), at Winship at Emory who instructed DyAnne, the scheduler, to set the appointment for a new CBC and Plebe at the Transfusion Department on the Plaza level. DyAnne sent me an email stating all she get was an appointment for Tuesday 7:30 AM, April 5th, which is the day we were to fly to Houston for Joe's followup appointments at MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC). I questioned her via e-mail and she said there was nothing available for 4/1 or 4/4.

The evening of Monday, April 4th, there was a violent weather front coming towards us. To the west of us there were reports of many trees down, high winds, tennis ball sized hail and tornadoes, as well as heavy rain. At about 11:45 PM the winds soared with violent intensity with leaves, limbs flying sideways. Trees were bending like it was a hurricane. The lightning lit up the skies as thunder roared. Max was trembling and would not leave my side. It was impossible for me to sleep so I watched the storm. Joe slept soundly through nature's commotion. At about 12:15 AM the power went off. I lit some candles and found one operational flashlight. When I looked at the front storm door, I saw lots of down limbs. One of the 100 feet tall hardwood trees near the road looked like it was leaning but I thought that it was my imagination. I went to bed at 1:30 AM (Tuesday 4/5) and could not sleep. I finally fell asleep at 5AM but we had to wake up at 6AM to get to Winship at Emory. I could hardly wake up. It was still dark when I went outside to see what damage there was from the night before. It was so very cold. Our tree had fallen across Musket Court with the road being impassable. Our neighbor, Greg Bennett, came over and said that we would work on it once daylight came. There was no possible way that Joe would be able to help but I could. He told me not to worry and that all would work out. I went back into the house and told Joe what had happened and that we were stuck at home. Greg knocked on our door with a flashlight and a thermos of hot coffee. Greg had a generator that gave his home electricity. We are going to have to buy us one. What a Godsend! I walked down the street to see if there were other trees down but it was too dark to see anything There was enough daylight at about 7AM and we both went outside to access the situation. Joe had already called Colin at Southeast Tree Service. Colin stated that he had to work on one of his customers where a tree crashed onto their roof then he would come over to our home. Charlie Lester, our neighbor across the street, showed all of us standing in the street that a neighbor's ivy laden tree had crashed into his roof and left a huge gash with many broken roof beams. Water had rushed in from the large hole and went through four levels of their home. What a disaster! Their tree service with 5 strong men had driven up the hill and could not get to their home. So the men cut our tree that was blocking the road until there was a path for one vehicle. What a blessing for us since we had to get to Emory to get Joe his plebe! Oh No! Our massive tree root that was completely out of the ground had broken our water main and meter. Water was gushing out of the ground. No wonder we had no water in the house. I called the DeKalb County Water Department and they stated that they would come out immediately. Since the Lester's tree service was there, Joe asked them if they would remove our tree after they finished with the Lesters' home and the owner said he would. Things were working out. We were on our way to Winship at Emory at 8:15 AM and got there at 8:30 AM for our 7:30AM appointment. We signed in and waited. At 8:45 AM the clerk called Joe up to the counter and told him that he missed his appointment for Monday, April 4th at 7:30 AM. What! That can't not be! DyAnne had e-mailed me the wrong date. Even after I questioned it, she insisted our appointment was for Tuesday, 4/5. The clerk said she would call the doctor's office upstairs to see if they could do another order and they would try to fit us in. I showed the clerk the trail of e-mails that DyAnne had sent me that our appointment was 4/5. I did not want them to think that we messed up. At 10AM I told Joe that maybe God was telling us that Joe should not be getting a plebe and that we should listen to Him. I told the clerk that we had to leave since we had a plane to catch. She told me the reason it was taking so long was because Joe's blood is taken through a PICC line and only certain people were authorized to do it that way. What the heck! Why couldn't they just draw the blood through the other arm and not through the PICC line. NUTS! INSANE! We left. I called Dr. Winton's office to report what had happened so it would not happen again. On the way home we stopped at McDonald's on North Decatur Road since Emory Village had no power. McDonalds had their own large generator so they were operational except for their cash registers. Smart management had a contingency plan and it was working. The cashiers did everything manually. Joe ate every bite of his pancake breakfast and I had a sausage biscuit. By the time we got home it was 11:30 AM. I packed up for our trip to Houston. I started picking up the limbs in the front yard until I could not bend down anymore. Joe had gone to Walmart and bought at least eight flashlights and a slew of batteries. He asked me to helped him to put them together but I had no energy left so he did it himself.

We left out home about 1:30 PM to drop Max off at the Silberman's home in the Henderson Mill area. Joe stayed in the truck while I took Max and his goodie bag to Lauren and Keith. Their two kids were at pre-school so I did not get to see them. Their golden retriever, Bailey, greeted me and with happy woof and his tail wagging a mile a minute. The Silberman's were so gracious to watch Max for us. Camp Woof was filled up because it was Spring break and we were in a spot. They had offered their help once before so I took them up on their offer. I knew the Silbermans from when I worked as a loan officer at Bank of America. They were real estate agents who used me for their needs and their customers. We worked terrifically together since we all truly cared about the customer and believed in superior service. If anyone needs a fabulous agent, you need not look any further than this couple. I personally guarantee your full satisfaction.

Joe drove to the airport with no issue with traffic at all. I had already printed our boarding passes the night before the power went out. Also, we had only one carry on bag and a iced medical bag with Joe's ERAXIS IV and all the paraphernalia that goes with it. Going through security was a breeze. I made security aware of the medical bag and they had no concerns with it at all. They did not even open it up. Wow! Our Air Tran flight was all the way on Concourse D which is really far away from the terminal. Thank goodness for the subway tram system. We were able to sit which was good for Joe. We were starving so we grab some Burger King on Concourse D which we were able to eat just before we boarded. The plane left 15 minutes late but that was no issue for us. We were actually grateful for it for us to catch our breath. The day was very windy from the front that passed through Atlanta. The plane was a bit bumpy for about 30 minutes then it smooth out. I relaxed and read USA Today and nodded asleep a few times. We arrived in Houston at 5:30 PM CST. The Super Shuttle efficiently took us to the Marriott Courtyard Medical Center with arriving there at 6:15. Our room was clean, large and nicely decorated. The bed looked heavenly inviting. The Courtyard had a shuttle to take people to the Medical Center, shopping and to restaurants. We chose to eat at Pappasito's Cantina. Even on a Tuesday night there was a wait of 15 minutes so we headed to the bar where I had a Sangria Rita and Joe a Sweet Iced Tea. We both enjoyed our dinners tremendously until we were stuffed to the gills. The Courtyard Shuttle picked us up and we were back in the hotel at 9:05PM. We watched and listened to the Braves Baseball game on my iPhone. What an amazing clear picture it has on that tiny display. I bought the year long app for $19.95 so we can always at least listen to our Bravos.

Joe was asleep by 10:30 AM. I checked and returned e-mails and watched a little TV. I was in bed at midnight. I tried to sleep but totally failed since I had a very miserable bout with acid reflux. I had no medicine for it and suffered with it for two hours. I got dressed and headed downstairs where there is a small store. Thankfully there was some Pepto Bismol tablets and some Zantac where I bought both of them and took them promptly when I got up to the room. I had to wait some more till they had some effect. Finally at 5AM, I fell asleep only to be awaken by Joe shaking me to wake up at 6AM. Oh my, I just could not wake up and he felt sorry for me and decided to let me sleep for another hour but alas, it was not to be. We got dressed and headed down to the lobby where there is also s small bistro where Joe munched on a blueberry muffin and I had a bagel with light cream cheese.

The Hotel Shuttle Bus picked us up at 7:10 AM and we were dropped off the front door of the main building of MD Anderson Cancer Center.

I will write a separate blog of the happenings of Wednesday, April 6 and today April 7. This one is long enough.

Ciao!