5/30/11 PLATELETS NEEDED

Thursday was Joe's regular fast track visit at MDA and on that day his platelets were at 98. Joe had a horrible time sleeping Thursday night since his cough became chronic thus hardly getting any sleep. Early Friday morning he told me that he was coughing so hard that he got a nose bleed which took 3 hours to stop. As he laid in bed, I called and left messages for his Infectious Disease department and the Lymphoma Department. When I got no return calls, I told Joe that we were going to Walk-In to the clinics and have him examined. He stated he did not want to wake me up last night since I needed my rest since he knew that I would have insisted on going to the Emergency Room. He wanted to stop by Panera Bread but I shot that down since it was the start of the three day Memorial Day Weekend and if we did not get to the clinics early, there would be little staff on duty thus great waits.

His regular Infectious Disease nurse saw him and stated that the doctors were gone and asked what he wanted to do. I told her that Joe was told to come in if his cough got worse and it sure did. He had pneumonia previously so I thought that it was prudent to come in. She told us to go to his regular Lymphoma Department and get assistance there. It sounded like she was passing the buck to me. She stated that if the Lymphoma department wanted him to see an Infectious Disease doctor then she would page one or send us to the ER.

Off we went to the Lymphoma Department where the receptionist quizzed me whether we had an appointment. When I did the sign in form, I wrote that smack on there so I knew where she was heading. I told her that Joe had a serious cough resurgence last night that it caused his nose to bleed for three hours. It would mean his platelets were low and he needed a strong cough suppressant so he could get some sleep. She said there was only one doctor on the floor but she would call the RN. We waited for a bit and one of the RNs came out and I told her the same story. She went back and spoke to the doctor and they scheduled him immediately for a blood test and to come back in one hour for a PRN to review it with us. We went to lunch at the Rotary House which was an escape from the hospital setting as well as far from cafeteria food. When we came back an hour later, we waited another hour to see the PRN. She was the same PRN who saw him the day before. She was concerned that his platelets has dropped by 50% in one day which could mean his platelets would be in the 20's on Saturday. She listened to his lungs and there was a significant difference in the sound with more wheezing and bubbling sounds. She sent us over to get a XRay of his lungs and also gave Joe a prescription for some codeine medicine along with an inhaler to help him breathe better. She also scheduled him for an additional blood test for Saturday and to see a PA in the Sarcoma department since this is where one goes when it is the weekend or a holiday. I picked up Joe's prescriptions at the 2nd floor pharmacy and made sure both drugs were in the bag. The inhaler cost a bunch more than I had expected but at this point I did not care. I was just glad I had it.

Friday night Joe slept like a baby after taking the meds and using the inhaler. He was so happy to get such a good night's sleep and could have slept some more even though he went to bed at 9:15PM. Now we head to the 2nd floor Diagnostic Center for his 8:30 AM appointment to get Joe's blood drawn and tested and it was jammed packed with people. UGH. They are efficient there so it was not too bad of a wait and was done at 9:30AM. We went to the 9th floor Sarcoma Department to wait to see a PRN or PA. It was so crowded in both waiting rooms so we knew it would be a lonnnnnnnng wait and it was. The PA who saw us was one we had met with before in the Lymphoma Department we think. He was running around with his head cut off since there was so many patients. He told us Joe's platelets were down to 23 and the doctor's instructions on the PC stated he would need a platelet transfusion of 6 units. He had to put the order in on the system and the receptionist would let us know what time it would be. The appointment was not until 2:30PM so we were going to have lunch at the cafeteria but there was nothing there that seemed appetizing so we went back over to the Rotary House. Joe liked that so very much. The same waitress waited on us that we had the other day so it was quite pleasant. We head over to the 2nd floor ATC Tranfusion Unit and it was packed. Joe's name was called at 4:00 and we both followed the Vital Sign person through the door. When I turned around a second later, Joe was no longer standing beside me. He had gotten dizzy as he was entering the door and someone caught him and put him down in a chair. He had been waiting such a long time and stood up too quickly. Good Grief! His bald head was sweating profusely but he was coherent. The platelets got done about 5:15PM. We got back to the hotel about 5:45 and just stayed there. It had been a long day. About 8PM Joe requested Chinese food so I ordered some on line from PF Chang's since it is only about 5 minutes from our hotel. We got some Hot and Sour Soup, spring rolls and two mini desserts. It was perfect. After eating Joe took his meds and headed back to bed early again. I reminded him that we were suppose to drive to Victoria, Texas, two hours south of Houston, to go to Whitney Wilkinson's church, and be treated to lunch at her parents home. If he was too tired or weak, that he could stay "home" and rest. He said let's see how he felt in the morning since he really wanted to go.

Sunday morning I got up at 7:15AM and Joe got up with me. We stopped at Panera Bread and said he was so tired that he decided that it was best for him to get more sleep and rest all day and for me to go to Victoria by myself. I dropped him off at the hotel front door and off I headed to Victoria on US59 South which will someday be Interstate 69. I turned on my radio loudly and cruised on down the flat ranch and farm lands of Texas. I had no issues in finding The First Presbytertian Church on Navarro Street in Victoria since Whitney had told me that it wason the main street of Victoria. The church looked like it had been there for a very long time. I came in through the side entrance of the church so I was able to walk though the whole church where people stopped me to introduced themselves. I got to the church lobby where I had waited only a few minutes till Whitney and her parents, Bonnie (YES!) and Bill Wilkinson, came in. Bonnie saw me first and gave me a big welcoming hug. Whitney's Mom is quite attractive and well dressed and so young looking. I can see where Whitney got her good looks and personality from. Her Dad was equally gracious in greeting me and Whitney and I gave each other a huge hug and lots of big happy smiles. They introduced me to so many people that it was a blur but they were all so friendly. Their minister's name is Kathryn who gave an inspirational sermon. She was such a good speaker using no microphone. The end of the service ended with a triumphant organ music arrangement of patriotic songs with the last one being the "Star Spangled Banner" which the congregation sang together. Quite appropriate to remember the brave men and women who lost their lives fighting for the freedoms we enjoy as well as remembering their families. Wonderful! Whitney took some photos of their new gorgeous shiny black grand piano which they had purchased for only $10,000 from a church that had closed. Whitney's Mom took photos on my iPhone of Whitney and me together. Eastminster Presbyterian Church back home in Stone Mountain would be delighted to see Whitney and me together at her home church. I followed Whitney home from church to her parent's home about 10 minutes away. As soon as I walked into the home, I was greeted with another warm hug and hello from Bonnie and Bill along with a cool glass of Sangria! I loved the large Great Room in their home decorated in a Western decor with some prized animal heads on the wall where two of them looked as if they were from Africa. The animals were imported from Africa to central Texas Hill Country to save the species and they have flourished. The patio and back yard look lush even though Texas is in a serious drought. In the middle if the yard is the "Beach House". You have to ask Whitney why they call it that. It was so cool looking. There are two rooms. On the right is a greenhouse and on the left is Bill's office. On the outside wall there were all kinds of farm and garden tools attached in a perfect pattern. Each tool had a story from the past. It was hot and very windy or we would have had lunch outside. How could I forget and not tell you about Whitney's white ball of affectionate curly hair doggy. She adores Whitney and is so sweet that she sat between Whitney and me on the couch while we grabbed for hours. She got scratched and petted from both sides. In heaven! We had lunch in kitchen where there was a bay window looking out into the back yard. We had yummy crispy Tacos for lunch and their own hot homemade spicy picante sauce. The dishes were colorful and matched the tablecloth. What a perfect meal to engage in lively friendly conversation. Whitney learned new family history where her grandfather had met Pancho Villa unwillingly in Mexico while trying to eradicate hook and mouth disease.Pancho Villa let the crew of men go, thankfully! Bill showed me some extraordinary artifacts that were handed down through several generations of his family. One was an arrowhead pierced into a large spinal cord joint. Another was a petrified piece of wood made into an arrowhead which was about 6000 years old. Fascinating stuff. Bonnie told me the story of an breakfront she had restored from a severely broken down display cabinet from her ancestors when they cleaned out the home after the great grandmother died. The picture before showed it as a piece of junk where it appeared nothing could be done with it but Bonnie had a vision. It is now an incredible piece of restored furniture that will be passed along to future generations with a great story to tell. It use to keep medicine bottles and salves for the animals on the ranch. I found out from the family photos displayed on the large bookcase that Whitney and her sister are hunters. I saw a picture of Whitney who was about 14 years old with her prized deer with antlers. She shot it at their family ranch located in south Texas about 100 miles from Laredo. Who would have thought that petite cute Whitney would be a great white hunter? Not me!

Bonnie served us an amazing dessert that if I had known what was in it, I would had politely declined. It was an enchilada rolled with a can of cherry filling with a finger licking sugar cinnamon frosting with Blue Bell Vanilla Ice Cream. It is probably one of the best desserts I ever had and reminded me of peach cobbler but even better. There was no way I could guess it had cherry filling since I do not like cherry filling. I ooh and ahh it as I ate it as I raved how wonderful it was. They got a real kick out of that.

I left their home about 3:30PM to head back to Houston. Bonnie told me about a little store about halfway between Victoria and Houston where I needed to stop and walk around the store which has a gourmet fresh meat, cheese and all kinds of preservatives. She told me when I walk in the front door to look to my immediate left and buy some of the best Jalapeno Cheese Bread in the world. I found the store and I bought some of that bread.

What a great day I had with the Wilkinson family! I wish that Joe had felt better so he could have enjoyed the visit as much as I did. We will just have to come back someday and visit them again. The winds of love stretched out its arms again. Amazing Grace how sweet the sound.

I called Joe just as I entered the Houston City Limits and asked him if he would mind if I stopped at Chico's to shop their Memorial Day weekend sale. Since he said it was ok, I took a slight detour to the Chico's Outlet at Meyerland off of Interstate 610. I bought a few things and was their last customer of the day when I left at 6:15PM.

When I got to the hotel, Joe was antsy to get out of the hotel. He had slept till noon and just hung out in the room with Max and took it easy. He felt so much better and enjoyed my tale of the visit with the Wilkinsons. I got tickets on line to see The Hangover II that started at 7:05. Joe had to have popcorn so he went to the concession stand while I went searching for two seats together since the show was sold out. I waited and waited for him to come into the theater. I started to worry so I asked my seatmates to save my valuable seats while I go search my missing husband. He was not at the concession stand, not in the men's room and not any where. Oh my, I was really worried now what if he got dizzy and got sick or went into one of the 22 other theaters. I went back into the theater and was stood in front and tried to look at the stadium seating and there he was about 10 rows up sitting alone and eating his popcorn. I pointed at him to come down and come over to me. He figured out my strong hand signals that he better come quick and we were now seated together. From now on we will both enter the theater first, get our seats, then he can go to the concession stand. He has got to have his popcorn. The movie was not as funny as the first one but still pretty funny and crazy. Joe laughed out loud a bunch so that was a good thing. After the show at 9PM we headed to Chuy's for some great Mexican food that was close by. On the flatscreens in the bar was the Braves baseball game so we requested to eat there at the tall tables where the table was a breast level. It felt a bit weird for me. I had a Margarita to reward me not nagging Joe about getting lost in the theater.

Joe went right to bed since we had another early wake up call for a blood test at 7:15AM at the Diagnostic Center. We started with a bagel break at Panera Bread and got to the center right on time. Next we headed up to the 9th floor to get the results and be seen by one of the medical staff on duty. Two hours later we got called back and sure enough Joe needed platelets again since his platelets were now at a tiny "6" from 23 two days ago. The appointment for the transfusion was not until 11:30 AM. We had plenty of time to waste so we went down to the second floor where the Gazebo is and found two reclining chairs where I slept for several hours. We walked over to the ATC Transfusion waiting room at 11l30 and it was wall to wall people with people standing in the hall. Groan, another long wait. Joe got called back to a bed finally about 1;00. It felt like forever. It is freezing cold in these rooms since it is believed that patients get less nausea when it is cold. I dressed in jeans, a long sleeved top, a dress jacket and used Joe's flannel shirt and two blankets while Joe got his transfusion of 6 units of irradiated platelets in a 300ml bag. I did not know that they do not use a pump for it to infused the platelets into the veins. It is just plain good ol' gravity that makes it work. Joe was finished with his platelet infusion at 2:15PM. We headed to lunch on our side of town at a new place called The Brisket House on Woodway Drive. It is own by an Aggie. I had read a great review in one of the weekly papers that are free everywhere like Creative Loafing in Atlanta. When we got to the counter, Joe got a weird look on his face so I knew he had another dizzy spell so I sat him down and got him some food into him quickly. All he wanted was two pieces of Pecan Pie. He loved it. I had some fantastic Beef Brisket where it was slow cooked for 14 hours. The layer of fat was crispy black with great spices and the beef was tender and tasty. I liked it so much better the Goode's BBQ plus the BBQ sauce was better too.

When we got to the hotel, Joe changed into shorts and laid on the couch with his feet on my lap and I massaged his legs and feet. He fell asleep with a smile on his face. We both ended up taking a nap and woke up about 6PM. At 8PM Joe said he was hungry so we decided to get a Cheese Pizza at Barry's Pizza on Richmond Ave. It was good!

Joe has headed to bed early again since we had a medical appointment at 7:30 at MDA with the Ophthalmologist where they will test his eyes for 4 to 6 hours. When Joe had gotten an eye exam at Costco for new glasses, the examiner stated Joe had a Visual Defect. He has issues seeing things coming from the the side and below. He could not state the correct number of fingers when the MDA PA examined him in the hospital and I had stated that I would like for Joe to see an expert in eyes. So we will see one tomorrow. I sure hope that it is nothing serious. We shall find out.

Joe's next blood test is not scheduled till Thursday again but if he has any bleeding then we will go in and get his blood tested. Joe is at the nadir point after chemo and it is the same pattern as he has had in the past after HyperCVAD-R Part B. His blood counts should start to improve from hence on.

So that is it folks. Thank you for reading my blog. It has been therapeutic to me.

Ciao!