Thanksgiving 11/25/10

You would think Joe and I would be sad about missing Thanksgiving with our family but we are really OK since we know the ends justify the means. We are working towards the ultimate goal of remission of Joe's very aggressive Mantle Cell Lymphoma. We heard from many members of our family wishing is a Happy Thanksgiving as well as friends. God is so good to us.

We are particularly thankful with Joe's non-reaction to the Rituxan, the monoclonal antibody, which is a real miracle drug.  The only thing that happened is that the cheeks on his face got red but that went away in about 30 minutes. The Rituxan was finished about 10:30PM last night then at 1AM they started the first of six, 3-hour chemo of Cyclophosphamide every 12 hours. He has also received via pill form Dexamethasone. I spent the night in the room with Joe just to make sure everything went OK and it did. One issue is that the lab did not come around at 4:30AM to take his blood so the results could be ready for the doctor when he does his rounds. They did not draw blood until 11;30AM. The Floor Doctor did order a unit of blood for Joe since it was obvious that he would need it since his red blood counts were already low. The chemo would make them even lower. I tried to hang around for the regular doctor's visit but he did not come till later in the afternoon and I had plans to attend Thanksgiving Dinner with Marina Peed's family in Huffman, TX.

I picked up Max and off we drove to Huffman with very little traffic on the roads. We got there at 2:05PM and most of the family had arrived. I got to meet so many relatives and they were all warm and made me feel at home. There was a storm of activity in the kitchen and Eileen made sure the crowds stayed out of there. The turduckling and the regular turkey looked perfectly cooked. I so wanted to grab a piece of the luscious looking brown crisp skin of both birds. The TV was turned onto the football games as with most families, the kids playing video games on their various electronic devices, the adult busy talking about anything and everything. Two of the men cut up the birds while the ladies got all the fixings ready for the tables. There were two large tables set up with about 12 people at each table. The dinner was great. After dinner I took to the couch to watch the Dallas/Saints game on TV. During halftime, I fell asleep sitting up which proves that it was a great Thanksgiving meal.

Max and I headed back to Houston to the apartment so I could drop him off then go to the hospital to spend the night with Joe. Marina prepared two huge Thanksgiving plates for Joe as well as two pieces of pie. What a treasure Marina is! You can not help loving her. As I got closer to the apartment, the sky was ablazed with colorful fireworks. It turned out the display was right behind our hotel near the Galleria. My luck the show was just over as I was trying to get in and back out again which the massive traffic jam.

I picked up my red leather jacket, my big sweater, and pillow to bring with me to the hospital since the temperatures will be dropping substantially. It already was 56 degrees at 6:45PM with a drizzle.

Joe was sitting in his chair watching the football game and in a great mood since he continues to do very well. Thank you, God! He said that he got to talk with both our boys, the grandkids, daughter in law as well as Keith's girlfriend, Jennifer. He also spoke with his sister, Donna. I read all the e-mail greetings to Joe which always delights him. I told him about the afternoon. He was so pleased that I was able to escape on my own for awhile with some great people. Amen!

We were not assigned our favorite night shift nurse, Martha, but now have Kim. We asked Kim if there was a blood draw ordered for Joe at 4:30AM. She checked and said it was not on the order. After much convincing, we asked her to call the on call doctor since we were sure that it was needed every night. Sure enough, she did call and we were correct and supposedly it has now been ordered. We shall see. If not, we will make sure that it gets done.

It is now 10:30 PM CST Joe's coloring looks great with all the pre-cancerous spots on his face are all just about gone. They did have to give him some meds that will make him poop all night long since his potassium is high again as it was the last time.

What is puzzling about the results of the blood test from the 11:30AM draw which was after the Rituxan and one Cyclophosamide IV is that his white blood cells went up from 46 to 56. Some of the electrolytes are abnormal but I am sure that they will take care of all of that. I will make sure I am here when the doctor makes his rounds in the morning to get an interpretation. Joe's platelets are up to 88 which is good progress.

Good Night! I will not be mingling with the shopping crowds on Black Friday. I just am too tired to do that. I was surprise to see on my drive to Huffman today quite a crowd at Walmart. Good Grief!



Ciao!