Today the sun shined brightly upon Joe and me, figuratively and accurately! Our first stop was the usual Panera Bread since we are creatures of habit at 7:15AM. Joe had Fast Track Lab appointment scheduled for 8AM and we got there at 7:55AM. Joe went right to the end of thechair line for the blood draw that happened at 8:15AM. Next he went off to Vital Signs were OK although he lost 3 pounds thus he is down to 175 pounds. Joe is eating extremely well with dinner and desserts so I have no idea how he is losing weight. Perhaps it is from the shrinking spleen. Joe no longer looks 8 months pregnant but maybe 5.5 months.
Our next appointment to have the Fast Track review of his labs was not until 9:40AM so we had plenty of time to kill so Joe suggested we head to the second floor area called The Park where there is concession that sells his beloved Starbucks coffee. The chairs and area are much more comfortable which was very relaxing. Joe said that he felt terrific this morning as well as being very energetic. We felt hopeful that his blood counts would be decent just because of the way he felt. The Vital Signs Lymphoma department on the 6th floor gave Joe a beeper so when the labs were ready, we would be beeped. At 9:40AM with no beep on the beeper, Joe decided that we should head back up to the 6th floor just in case the beeper system had malfunction. The Lymphoma receptionist told Joe that the labs still were not ready that one must give the lab at least an hour and half to get it back to them.
Meanwhile, the Patient Advocate for MDACC called me from the message that I left on Monday morning about the Sunday's bottleneck on Joe's lab work with no one taking responsibility and that it appeared to me that there were multiple errors. The Advocate said it sounded like that to him and that he would get to the bottom of it and report back to me. I wish that I had said to him while we were waiting in the Lymphoma clinic for today's blood count report. At 10:30 AM we finally saw a Physician's Assistant who apologized for the delay and that she had been calling the labs about where Joe's results were. She got the counts verbally and by the time she came to see us in the exam room, she had the printed lab work. She was smiling and said the counts were good based on the amount of chemo thus far and the time since the last chemo was completed. She expected that the red blood counts would improve some more by the next Fast Track on Thursday because of the way Joe's platelet counts went from 35 on Sunday to 90 today. It meant that his bone marrow was producing platelets and that comes first before the other red counts start coming up. She started once the platelet count hits 100 that they are convinced the chemo is working. His White Blood Count and Neutrophils were low but with the continuance of me giving Joe neuprogin shots each day that will improve also. She stated that Joe again did not need any blood transfusions which is also an excellent sign. Praise the Lord. It is the best news that we have had since we have been here on his Lymphoma. The PA also stated why Joe has the nagging cough which is caused by the nasal drip. She stated that it was common chemo patient issue which is caused by the chemo causing not only his head hair lost but also his nasal hair lost. It meant that the nasal drip had no hairs to attach to in the nostrils thus more coughing. She advised him to continue taking Robitusson DM since Romaguera frowns on Nyquil and other popular remedies. She reminded us that Romaguera is very conservative on what he allows his patients to do and use. We trust Romaguera so we will abide by his decisions. When the PA listened to Joe's heart, she stated he had a small murmur and asked if we knew he had one. We stated that was the first time we heard that he had one. She said it was not unusual to have a very mild murmur since his blood is thinner thus it rushes through his heart faster. On some of her other duties, she also does Bone Marrow Aspirations (Biopsies). We told her the Joe also has Myelofibrosis. It was interesting to hear her state that her experience with Myelofibrosis is that it is harder to get to their marrow since their bones seem harder.
We left MDACC at 11:10 AM and headed over to Best Buy to look at the Xbox 360 with Kinect but it is all sold out. I can not even find it at a reputable on line store. Any suggestions are appreciated from anyone how I can meet this Christmas wish. At Best Buy I needed to purchase a HDMI copper cable for the new TV that Joe will be using. Since I had $55.00 in Reward Zone coupons, the cable only cost me $4.95. What a deal!
It was now almost 11:30AM so I decided that we should go to lunch now instead of the grocery store so we could beat the crowd. Barry's Pizza was just down the road and Joe was pleased with the choice. We enjoyed a medium thin crust pizza with extra cheese, Italian sausage and mushrooms with Diet Cokes. Yep, we enjoyed it as usual even though we left one slice.
Publix's quality. Joe got another gallon of fresh Orange Juice, Fig Newtons and I picked up a magazine and a USA Today.
I was pretty sleepy since I have not been sleeping well because of the bum right arm so Joe told me to take a nap as he did some more detail work on the Lexus. Two hours later he finished and I already had been out of bed for an hour. We watched Oprah then went to dinner at Outbacks a few miles down the interstate loop. We both had the Grilled Chicken on the BarBee which is always tender and delicious. Joe loves their BBQ spicy sauce and asked for three helpings of it. I do not finish the one they gave me.
We were back in the hotel by 8PM so I could enjoy the Christmas Glee Episode which even Joe enjoyed. Now it is take it easy. I hope to get a good dent in my Christmas cards tonight.
Cheers to Joe's Prayer Army. Thank you to God for today's optimistic report. May it continue although we are realistic that there will be up and down days with this incurable disease. The Association of Hematologist (ASH) had their convention in Orlando the last few days so there will be plenty of news coming out and advances on all blood diseases. It was why there were no doctors on the floor since this is a very important conference for them to find out new techniques.
8 more days and we should be Home for Christmas. God willing.
Ciao!
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