REALLY HOME!!!!12/20/10 and 12/21/10

Joe is really at home now after finally being discharged from Emory University Hospital on Monday at 4PM after receiving 2 units of red blood since his hemoglobin and hematocrit were on the low side. I am happy they gave him the transfusion yesterday instead of waiting till they dropped precariously low. We had to stop at the hospital pharmacy and get 13 prescriptions filled on top of the normal ones Joe takes. The weekly pill box is jammed up to the top.

Emory University Hospital for cancer patients is no where near the caliber of MDACC in Houston. They have a long way to go to get to that level, It does concern me but Joe insists on being home. I lean more on the best of care but we are scheduled to fly out to Houston for two nights on 2/1/10 since I insist on Dr. Romaguera being heavily involved with Joe's care. It is worth the expense since it will give me peace of mind, There were many times that speaking up saved a bunch of issues such as what were Joe's reactions at MDACC from the chemo and the number of transfusions. The excel spreadsheets tracking the the blood and electrolyte counts were invaluable. I had to mention several times that they needed to include the magnesium and phosphate levels.  The dairy of the blog was also valuable since I could pin point exactly Joe's reactions to the chemo and after the chemo. I highly recommend that if you get a serious disease is to create spreadsheets to track your counts and create a blog to create a log of events.

Joe did very good on Part B of the HyperCVAD-R. He had no adverse reactions though his cough and sinus infection did get worse but he was exactly in the right place to have them taken care of. He is very tired but that is expected for the next week. We will visit Winship Cancer Institute on Thursday to get lab work done on Joe since we need to watch for a dramatic increase in his white blood count which has happened after the other chemos and taking neupogin. At discharge they were not going to have blood work done till 12/27 until we alerted Romaguera's RN and we explained why. She agreed with us and added Thursday's lab work. One must take charge of your care or a loved one's care. I can not stress that enough. You WILL either save their life or prevent undue suffering.

Today was Bonnie's day of TLC. I surprised myself on how upbeat I was about it. I started with a follow up exam with my Emory Clinic internist, Dr. Shah, whom I love. She is so thorough and has such empathy. She had my lab work from last week and I am in better shape though fatter that I was six months ago. My total Cholesterol was 175, HDL 56 and LDL 101 and my electrolytes in the normal range. I must admit that I was surprise after all that good eating in Houston and 6 months ago I weighed less and was exercising four days a week. I told Dr Shah that I had an appointment on 1/3 to see Dr. Garcia at the Emory Orthopedic and Spine Center. She said that several of her patients used him and were very happy with the end result. She did look at my MRI of my neck and said there were several issues there that needed tending to. I knew that since my right arm had been getting steadily hurting worse and less ability to move it.

This afternoon I got the works done on my hair finally. It involved coloring it, foiling and a new hairstyle. Joe likes it and it is nice for a change but we will have to see if I can do my hair the way it needs to be done. I got home about 5PM and Joe had taken a solid nap, unpacked his suitcase, threw out the trash, did a load of laundry. We headed to Enzo's Pizza Place in Tucker where it was jammed up with young families so it was loud and kids running around. It bothered Joe so we did not stay long. Ate and ran.

To toot my horn a little bit on what I accomplished the last few days:
I fixed the stopped up toilet.
I fixed my notepad.
I worked on getting the mothball smells out of the house.
I got Joe to be more involved with his medical care.
I was able to do some last minute on line shopping for Christmas.
I got Joe's new TV working with hooking it up the HD Cable Box.
I got my car keys and notepad back from Biloxi (FEDEX charged $56, WOW!)

I got Joe safe at home for Christmas (my huge Christmas wish).
I got some time to myself today.
I did not have to be admitted to the mental ward.

Thank you, Lord, since I could have not done these things without you. You led the way.

Peace be with everyone. May Love be felt everyday in your lives.

Ciao!