Complimentary Disabilities

Well, Friday Tom was low on everything he possibly could be and needed transfusions of platelets, magnesium, and blood.  Because his appointment was so late they had him come in this morning.  At 4am he was up and wide awake in pain with a sore on his tongue (chemo is known to cause mouth sores, but this is the first he's had one).  Because he's also neutropenic, his body isn't able to take care of this sore, so it's grown increasingly more painful.  He took a pain pill to help and it went down hill from there.

His blood appointment was at 9 and he needed to drive because both cars are a manual and due to my hand surgery and drugs, I'm not allowed to drive.  At about 8am (20min before leaving) he started throwing up and afterward thought he was better and even ate. He struggled driving, but made it.  Then as soon as getting called back, he was sick again!  He got both bags of blood, but still wasn't feeling too well but wasn't showing the signs that would require admittance since the nausea meds seemed to keep him at bay and he had no fever.

Luckily, Louie and Kelly came to transport us and the car home. Thank you!!!!!

I have to say we were quite the pair for a couple of days! After some rest, Tom's stomach seemed to cooperate. Today (Tuesday) he went in for labs and as expected, he was in need of blood and platelets again. Due to time constraints he received one bag of blood (standard is two) and the one bag of platelets. Tomorrow he goes for the rest of the blood he is owed and may possibly require an extra unit as today's counts were only 7.7 for hemoglobin so two may not raise him above the 8.5 transfusion level. His platelets were also at 13 so it may be possible that he gets another bag of those tomorrow as well. I think Tom is keeping the blood banks in business!

On a brighter note, he had it in him and was granted permission to see Muse tonight! He was glad he made it as well, what a great show!

My hand is on the mend, but truth be told...I've been building upon this blog since Saturday because it's difficult to do this with one hand! We have done well at playing off each other's strengths, I need help dressing, cooking, driving, and...well, I suppose I'm useless. I can however retrieve pull bottles (though I can't open them) and drinks for Tom! I also am chief dog walker due to his limited mobility with such low blood. It is fair to say our house is a bit messy at the moment.

With that, I bid you all a goodnight as my "good" hand is struggling and if I don't finish this now, it may grow to have a month of updates before published. Love to you all!

Tom getting some rest while getting blood on Saturday, poor guy.

Chemo Madness 1/17

So he's on day three of chemo. He had a very rough first night with being sick and restless.  That continued sort of through late morning yesterday when they did a second (and successful) intrathecal chemo/spinal tap (to check spinal fluid for leukemia). He spent most of yesterday unconscious, in the sense that he could not keep his eyes open, but also couldn't sleep.

Battling nausea, but he isn't as sick as he was last time... But he has next to no appetite. A little bored and lonely today... He says, "That's me, a bored and lonely donkey."  Tom would like to add that a bag of skips would be appreciated.  He should be released Saturday and his birthday is on Tuesday!  The big 2-6!!!! He would also like to add some pink and blue aniseed gummies from licorice all-sorts.

TGIF tomorrow!!!!

Chemo Next Week

Today we went to Tom's appointment with Dr. Carroll, went well.  Tom is scheduled to go in on Tuesday for another round of chemo.  He isn't too thrilled about it.  His birthday is the following Tuesday and though he'll be home Sunday, he probably won't be feeling too good on his birthday.  On the bright side, I got Tom tickets to see Muse on the 29th (for his birthday) and so long as he is fever free, Dr. Carroll said he can go!

Donors: Dr. Carroll said that the downfall with the registry and the third party situation is the delay over the holidays, so they haven't received any blood samples from the people they chose as best matches. It was expected though, he told us in December that he expected with the holidays that nothing would happen before the end of January, he expressed his own frustrations about the wait as well. So looks like March will be the transplant as predicted.

My carpel tunnel surgery is scheduled for the 24th of January.  My mom is going to come provide transport and assistance since Tom may possibly still be feeling the chemo side effects. As far as moving goes, we're looking, but seemingly neither of us want to move to Sacramento, so we shall see.

A quick and big recognition to Team UK and the fundraisong they're doing! I'll have to have someone send me photos of the pig races when it happens and we can put them up for everyone to see! Great job guys!!!

That's all for now folks!

A Slight Scare but No Matter

So, Tom went to bed last night with a slight back ache (signs of his fast approaching birthday announcing old age, nothing alarming), to wake up in incredible pain around 4am.  He had shooting pain down his legs and across his lower spine, enough to cause what I can only describe as temporary tourettes syndrome.  Our neighbors were probably wondering what horibble thing I'd possibly done at 4am.

Tried stretching, He tried laying in different positions, using pillows as props... eventually he made it to the couch and we used a giant hotpack and some pain pills. He seemed to achieve temporary relief so long as movement wasn't involved.

We had an early appointment this morning for Tom to get his second unit of blood he was owed yesterday but couldn't receive due to time constraints. After inspection and consultation from Flora and Dr. Carroll, it was determined that his neulasta shot is the culprit.  Tom doesn't have any of the "concerning" symptoms of a spinal issue, so it's thought to be a simple trapped nerve amplified by the neulasta kicking the bones into gear producing white blood cells (which often creates flu-like aches and pains).

So, a bit of a concerning scare and while he's still in immense pain, at least it isn't suspected to be anything serious. Thank God for that. Now they're gonna pump him full of the good stuff- blod and pain killers!