Post Second Consolidation: Home Again!

Dear Fod's,

Debbie called this morning around 7:30 to announce that Dr. Porter was preparing to discharge her. Her WBC and HMG are normal and she did not have a fever for 24 hours. Although she is still tired, short of breath and with low platelets, they said that she could handle this from home. If she stayed fever free for the morning, they would release her at noon.

I called Mo and told her that there was a change in plans. We had planned on riding the trains today to avoid the Penn Relay Finals -- so we were driving down after all. We took one of the back ways through the city and had no problems either way. Mo went to visit with Dr. Bob and I went down to fetch Deb.

When I arrived at the room, Nurse Patty was visiting with Debbie. She is such a kind soul and really makes Debbie feel better. With all of the discharge paperwork, new prescriptions and fiddle faddle that goes on during a room exit, we finally left the room at about 1:30. We did a quick visit with Dr. Bob and we were on the road by 2:00.

Deb had convinced herself that what she really needed was a margarita pizza from Bertucci's so we stopped at one on the way home. Deb and Reen split the pizza, some salad and bread. Deb was in heaven! We finally arrived at home aound 3:30. Deb sunned herself on the deck for a while and then took a nap while I did the food shopping.

Alli is visiting for the weekend and that made both Joey and Debbie happy. She is a lot of fun to have around.

Unfortunately, the pizza heaven did not last too long and the chemo nausea took charge and Deb is resting in the bath tub at the moment. We may need to start out a little more basic with the food. Nevertheless, Debbie is happy to be home and we hope to keep her here for while. HUP will just have to get along without her for a while.

Deb sends her love to all.

Post Second Consolidation: Special Guest Posting

Dear Fod's,

Hey everybody! It is me. We are in the Family Room, the first time since Monday that I was able to walk that far, and the room is right across the hall! The fevers are starting to abate, the CAT scan of my chest showed --- at least 3 different things, depending on which Dr. you spoke to. One said pulmonary edema and gave me a diuretic; another thought it was fungal and gave me an antibiotic; the last one said, let's wait and see. So I am covered.

I am a little short of breath and still nauseated, but today may be the day we turn the corner. My WBC is 6, which is normal and I should be able to fight whatever is going on in my lungs. Dr. Porter came to my room and we had a nice talk. He said "that I don't take the easy chemo path, that I catch everything that there is to catch." I said, "then stop giving me the chemo!" Then he said, " the best way to insure remission is to get 4 consolidations." He said it is difficult to see his patients get broken down further and further. We just have to push harder and dig a little deeper. This summer is going to be more of the same. Hopefully, next summer I will be dancing on the rooftops at the shore. Most days, I feel like I can do anything when all of you are behind me.

KM -- your comments about the fiddle dee and dog meat on a stick made me lol. Aunt Angie your comments about the "crap" are still making me laugh. I love the blogs and being abe to be in your households to hear about your days. Especially, when I can't get myself out of the bed that day. It is good to know that there is life outside of HUP and that you are all thinking about me while you are making your dinner. I am so touched by your cards and well wishes. I cannot thank you enough. But, now I have to take a nap.

Deb sends her love to all.

P.S.: The lap Nazi is back and I walked more today than I did in the last week. Also the food Nazi fed me 1/2 a Mac and Cheese.

Post Second Consolidation: HUP Day 2

Dear Fod's,

Debbie received two units of blood and platelets last night. Her WBC is still incredibly low .5 and she was running temperatures up to 103 and not below 101 all day long. She called me this morning at 5:45 AM and was not feeling well at all. Debbie had visitors today with Mo and Kate coming this morning. Kris came in the late morning and stayed until 3:00. I left the office @ around 3:00 and arrived at 3:45. Debbie had to take a nap while Kris was there and she slept for the first 1 hour of my visit with her.

Dr. Staudtmauer, the famous Christmas Doc, is the doctor on all call for the next two weeks. Debbie is very happy with him and he told her that she would be just fine and that he had to go visit some sick people. If the temperatures continue after her counts come back up, they will have to do some more exploration. For the moment, they believe that Debbie's fevers are neutropenic fevers which are related to the chemotherapy treatments. Apparently 50% of the patients have to be readmitted because of them.

Debbie is still nauseated and has not eaten anything today except for 1 soft pretzel with mustard. She is very tired and feeling just worn out. Hopefully, things will start looking up by the end of the week.

Debbie thanks everyone for the blogs, calls and cards.

Deb sends her love to all.

Post Second Consolidation: Readmission

Dear Fod's,

As you know, Debbie has been feeling poorly over the past few days and she was readmitted to HUP this afternoon. Joey was able to take her down shortly after noon today. She went first to the lab and they ran some antibiotics into her and then to a new room on Rhoades 3 -- Rm. 3012. Debbie has always been with her nurse buddies on Rhoades 6 and she was a little misty eyed when we arrived on a new floor and met the new staff. Her phone number is 215.615.8231.

They are concerned that with her counts being down and her continuing to run a low grade fever, that she would be better off in the hospital where she can get the proper treatments, rather than suffering at home. They will be running blood and platelets into her shortly and hopefully, that will perk her up. She also has a little lump on her catheter and no one is quite sure what to make of that, but they are keeping an eye on that as well. She is very tired and I expect that she will be sleeping shortly with some good sedation.

This is not the week to visit. The Penn relays start down here tomorrow and the place will be packed to the gills with people. The parking will be an absolute nightmare. We will all be looking and trains and cabs rather than trying to get into HUP as we have become accustomed.

Debbie thanks everybody for the many cards, call and blogs that she is still receiving. Hopefully, Deb's counts will recover shortly and she will be able to come home again soon.

Deb sends her love to all.

Post Second Consolidation: Day 8

Dear Fod's,

Deb had a rough night on Friday night. She was up most of the night and was spiking a temperature for most of the early morning hours. We were both up by 4:00 AM and we were wondering what it would be like to try and check into HUP on a weekend. Probably like trying to break into Devil's Island, I suppose. This was one adventure that I was ready to skip.

As the day progressed, however, Debbie started to feel better and her temperature returned to normal. Her symptoms are all probably the natural effects of the high dose chemo. Although she was "dragging" for most of the day, she was gradually improving. We made Deb's favorite eggplant parmigiana and meat sauce Bolognese with special pasta. As the sauces and cheeses filled the house with some very earthy Italiano smells, Deb really picked up. We called Mo who came over with Megan after visiting with Dr. Bob and we had a nice Italian feast on our table. Deb enjoyed her meal with her friends and family and she was doing fine.

I forgot to mention that Mike came home for a surprise visit and Allison came down for the weekend. Deb had a housefull and we all watched a movie after dinner. Debbie had a nice evening surrounded by her babies in her own home. She slept very well last night and looked very good and rested in the morning.

Unfortunately, she has been dragging for most of the day, but without a temperature. Just the post chemo thing. Except for a slight portion of reheated pasta, her only sustenance today was a five scooper hot fudge sundae from Friendly's. I think her numbers are coming back and hope that she can make it until our meeting with Porter on Wednesday before she needs more blood.

We will keep you posted after out next visit with Dr. Porter.

Deb sends her love to all.

Post Second Consolidation: Day 6

Dear Fod's

It has been quite a trial for Debbie since our last post. We came home from HUP on Wednesday evening and Debbie had a very bad evening. At about 12:30 AM she was shivering in the bed with a fever and Deb went to her famous bath tub for some relief. I checked on her at 1:30 and 2:00 and she was feeling better -- but was still running a temperature. Debbie felt that the fever was under control and she was finally able to go to bed. Deb was able to get some sleep after 3:00 and was resting when I went to work on Thursday.

Deb was home on Thursday, but very uncomfortable with the low grade fever all day long. After being typed and cross matched on Wednesday, we were expecting to go down to HUP for plateletes, at a minimum today. Mo took Debbie down and Debbie needed both plateletes and blood. She had two units of both. Eileen helped by picking Debbie up from HUP and she is now home, but we are not sure for how long.

Deb's WBC is 0.3 (no immune system) and she is continuing to run a low grade fever. She had a bit of dinner tonight (cheese steak and fries -- she is sounding better to me!)

We will be taking one day at a time and expect to be down at HUP once or twice next week. Hoping for the best.

Deb sends her love to all.

Post Second Consolidation: Day 4

Dear Fod's,

Deb has not been feeling very well since Sunday and she seems to be worsening. She was up a lot last night, checking her temperature, and complaining of aches and pains. She has been running a low grade temperature and today it started to get worse. At 100.5, we are supposed to go back to the hospital for testing and antibiotics. A fever is a sign of an infection and with no immune system, that could be a dangerous combination.

Deb called me at work around noon to tell me that her temperature was around the magic number, but that she wanted to watch it for a few more hours. At about 1:30 she called again to tell me that she was @100.7 and that it was time to go!

We arrived at the HUP labs at about 2:45 and they were all ready for us. They did the necessary testing and her results were WBC 3.5; platletes 28K; and HBG 8.5. All pretty good counts all in all. Dr. Porter told us to go home. Deb's temp. was in the 100 range and so we turned around and were home by about 5:30.

Deb is very tired and her counts are obviously falling. The lab staff typed and cross matched Deb for blood and platletes and told us to come back on Friday morning, no matter what. She will most likely be down low enough to get a shot of both -- but they told us not to wait until the weekend because we would then have to deal with the normal hospital staff procedures. So hopefully, the temp will stay down and Deb will hold on until Friday.

While typing this blog HUP admissions called us and asked us where we were? They said that we were supposed to be checking into the hospital. I said, no -- we were just at the hospital and they told us to go home. The administrator said that she would check with Dr. Porter, but wanted us to know that if Dr. Porter wanted us to be admitted that we would have to come back down. I told her that Dr. Porter would have to call me directly before I got back into the car tonight. I suspect that Dr. Porter was playing the odds and was arranging an admission when we were coming down, and that they never cancelled it at their end when Deb's counts were as high as they were.

Deb sends her love to all.

Happy Easter

Hello Everyone,
Hope this finds you all stuffed (but not too much)from delicious holiday dinners surrounded by family and friends. Joe and I had a very relaxing day. Mary and her son Lee came to visit and bring some delish easter bread and we had some lively conversation. So lively that i took a 4hr. nap.I'm feeling ok just very tired.and always have a low grade fever. 100-100.5 Thank God not a 1/10 of a degree higher or I'm headed back to Penn. Not sure what thats about but as long as i am ok and at home then its ok.It's amazing to me how the flowers bloomed while i was in the hospital. Everything looks so fresh and green. Anew beginning for us all. Hopefully a quiet week with not too many trips down to Hup. thank you all for all the Easter greetings and well wishes and calls and for always thinking of usand most importantly for lending your support and love to our friend Bob who is still at Hup.Your prayers make all the difference. Love Deb

Second Consolidation: Day 5

Dear Fod's,

Debbie is just about done the second round of consolidation. She will receive her last two doses of chemotherapy tonight and tomorrow morning. If her fever stays below 100.5, she will be allowed to come home for Easter. Unfortunately, she has been running a fever of around 100.2 - 100.3 all day, so we are not sure where to tell the Easter bunny to go with her basket!

Maureen and I came down together and she has been visiting on 7 and I have been visiting on 6 all afternoon. Debbie is getting a unit of blood at the moment and is a little sleepy. Her counts are beginning to come down already -- which is much quicker than the last time. They are giving her the blood now so that she does not have to come back down on Monday in a panic, like we had to do a few times last week.

Debbie has been eating well this time through but still is not sleeping very well. She is anxious to get into her own bed and be in a place that someone is not walking through the door every hour. She has visited with Dr. Bob every day and it is nice that they can keep each other company.

Eileen and Marian had a nice, long visit with Debbie yesterday. Joey and Allie will be coming down later this afternoon after work.

We will post again to let you know when Debbie comes home.

Happy Easter to everyone.

Debbie sends her love to all.

Special Guest Posting

Dear Fod's,

Hey everbody! Just got back from visiting with Dr. Bob. He is looking well. MFD, your comments have me lol, especially the one about me being on parole and Bob in prison. I picture your house with Mark and Patrick -- it must be a hoot.

My hair is growing like crazy now. The high dose makes it grow. It is very liberating though -- no hot curlers, or blow dryers. No make up -- just out the door. Although at the supermarket last week a little boy came up to me and said rather indignantly, "hey, are you a man or a lady." To tell the truth, I am not sure anymore -- so welcome to my world!

Mo and Kate came for a visit today and then Joe came down and we did some laps and visited with Dr. Bob. I even got in a little nap this afternoon. The rash is back and they are giving me something for the itching. It makes me sleepy and I slept a little this afternoon.

I am eating mostly outside food -- and lots of deserts, thanks to Mo. That will be my new mantra, if I eat all of my deserts, then I can have some dinner!

Thanks for all of the comments about my beautiful grandbabies. They are so cute, and Jess and Walid are really, really busy. I would like to sneak a trip in to DC to visit before my counts crash, but the Doctors will have a fit if I drove down there myself.

Still hoping to get out on Saturday afternoon and begin the recuperation again. I will probably come back in again for round 3 in late May.

Thanks again for the blogs, calls and cards. I love hearing from everyone and what is going on in your lives. I picture Janet with Harrison and Sawyer, COD Eileen with Colin, Brendan and Mer and all of my other FOD's. You provided me with such wonderful memories to pull from when it gets tough. And here is to lots of good times and memories yet to come!

Love you all,

Debbie

Pictures of the kids' kids

All,

We'd like to share some pictures with you. Below is a link to the online photo albums. Thanks for your continued support, prayers, and love for our family.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=vs5ik4a.34rbnur6&x=0&y=lpo2b6

<3

Walid, Jess, Christian, and Emma

Second Consolidation Treatment : Day 1

Dear Fod's,

We met Dr. Porter today @ 1:00 and had the lab work done @ 12:30. Debbie's counts had really rebounded -- platelets of 185K and Deb went in again for the second round of consolidation treatment which should start tonight and again in the AM, Tuesday off, Wednesday on, etc. to hopefully get out on Saturday afternoon. The doctor did disappoint us today by telling us that he wants to do 2 more consolidation treatments on Debbie. She very clearly had a much more difficult time coming back from the initial consolidation treatment than the previous rounds and we hope to interject some discretion into this aggressive treatment plan.

Debbies room is 6004 Rhoades and her land line is 215.615.8143. Although we had a slight wait today at the admissions office, it was less than 3 hours and we were able to visit with Dr. Bob who is in Rhoades 7005, just one floor above Debbie. Since we are regulars, they called us on the cell phone when the room was ready and Debbie had another home coming visit with her buddies on Rhoades 6.

As you saw from the weekend post, we had the kids and the kids of the kids for the weekend and everyone had a great time. Christian had his first Easter egg hunt and seems to have gotten the hang of the egg collection procedure in short order! Of course, with a hunt of 1, there was not much competition for him, but I am certain that he will do well in the pack now that he knows what to look for. If he can only resist eating the contents of the egg as he finds them, he will do fine.

We will keep you posted on Debbie's progress during this next series of treatments. Thanks to everyone who has continued to stay in touch. It means a lot to us.

Deb sends her love to all.

Just tired, tired...Special guest posting from Debbie

Hey FODs,

What a loyal group you are! Not a peep from me in over a week and you still write. I love you guys. I was unable to go to Virginia to visit Jess and family because my counts are very slow to recover this time. I'm feeling the effects - sorry to complain - I'm just tired. I needed blood again last week and Mo was so kind to take me since Bob is there at HUP going through a similar scenario. My thoughts are with them both constantly but Bob is doing very well so far. He even likes the HUP food!

As far as the counts go, everyone seems to think my bone marrow is just getting tired and we're not sure what to do with the next round of chemo. We see Dr. Porter on Monday for a 'chat.' I'm hoping to get this last consolidation round in ASAP so I can recover in time for Michael's graduation from PSU on May 6. Dr. Porter told me he can't make any promises. Everything depends on my counts, but this last round was much slower than before so I'm a little nervous. He will not do consolidation this week unless my platelets are 100,000 so we shall see.

I'm still trying to be as active as I can but I do need to take a nap everyday and hate to surrender to that. I miss my social life but I'm still really thrilled to be home while I recover rather than being in the hospital.

So Jess and Walid decided to come up here for a quick surprise visit since we're not sure what next week holds. I may be back in the hospital over Easter. We hope to have all these answers on Monday. The babies are the best medicine ever. Emma is just too cute, eats and sleeps and is very easy. She is still so tiny. I guess since Jessie wasn't due until March 30, Emma is really only a week old at this point. Christian is precious also, even when he's screaming to get his own way. He is talking much more and of course will repeat whatever you say. His appetite is better and we love playing games together. Jessie and Walid are tired and still can't believe they have two kids.

The boys are good. Joey is in NY with Allison this weekend and Mike is gearing up for finals and graduation. Mike got a job as a chemist and starts after Memorial Day. Good for him!

I am still getting many cards each day in the mail and am overwhelmed by your continued attention and support. Thank you thank you!

We will post again on Monday and let you know what Dr. Porter decides. Love to you all.

Debbie