July 31st Update

Dear Fods,

Thank you for keeping in touch with us and for all of your help with our travels to HUP. Since our last post, Jess and the kids stayed the week at the shore with friends and came up to visit us in Lansdale for the weekend. Debbie's counts had improved by that time and she was able to enjoy everyone and the visit was very nice. Christian is just coming to the age where he can enjoy the remote controlled speed boat that we have for the creek and we had lots of fun seeing who could steer the boat the straightest.

Mary and Ron were able to visit the shore as Jess left and the George, Carol and Gert came in for the remainder of the week. Mike and Laurie went down for the weekend so the place got some use in the past few weeks -- which is good. We hope to go down for this weekend for a little relaxation and recuperation.

Debbie started the third round of her treatments last Thursday and her reactions are now fairly predictable. She did OK on Thursday and Friday, the Home Infusion folks came out on the weekend and she gradually become more tired and nauseous over the weekend. She had a bad visit at HUP today for Day 6 and needed IV fluids and zofran. She is finally finished with this round tomorrow. Dr. Porter said that they will not need a BMB for this round because it will not change the course of treatment. Debbie is technically "out of remission" now, but we must proceed ahead for as long as she can tolerate this treatment. It is not easy for her. The vidaza shots give her huge lumps on her arms and abdomen -- and we cannot even give the shots to her legs anymore. The shots really wear Debbie down.

Thanks to Fods Eileen, Marian, Ron and Pam for taking Debbie down to HUP for this round of treatments. She enjoys your company and it makes it very much easier on me -- so thank you for that.

Debbie sends her love to all.

July 14 Update

Dear Fods,

Debbie made it through the last round of treatments but has been very tired and sick this time through. On Wednesday Fod Eileen took Deb to HUP and her counts were way low. She had to have platelets and had to return on Friday for further blood tests.

On Friday, her counts were way, way, way low -- wbc 0.7, platelets 18K. They gave her platelets and we headed to the shore for the weekend with a prescription for an antibiotic. Jess, Walid and the kids came up on Friday and we have been having a nice visit. Deb and the kids are having a great time and they have all been napping for the past 2 hours.

We set up base camp around 10:30 this morning on the beach. Tents, umbrellas, chairs, shovels, toys, etc. were all in place. Everyone had a good time in the sun and the sand and the weather was beautiful here today. We were back at the house by 3:00 and it has been pretty quiet ever since. As the day went on, the temperature actually improved. It was hotter and more humid this morning when I ran than it is right now.

We have a bmb scheduled for next Tuesday and hopefully Deb's counts will continue to improve.

Thanks to everyone for continuing to keep in touch. Your cards and blogs always bring a smile to Debbie's face.

Debbie sends her love to all.

Happy 4th of July

Dear Fods,

We hope that all of you have had a good day with your friends and family on this Independence Day. Today, Debbie finished her 7th day of the shots for the second round of her clinical trial. The chemo shots have left Debbie battered and bruised on her arms and abdomen. In this round, Debbie could not even tolerate shots into her legs as they still remain bruised and hardened.

The nausea has been much more frequent and acute during this round and Debbie has taken to her bed on most days during this round of treatment. While she was able to host the events of the weekend, she has been very tired ever since. We were able to go to the shore after the last shots were finished today, however, Debbie is pretty sick at the moment. Hopefully, things will settle down now that the shots are done for another 21 days.

The good news in all of this is that the BMB came back very good! While not perfect, Debbie went from 40% to 0% leukemia in the marrow. Of course we have all gotten somewhat skeptical of this test, however, directionally, this is moving on the proper course. Dr. Porter is not commenting just yet and we will complete this next round and have another BMB on July 17th. We will see where we are after that test.

Thanks to all for keeping up with the blog, sending Debbie cards and letters, helping to take her to HUP, and having her over to your homes. It surely helps her to keep going through all of this.

Debbie sends her love to all.