December 2, 2007 Update

Dear Fods,

We had our first snow of the season last evening. The back yard, creek and woods look very beautiful this morning.

Debbie ended the high dose steroids last Sunday and by Wednesday all of the old demons were making their way back into her life. She had her first significant fever on Wednesday and they are now a regular visitor every night and sometimes during the day. Last evening she was up to 103.9 with rigors and a new cough. At about 1:00 AM we moved Debbie into the jacuzzi and the warm water settled the rigors down, the meds kicked in and she was able to get some well deserved rest. The old nurse kept taking her temp on and off for the rest of the evening and she did not come down to 101 until around 7:00 AM. She is sleeping now, but still looks a little pink in her cheeks.

Yesterday FODs Edie and Mike came up from Roanoke, VA for a visit and the visit did Debbie well. Because Friday night was much like last night, Debbie was still in bed when Edie arrived, but the two good friends were able to visit and Edie helped Debbie position some of the army of Santas from the basement. The rest will remain POW's for the rest of the Season.

Of course, through all of this Debbie was able to eat a cheesesteak and fries for lunch which was a treat for our Roanoke FODS -- as they cannot get such cuisine in the South. Later in the evening, the boys put one of the Christmas trees up so that things are looking a little more like the Holidays.

After lunch FODs Cathy and Mary stopped by for a cup of tea and they brought Debbie buckets of Christmas cookies for the Holidays. Everyone had a nice visit until Debbie ran out of gas at around 3:00 PM. She had a nice rest until the fevers, et al., started later in the evening. Hopefully, we will do a better job today of keeping ahead of this stuff with the meds.

Tomorrow Debbie is scheduled to start a new outpatient chemo regime using an FDA approved drug called "Dacogen." The course of treatment calls for the drug to be administered for 5 consecutive days during a 30 day cycle. Because this is not a clinical trial, Dr. Porter has much more flexibility to alter the dose and it will be delivered IV rather than by injection. Because Debbie's counts tend to plummet with the chemo, we do not want to take the chance of another bout of cellulitis.

Hopefully, this chemo will put the demons back into their cages for a while and give Debbie a break for the Christmas Holidays. We can only hope for the best.

Thanks again for all of your cards, blogs, calls and visits. They really cheer Debbie up.

Debbie sends her love to all.