Friday Night - Day 5 - Going Home & Happy New Year!

Matt's last chemo stared  at 5:30 p.m.and the nurse is getting all the paperwork in order so we can leave as soon as the PICC line is pulled.  I already made a HEB run to get his prescription filled so we are set for this weekend.  (By the way, HEB was a madhouse to say the least.)

This has been a much easier week than I imagined.  I'm hoping the coming week will be just as easy. The nurses have been wonderful yet again and have made our stay so much easier to endure.  Praying they are each blessed this coming year.

Our year has been filled with many ups and downs and I would never have imagined as 2010 started that it would end in such a crazy way for our family and Matt.  But here is to praying that 2011 will be one filled with much health and wellness.  We have been so blessed by all of you these last few months for all your prayers and gifts of kindness.  May you each have a blessed New Year.  Love to you all.

Friday - Day 5 of 5

Ashley spent the night last night, so it was good to sleep in a real bed last night.  Everything went smoothly last night from what little she said.

So far everything has been really good.  Just a few uncomfortable things now and then, but so much better than induction.  Bag five of the chemo this morning was done by 9 a.m. and Matt should start the last one between 5 and 6 p.m. so we can be out of here around 9 p.m.  Everything is suppose to be ready for us to go as soon as the PICC line is pulled.

We will see how next week goes once we are home.  I'm planning to go to work on the days that Matt is well to save up my time off for when he make a turn for the worse.  Beka is still home the next couple of weeks so I'm hoping she will be able to help out some while he is at home.  He will go to the doctors twice a week for all of January. 

Everyone have a wonderful and safe New Years celebrating tonight.  May 2011 be full of more blessings than you can count for you and yours!

Thursday - Day 4 of 5

So Matt finished his fourth chemo last night and is beginning to get that blah not feeling so good feeling today.  This is normal and about the right time he starts feeling not so good.  He just took something this morning for the headaches he has been getting so he should be sleeping the morning away again today. 

I didn't go home yesterday to shower, yuk I know.  So I'm headed home this morning to shower, wash some clothes and try to clean up some of the mess that I'm sure is at home with the rest of the teenagers home for Christmas.  It is amazing how they can't take a simple cup and put in the dishwasher or how many socks get pulled off and left on the floor where they fall. 

The goal of the doctor is for Matt to be finished by 9 p.m. on Friday so they can pull the pic line and he can go home a.s.a.p.  We will then be going to the dr. office on Monday and Thursday (or Tuesday and Friday) for blood counts.  Matt will need a blood transfusion by the end of the week and I learned that we will have to come to the hospital as an out patient for that to happen.  I guess we will learn more each day as we come home just how all of this works.  But pray that it will be a smooth transition for us to recuperate at home.

Off to shower!  Have a great day and thank you as always for keeping us in your prayers!!! 

Wednesday Night - Day 3 of 5

So Matt has just finished his fourth chemo bag.  All is going so well right now.  Still hates the taste of burning tires...but doesn't complain as much.  No fevers or any other major pains right now, so all is good.  YEA!  I'm getting a little worried now about how things will be next week when we are home.  That is when the fevers and bad stuff should begin, but praying strongly that everything will continue to be smooth.

We enjoyed pizza delivered to the room tonight.  Matt ate almost half the pizza.  It was good.

Tomorrow is another off day and by Friday they should have moved up the chemo start times so that his last chemo should end around 9 p.m. so we can get home before the new year begins.  Matt did comment today that the 3rd floor waiting room would be a good spot to watch the fireworks.  Sitting so high up we could get a really good view of everything looking south.....hummmmm....maybe we might stay just a little....not.

Enjoy your Thursday and thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Wednesday - Day 3 of 5

So Matt started his second day of chemo around 10 a.m. so he should be finished around 1 p.m.  Someone asked the other day which drug he is on.  It is Ara-C also called Cytarabine.  I guess there are really so many different kinds of chemo that each is unique to the type of cancer, so this is one commonly used for AML.  Basically he is getting a mega dose of Ara-C twice each of the three days.  This time around he is getting drops to protect the corneas of his eyes.  Matt hates eye drops almost a much as he hates the taste saline leaves of burning tires.

Matt ate Whataburger around 8 p.m. last night and ate the whole thing.  So his appetite is still good.  He does feel nauseous, but mainly when they do the saline flush of his tubes.

Hopefully all continue to goes well while we are here this week.  The nurses have been so good and it makes such a difference this time with Matt feeling better compared to the first time we were here in November.

Thanks to Keith for bringing in a box of Round Rock Donuts for breakfast this morning.  Matt really enjoyed the chocolate ones and has made it known that I'm not allowed to touch any more, since he will be finishing the box later.

Please continue to keep us in prayer.

Tuesday - Day 2 of 5

Matt did pretty good last night.  He finished his second bag of Chemo around 2 a.m.  He is smelling and tasting everything to the extreme.  He did have a problem with one of the medications for nausea that we will now add to the allergic reaction list, but all in all he is doing good.

He is sleeping right now, which is his normal, sleep during the day thing anyway.

Today will be a pretty boring day, hopefully.  Just sitting around waiting.  He will begin chemo again on Wednesday morning.

Thanks to everyone for your continued prayers and enjoy your day.  Love to you all.

Monday - Night 1 of 5

So Matt finished his first chemo bag around 4 p.m. today.  He will start his second bag around 11 p.m. tonight.  Tomorrow will be an "off" day for chemo.

Matt was a little nauseated after the chemo finished, but we think it is the saline flush that is giving him the bad "burning tire" taste in his mouth.  One of the nurses showed him a tip tonight to smell the rubbing alcohol pads when she is doing the flush and it seemed to help he thought.


Terry brought Matt up some Dairy Queen chicken strips and an Oreo blizzard for dinner.  He ate some of it before getting a little sick at his stomach. 

Once the chemo bags are finished Matt isn't hooked up to the IV machine right now.  So that is nice that he is able to get up an move around more than he did the first time we were here.

Pray that we have a good night sleep without the continued nausea and that the second bag of chemo goes well tonight.

Thanks to all who are keeping up the prayers!  Love to you all.

Monday - Day 1 of 5

So we arrived on time for Matt's 7 a.m. check-in time this morning.  And the nurses were so excited when we got to the third floor, so proud that they saved Matt his "old" room.  So he is back in 332.

The plan was to be completely pre-registered so Matt could get started asap with chemo, which involved placing in a pic line.  Well there was a mix up somewhere along the way and they didn't have him on the list downstairs to insert the line...which takes about an hour to do.  So after waiting, waiting, and a little more waiting (and several phone calls to downstairs and the doctor's office) Matt finally got the pic line inserted and back upstairs to his room around noon. 

Matt has had the pre-mes dripping since about 12:15 p.m. and his nurse is now starting his first bag of chemo.  This time around Matt will also have eye drops four times a day to help protect his eyes from the chemo (which anyone who knows him knows he hates anything touching his eyes). 

During this stay Matt will have a chemo drip for about 3 hrs. two times a day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Ideally, the bags will drip beginning at 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., but they may try to shift several hours during the week so that we can get caught up from starting late today and to hopefully get us home before the New Year on Friday.

One of the first pre-drugs he was given was a steroid which made him very quickly sick at his stomach.  So hopefully that won't be the norm this time around.

Thanks in advance to all those who have Matt on prayer list at their church.  It made all the difference the first time around as I know it will this time.  So please continue your prayers.

I'll try to update a couple of times a day while we are here this week.  Enjoy your time with your families and love to you all.

Prayer Time Again

Hope everyone had a wonderful, blessed Christmas with their families.  I know we did.  It was wonderful to have everyone here together and well!  Matt seemed to enjoy being with everyone which makes it that much harder for tomorrow morning.  As he said last night, I feel so good right now like nothing is wrong, so do I really have to go in again?

Matt will check in at 7 a.m. in the morning.  They will have everything ready for him to get right into a room and get started kicking the rest of leukemia's butt.  He will go in for a total of four more months to finish up the consolidation part of his treatment and then he will have another bone marrow biopsy to confirm the chemo has completely, 100 percent done it's job and he can get on with what he has to do in life.

The girls are both still home, so they will come up to visit him some in the hospital so I can get home and begin making the home as germ free as I possibly can before he comes home on Friday night.

So pray tonight will be one of restful sleep for all of us so we can go in refreshed and ready to battle. Love to you all!

Checkup was Good!

Today's checkup went well with the doctor.  Matt hasn't gained anymore weight and his joints still feel like "fire balls" but all in all he is continuing to hold steady.

Dr. will already have Matt pre-checked in on Monday morning at 7 a.m. for consolidation chemo.  He is expecting that Matt will go home by 10 PM on Friday, December 31st....just in time to ring in the new year.  Matt will do two rounds IVs of chemo on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and then go home to recover on Friday night.  Matt is expected to go in at least twice a week after he is released to monitor blood counts, etc.  Matt will still need blood and platelet transfusions, but those can be done at the doctors office.  Of course we will continue to monitor at home for fevers and maintain a germ free visitors zone to hopefully prevent Matt from having to re-enter the hospital.  Dr. said this will be our routine for the next four months of consolidation treatments.

Praying everyone is enjoying their families.  Bless each of you have continued to pray for us.  Your love and support means more to our family than you will ever know.  Love to you all!

Great Cowboy's Game!

So everyone survived the Cowboy's game yesterday.  Glad it was a win since the car trip back home would not have been a good one with Ashley in the car.  Thanks Ashley for a great Christmas gift!

It's been a while since we have all been together for a road trip.  Matt did get tired and had to go sit down during the game, but in the party deck area (or what ever they call it at the stadium) there were some nice couch things to sit on.  We ended parking about a half a mile away so the walk was a little much.  He described his pain as fireballs behind his knee caps.  He says every bone in his body hurts.

Matt has his actual checkup tomorrow with the doctor (not the P.A.) so we are praying that all counts are remaining great.  We will learn more about his next chemo treatment starting on Monday.  Glad the girls are home so they will be able to visit him while he is there for the week.

Hope you all have a great day (get your shopping finished)!  Love to you all.

Slowly - Family is Coming Together

Slowly but surely the girls are getting in for the holidays.  Ashley made it from Seattle last night.  Roads were all closed in NM, but Bekah got a ride from a friend of a friend to airport last night and was able to get a flight out first thing this morning.  We should see here in Austin by 2 PM today. YEA!!!

Matt seemed glad to see Ashley.  We headed out to Fuddruckers for dinner and Terry and I were rolling listening to Ashley, Nolan and Matt in the back seat.  Just going crazy with stories, seeing who could get their points across by talking louder than the others....just like when they were all little.  I couldn't understand any of it since they were all talking on top of one another.....can't wait to add Bekah to the mix.

Hopefully Matt has the energy to keep up.  We leave in the morning around 6 a.m. for the Cowboys game, Ashley gift to all of us.  Praying for close and affordable parking lot.  He seem excited about going.

Matt has spent the past several days hanging out with Kyle.  They have been staying out late, which I'm glad Matt is out and socializing again.  Matt seems to be in such a great mood, eating better and enjoy life before we head back for Chemo on Monday the 27th.

May you all enjoy your family this weekend!  Life is so good right now....but continue to keep us in your prayers.

Great Blood Results!

Praise God!!  Everything is fantastic on all Matt's counts.  He also has gained 2 lbs. since last Tuesday.  Dr. Kocs made fun and told him he needed to drink Muscle before next week. Looks like everything should remain good for our 7 a.m. check in to hospital on December 27th.  I'm so thankful both girls will be here so they will be able to spend some time with Matt while at the hospital.

Counts are so good they said Matt can go to the Cowboy game, no problem, since he is basically normal counts on everything.  YEA!

So we continue to pray that his appetite continues to remain good and his counts stay normal. 

Thanks again to everyone for your continued support in more ways than I can list.  We love you!

Checkup This Afternoon

Tuesday's are Matt's checkup days.  Will continue to have blood and lab works done each week we come.  Here's to hoping to another set of good results.  I'm sure we will learn more today about his next chemo treatments that start on December 27th.  Matt seems to be eating more, so hopefully his weight will have gone up.

Ashley and Bekah come in this Friday and Saturday for the holidays (and their birthdays).  Ashley has bought family tickets to see the Cowboys play this Sunday.  I've got to double check today with the doctor that it is okay for Matt to go (keeping my fingers crossed the doctor says yes, since Matt is actually wanting to go).

It's not too late to give blood in Matt's name.  He will still be needing blood and platelet transfusions as he continues with consolidation chemo.  You'll have to check my earlier post about how to do so, but I've figured out the trick if you want to donate both blood and platelets.  You should donate platelets first and then you just have to wait a few days to donate blood.  If you donate blood first you have to wait quarterly to give either blood or platelets again.  I'm eligible to donate again the first part of January and since I'm now a member of the Central Texas Blood Center, I can schedule my donations online.  Can't get much easier than that.

Pray for great results today (and yes to the Cowboy game).  Thank you to everyone who is sending in their blood donation coupons.  Each coupon credits' Matt's blood cost $10....and it seems the blood center here in Round Rock gives you stacks of coupons when you come...even if you were not eligible to give.

Love to you all!

Saturday Night - Shower...Check

So tonight Matt and I went over to babysit my nieces......and Matt took a shower before we went over there.  We then order a pizza and he ate half of it.  So sounds like maybe we need to babysit more often if he can shower and eat for that.

When we got to the house, the girls looked at him a little worried with his cap on.  So then he took it off and then Kiana was all worried about what happen to his hair.  He tried to tell her he lost it, but I don't think she could figure that out all.  I think she was a little scared, cause it didn't look like Matt with no hair.  She finally got over her shyness and we had a great time.  But she did have to tell me that she only likes girls and that Matt was a boy.)

Have a great rest of your weekend and continue to keep Matt in your prayers.  He still has some weight to gain before he goes back for chemo on December 27th.

Thursday - He's Eating Again

So Matt seems to be eating more now.  I guess after not eating for so long it takes a while for the stomach to stretch back out as well.  We went to the store after his doctor appointment on Tuesday and he got all sorts of stuff to eat.  I was surprised that he actually went into the store with me.  (He has lost so much weight his jeans are too big, so he had drawstring pj pants on and a big sweat shirt jacket and of course his cap on top of his bald head.)  By the time we finished he started to get really hot, so hot he took his cap off, in public!!  I thought that was great since he has been so worried about what he looks like.

I've been coming home each day at lunch to check on him and he is always asleep on the couch, but wakes up for a little bit while I'm home.  He promises me that he is eating though and when I get home there is always a sink full of dirty dishes, so he must be.

It is suppose to get warmer through Saturday here in Austin, but then a blast of cold on Sunday.  Wonderful Texas weather, hot one day, freezing the next.

Looking forward to my girls coming home next weekend for the holidays.  I know they are excited to see their brother.

Have a great weekend!  Continue your prayers they are felt!

Dr. Visit Update

Yea!  Everything is still at normal levels.  Just a little anemic and slightly jaundice, but really good counts on everything.  I was right at my prediction of weight loss.  Matt was 164 lbs. when he entered the hospital and he was 144 today.  Matt now realizes how important it is to start eating big time while he is at home, since he will loose weight every time he has chemo.

Since his counts are so good, they told us we could start the next treatment on this coming Monday, but since Matt wants to feel good for Christmas and be able to be around family members, we are going to wait and go in the Monday after Christmas, the 27th. 

They did stress the importance to watch the germs still.  Need to continue to monitor visitors for colds and sickness.  So hopefully everyone will remain well over the next couple of weeks.

So thankful for a wonderful God!  Continue to keep Matt in your prayers.

Monday Night

So I survived first day back at work and I even remembered how to do stuff!  I was so touched by all the great good wishes and phone calls from everyone.  I forgot just how special my co-workers are and just how many have been effect by cancer themselves or by a close loved one.  So comforting to know I have so many I can talk thing through with if I need to.  Love you guys!

I guess I'll have to mark it a loss for Matt and taking a shower or eating today...though as he would say, technically the day doesn't end until midnight.  Even MaMaw couldn't convince him and that's pretty hard to do.  I guess I'll need some help in getting Matt over to the car wash tonight to hose him down at the rate we are going.  He did promise that since tomorrow is his doctors appointment that he will shower before he goes.  Now if I can figure out something good for him to eat.

Pray for a shower and good food.  Pray that good news will continue tomorrow at his dr. appt.

Love to you all

Monday Morning Updates

MaMaw will be coming up to watch Matt today while I'm at work.  Hopefully she will be able to motivate him to get off the couch for a while to take a shower and to eat more.  He still can't find anything that taste normal, so I keep saying if nothing taste normal the just eat something.  He has lost so much weight that at this point I really don't care what he eats, just eat.  He has his first check up tomorrow afternoon.  Praying that all levels are still normal.  Hopefully they will know more of when they want to set his next chemo treatment, and we are hoping that it is the week before Christmas instead of the week of.  But we will see.

Here's to everyone having a great day!

Finally Eatting Mandola's Pizza

My sleep patterns are still as messed up as Matt's, hence I'm writing at almost 4 a.m. - which is about the time they always came to take blood while we were in the hospital. 

Anyway, he is finally warming up his two day old Mandola's pizza and actually eating it, without complaining that it tastes funny.  YEA!  He has probably lost close to 20 pounds, so he needs to be eating a lot more than just pizza to try and gain some back.  Right now he is just eating small amounts maybe once a day.  So continue to pray for an appetite.

Enjoyed meeting some of the many ladies praying for Matt from CBC yesterday.  Thank you so much for your prayers and please keep them up!

Ready for the Weekend

Matt has pretty much slept away the past few days home.  Pray that his appetite will increase.  Pray that things will taste more normal.  It seems that nothing tastes as it should.  I made a trip over to get his ravioli and pizza today at Mandola's and it is now sitting in the refrigerator.  I guess it didn't smell as good as he thought when I brought in the door since he never got up to eat at all.

I will be heading back to the office next week.  My thoughts were I should get on back while he is at home, since I'm not sure how the next rounds of chemo will effect Matt.  With him in the hospital for five days each month, I want to make sure I have enough days to be with him if he needs me.  Pray that after 30 days off the job I will have energy to finish the day with some sense of knowing what I'm doing still.

I feel like the Christmas season has snuck up....seeing how it doesn't seem like Thanksgiving really happened yet.  I'm hoping to get the tree up this weekend to at least make us feel like the holidays are here. 

I'm looking forward to my sweet girlfriends from Plano days coming and seeing me Sunday.  I'm so lucky to have "old" girlfriends through thick and thin.  (BTW - Kim I finished Eat, Pray, Love the day we left the hospital so I can now see the movie.)

Have a wonderful weekend, love to you all!

Great First Night Home

It was a great night for all to finally home.

Matt is back to his normal old sleep pattern of staying up all night and sleeping during the days, which is what he did before he was sick.  He did really good last night when I checked on him.  For now he is staying downstairs on the comfy couch, but I'm sure today we will venture up to his bedroom for a while.

We've got a lot of unpacking and sorting through all the stuff we received while in the hospital, so that is going to keep up busy today.  (The nurses couldn't believe how much stuff we had in the room, and neither could I as I took out 4 loads of stuff out to the car.)

If Matt continues to feel as good as he is seeming to today, I plan on heading back to work on Monday.  I'll still be taking off one afternoon a week for his weekly checkup and blood testings.  I'm thinking our visit next Tuesday is when we schedule his next hospital stay for a week of chemo.

Hope you all have a wonderful day, I know we will now that we are home!

Love to you all.

We're Home

Of course it took all day to get us all checked out.  We finally arrived home about 4:40 today.  Our dogs were so excited to see Matt, smelling him over and over again to make sure he was really home.  I don't think they have strayed very far from his side since he got home.  Matt is currently enjoying resting on the sofa and watching the BIG screen tv.

We are headed off to Nolan's football banquet tonight and my dad is coming to keep an eye out on Matt while we are gone.  Sounds like a bunch more tv watching will be happening.

We have already set Matt's weekly appointments for December and we are looking at going back in for the next round of chemo in about 2 or 3 weeks...date still to be determined.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers since the battle isn't yet over.

Love to you all....now off to enjoy some bar-b-que.

Total of 28 Days - Going Home Today

Okay, today is for real the day we are going home!  YEA! 

Matt's blood counts, etc. have all come back this morning and he is set to go.  We are waiting for all the discharge paperwork (I guess) but looks like we could be leaving around noon today.

Doctor will want to start next treatment in 2-3 weeks.  Matt will be re-admitted back to hospital for 5 days for chemo on day 1, 3, & 5 for anywhere from two to four months.  We will be going weekly into the doctor's office for blood workup and transfusions when needed.  So we are on the road to a total remission by Matt's 21st birthday.

Matt looks totally different this morning.  He is awake, smiling and cracking a little laugh as the nurses are coming in joking with him this morning.  We still want him to eat a breakfast and take a shower before we go.  Matt's even talking like he wants to drive over to Mandola's to eat lunch if we get out in time.

Continue your prayers for us.  We still have a ways to go.  Of course I will not be updating the blog quite as often as I have been in the hospital, but do check back weekly for updates.

Again, thank you to all our family, friends and strangers for your support.  Love to you all!

Going Home on Wednesday

Just got a call from the medical doctor of Matts.  Since Matt hasn't been eating or walking enough yet today, it looks like they want to keep him one more night.  They will do one more set of blood test in the morning to confirm everything is looking good.  Matt will need to work hard tonight and tomorrow, but looks like we will be home with him tomorrow.

Praise God - REMISSION!

Matt just got the call from the doctor that the test confirms REMISSION!  I'm home resting from the early morning exercise and Whataburger run, but Matt promises that he will get up and do his physical therapy and eat something before I head back to hospital this evening.  That, hopefully, will then be his ticket that he can go home tonight.

I feel like someone does need to pinch us, since it sure didn't seem like just a week ago we would be at this point, actually crossing over, and coming out of the tunnel! 

Thank you again for your prayers and good thoughts.  That is what carried us through to this point and what we will continue to need in the upcoming months.  We need to continue praying that over the next three weeks Matt's strength will increase to be able to armor his body for the next round of chemo.  We still have some hills to climb.

Again, Praise God for His mercy, loving kindness, and His protection over not only Matthew but all those who have cared for him at the hospital.

Love to each of you.

Day 22 - Can we go home yet??

So Matt slept the whole day and most of the night yesterday.  Nurse Sandy was finally able to kick his butt out of bet around 2:30 a.m. to start to get ready for some laps around this floor of the hospital.  He was also ready to eat.  So at 3 a.m. I head off to Whataburger for a ketchup only burger.  Get the burger back and when he opens it, there is MUSTARD.  Really Whataburger, you can't do this one order right for somebody who hasn't really had solids in 2 weeks, really!!!  So back up I head where the guy argues with me that the receipt shows it is ketchup only, but he won't look at the burger.  Finally I have to show that it is yellow "ketchup".  Oh, were bad, he says.  So 15, long minutes later I have the right burger and head back to the hospital.  Matt was sitting in the family waiting room, ready to eat.  He finished 3/4 of the burger. 

Matt, at 7:30 a.m., is still in the lobby sitting up in a chair watching tv.  We want to keep him up as long as possible, but I've finally headed back to get some nap time.

Dr. came in and he and I have had a long talk about what is next.  We are confident the results will show remission, but Matt just can't believe until he sees the test results.  We are going to be getting some help for Matt for him to see mentally the gift of life he has been given.  Dr. says that we will get Matt hooked up with other young folks who have a much worse time with cancer than Matt has had.  This hopefully will be helpful to group talk about stuff.

So I'm expecting a great day today.  I'm praying we get home tonight and back to some sort of normalcy this week.  Of course we still have several months of chemo to get through before he truly kicks this for good, but the worst of this is over.  It's only going to get better from here on out.

Even after we get home, please continue to watch for updates on this blog and please continue your prayers.

Love to you all!

Sleepy time

Matt has been back in the room from his biopsy for about an hour.  They couldn't give him enough drugs to put him out, so he was semi awake and could feel the procedure.  He said it wasn't fun.  The first biopsy they had to give him 5 times the normal amount to knock him out and he was asleep for about six hours.  Hopefully he will begin to wake up sooner today so we can get to working on all his tasks to be able to leave.

Hoping for good news tomorrow!

Love ya!

Day 21 - Morning - Bone Biopsy Today

God is Good!

We started this journey on November 4th.  Today is the 21st day since IV chemo started and this was our goal for Matt's re-test.  The bone biopsy will be done in the next hour and we should have the results showing he is in remission tomorrow afternoon.  Doc says everything is now up to him as to when Matt wants to get home.  If Matt actively gets to moving he could go home as early as TOMORROW night!  WHAT???  Tomorrow?  YEA.  (It didn't seem like this day would ever come when we were in the worst part of the storm.)

Matt MUST do the following things before they will let him leave.

1. Get off the pain button - which they are going to remove in about 6 mins.
2. Get off the all the IV - which they are going to remove as well this morning
3. Eat - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and plenty of snacks in between.
4. Get up and move on his own.  They will send a PT up to the room today to get him exercising his legs and working on taking laps today.

Once we leave we will still have consolidation (post-remission) therapy to go.  Unknown how many months.

Oh  my gosh...as I type they just came and removed EVERYTHING, all IVs, all pain med machines, it's all GONE.  I feel like we should have had a ceremony or something to celebrate.  It's for real, really, now.

Pray today that the biopsy is all great news.  Pray that Matt will do his job today so we can get out of here.  Bless each of these nurses, techs and doctors who have worked with Matt while we have been here.  They have truly been wonderful in getting Matt to this point of leaving.  And bless each of you have continued to keep us in your thought and prayers.  We are not done yet, so do not cease in your prayers.

Love and thanks to each of you! 

Here was my reading this morning from Joyce Meyer's book Starting Your Day Right Devotions:

Go on Through

Yes, though I walk through the [deep, sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect} and Your staff [to guide], they comfort me.  Psalm 23:4

Knowing God personally requires trusting Him through the hard times in life and not running away from trials.  It requires being faithful to do whatever He says to do, being steadfast while waiting for Him to work out your problems.

You understand how faithful and how good God is when you see His deliverance in your life.  You can't get that certainty by reading a book about Him.  Your faith increases by going through tough times and seeing His presence make a difference in your life.  Don't run away from God during tests and trials; draw near to Him, and listen for His voice of assurance.

Sunday Afternoon - Great News!

I waited today to update everyone until we had the CT Scan results as to what is causing the pain in Matt's left side.  The doctor just called to say that the spleen is still 17 cm so it is enlarged.  The colitis is better but still some inflammation.  There is some fluid around the lung in the area where she feels that Matt may have snapped or fractured a rib then he had the coughing spell the other day.  If the rib is fractured it will be a couple of days as we wait for it to heal itself.

He complained the morning of all his bones hurting, which is great.  This means that his bone marrow is now producing, so it actually swells up in the bones and caused pain, I guess like growing pains.  Again the doctor was very pleased that his white count is now in normal range and everything is producing.

Last night he spent about 2 1/2 hours pulling out all his loose hair on his head.  I had to help finish the few remaining hairs with the buzz clippers.  He had to cover his face with a towel so he didn't see himself in the mirror.   He said he never wants to have his picture taken while bald or talk about this after we get totally well.  I will say, much too my surprise, he has a very nice shaped head so the baldness actually looks quite good.

So for so much great news, I would ask that everyone continue to pray this evening that tomorrows bone marrow biopsy will bring Matt the best news possible, that the leukemia is in remission.  It seems like he has has such a tough couple of weeks, I can't help but be worried. 

To get him home as soon as we can, I'd ask that we pray he begin to eat and move around more.  Right now he is still in pain, but we've got to encourage him to get up and sit in the chair, walk around in the room, etc.

Again, I can not ever begin to thank everyone for all their prayers, various gifts, and good thoughts.  Just know they are appreciated.

Love to you all.

Day 20 - Evening

So the xray taken today of Matt's chest didn't really show anything, so a CT Scan is scheduled for in the morning.  They will take a closer look at the lungs and spleen to see if either might be what is causing the pain.

He has been pretty heavily medicated today due to the pain, so we still haven't buzzed his hair.  He is really loosing a lot of hair now, especially where his head rubs on his pillow.  Of course the hair is getting everywhere, in his drink and food, so he is constantly wanting to check for hair on everything.  Hopefully tomorrow after the scan results come back he will want to cut it all off.

His swollen legs and feet are going down some now that they have taken him off several of his antibiotics.  He also doesn't look as yellow, his color is coming back.  So that is all good, praise God. Hopefully when they take blood this morning at 4 a.m. it will continue to show his blood and platelet counts increasing, showing his body is waking up and making good stuff on it's own.  We still didn't need blood or platelet transfusions today.  So YEA!!!!

Hopefully we will have an uneventful night and nothing new will be bothering him tomorrow.  The bone biopsy is still scheduled for Monday. 

Continue to keep us in your prayers.  We still have several months of chemo treatments to go once we get home.  I'm thinking we have maybe two more weeks here in the hospital before we go home, so pray we both keep some sanity.  23 days of son and mom together can begin to take it's toll.  :)).

Love to you all!

Day 20 - Morning - Difficulty Breathing

The doctors will be in later, since it is a Saturday.  Matt had developed a pain in a specific spot on his left side.  They are thinking the pain is actually because of maybe a clot or spot on his lung.  They will be ordering either a CT Scan or x-rays to today and figure what is going on.  He can only take very shallow breaths right now since he says it feels like a broken rib with shooting pains.

On the bright side, his body is producing white blood, platelets, and red blood, all the good stuff, all on its on.  YEA!!!!  They have now remove the signs about hand washing and masking off the door, but still if visitors feel they may be a little sick he is wanting people to still mask up and be germ free.

I brought up the clippers to shave his head.  He has lots of hair coming out now, a bald spot in the back of his head where it rubs more on his pillow.  He wanted it shaved last night but with his chest hurting it was talking all of his energy just to breathe.  So maybe later today he will want it cut.. 

So prayer for this morning is that his body continue to produce all the good stuff to get well and that we find out what is going on with his lung and we can fix it today.

Thank  you God for the beautiful sunrise this morning.  I keep thinking I need to take a picture of the sunrise views from this floor's waiting area to post for everyone.  It was absolutely beautiful today.

Enjoy your Saturday and love to you all.

Day 19 - Too Much Tryptophan

Matt and I both must have been given something to sleep, I guess mine was overdose on Tryptophan.  I didn't have a nap yesterday so it all caught up with me last night and this morning.  I didn't go to bed until 1:30 a.m. last night and have slept until 10 a.m. this morning.  WOW!

Matt is doing better overall today.  His gut pain is down to about a 2.  His overall color is looking not as yellow.  He does have some new pains we are working with, but nothing major.  All three doctors came by to say he is doing so much better.  They are going to take him off 1 or 2 of the antibiotics and lowering the dose of the $1,500 nutritional drip. 

Our goal today is to really wholeheartedly begin eating more solids, when he is awake.  He ordered a blueberry muffin this morning, still untouched on his bedside table.  He says he has to psych himself up to eating and it takes a while.  At least the room smells like something good now.

Sounds like everyone who has updated me has had a successful Black Friday shopping trip.  It was sleeting this morning at the hospital so you had to be pretty crazy to be standing outside in that stuff early this morning.  But glad you have your shopping done now.

Continue to pray for Matt's healing.  His bone marrow biopsy is on Monday.  We are praying that it shows he is in remission so that we can get home soon.  Pray his body continues to increase his white counts and platelets so it can get stronger.  Pray he can hold down solid foods more today.

Thank you and love to you all.

Day 18 - Thanksgivings

Matt did pretty good today considering everything he is going through.  He was able to eat some chicken noodle soup and hold it down.  They have kept the fever down most of the day, but also kept him heavily medicated so he slept most of the day away.

We had lots of family coming in and out in shifts to visit for Thanksgiving, so I know he enjoyed that, even if he slept through most of the visits.

Ashley and Bekah was successful in their first attempt at cooking Thanksgiving dinner.  I think everyone and enjoyed it much to their surprise. 

Of course it was a great night tonight with the Aggies big win over t.u.  Great game indeed to be thankful for.

So I can truly say there was much to be thankful for today.  Thank you to everyone who is supporting Matt in prayer.

Be safe tonight all you Black Friday shoppers.  (Ya'll are crazy!!)

Love to you all.

Day 18 - Morning

White count is up from 4 to 5 this morning.  So that is good. Still planning to have bone marrow biopsy on Monday.  Liver is looking better and there is movement sounds in his gut.  So sounds like his body is trying to start healing itself. 

Doctor wants Matt to begin eating small meals, "grazing" as he calls it throughout the day.  Now we just have to figure out what he might be hungry for.

Sounds like my family will be going downtown to watch the Aggie Band march in today at 1.  I'll be heading home to shower and get my maroon on to watch the game tonight at 7.  I think the game should be pretty exciting to say the least....but I'm thinking we are going to Beat the HELL out t.u.  Gig'em!!!!

Have a great Thanksgiving...don't eat too much!

Love to you all.

We're Clean!!!!

Okay, Missy is now my favorite nurse....she got Matt to take a shower and wash his hair.  He looks like he is feeling so much better now that he is clean.  And he smells tons better from my end.  It's funny that his sense of smell is so heightened right now, yet he couldn't smell his own stinky self.

I enjoyed my day with Nolan.  We went to Academy to get some hunting clothes that fit him.  He had gotten so tall since last year that nothing at all fit him.  When we left, there was traffic all over the place and police cars blocking access to 35.  We wouldn't decide if there was actually an accident or if traffic was so heavy due to the holiday that they weren't letting cars on.  It took us about 40 mins to get home down Main St. and then over to 620.  (I hate this time of the year when drivers are at their crankiest..)

Sounds like everyone I've visited with are busy cooking and getting ready for tomorrow.  Enjoy your day!

Pray that some of Matt's new pains will go away.  Pray that we can keep the fever down (it shot up to 103 again while I was gone).  Pray that he can get some peaceful sleep tonight.

Love to you all!

Watching for New Infections

So all the doctors (three of them) have been by to see Matt.  Now there is thinking that the pic lines have a bacteria in the tubing.  I guess what I heard is because the various things they are counting a fluctuating too much from day to day.  In addition the fevers he keeps getting aren't explained by any obvious bacterias they have been testing for.  This means that if the new blood test from his other arm show any signs of a particular infection they will pull the pic lines and redo the lines.  I don't know if I'm praying for this to happen or not to happen.  It take about an hour to put the line in and it is painful.

So please continue to pray that they will find the cause of these fevers and it will be something that can easily be fixed.  Pray that Matt can get a break in the lousy cards he is being dealt.

The good is Matt is they also want Matt to try and begin to eat something.  We need to start slowly, but maybe just chicken broth  today, even a teaspoon full at a time.  We want to work up to him being able to eat solids next week.

Day 17 - Morning

Well Matt's white count has doubled to 4 this morning, so that is good, but it should be around 11 by this point.  Doc will go ahead and schedule the bone biopsy for Monday so we can confirm that the leukemia is in remission.  All the other test ran yesterday were "uneventful" per the doc.  So I guess that is good that nothing new showed up.

Ginger Ale seems to be Matt's favorite drink now.  It has really helped calm the nausea and he drinks about three cans of it a day.   So that is really good, I'm sure, to have a taste for something besides Fiji water.


Matt was so funny last night.  We stayed up talking about all sorts of stuff from 10 until 12:30ish.  I think after sleeping for so long he really does just want to be awake and talking and talking and talking.  I had to google all sorts of stuff his brain had been thinking about while sleeping to get the facts straight.  Who stared in what move, what move in the 1980's was about a robot, where we could find 600 Polaroid film, etc.

I guess all of you out in the real world are preparing for the feast for tomorrow.  I can't imagine how crazy HEB must be today as everyone gets all the last minute stuff they forgot.  Matt won't be up to eating any of that good food tomorrow so take an extra bite for him if you think about it.

Love to you all and enjoy your day.

Have no Fear

Matt is sleeping due to so many drugs in his system.  He has many dreams when he sleeps like this and has to ask out loud if he is awake or still dreaming.  We won't have results on the CT Scan or the new blood cultures until in the morning.  They did blood cultures since his fever went crazy again last night and they think it may have been a reaction to one of the blood transfusions he received.  We will see.

I've been doing several devotionals during the night and found this good one online for Joyce Meyers.  I've tried very hard not be to fearful through this and to remain positive.  Anyway, thought you might find this helpful as well.  Pray About Everything and Fear Nothing!

Pray for a peaceful night, fever free, basically for an uneventful night.  Day 21 is Sunday, so pray that on that day we will see a drastic change in his white cell count, for the upward, healing kind of counts. 

Thankful that Bekah has made it on the plane and should be head safely to San Diego to be with Ashley for Thanksgiving.  Tomorrow should be a day of cooking and preparing for the feast they have planned on Thursday.

Love to you all.

Day 16 - Morning

So last night we thought was going to be a good one, but as soon as the words were spoken his temperature crashed to a extreme low of 96 around 1:30 a.m.  He starting shaking cold and the nurse and I had to start working fast to warm him back up.  Blankets, sheets, lots of layers.  Crazy.  So we got him warmer, quite down, and asleep.  Then at 4 a.m. when she came to check his temperature it had shot up to 103.  Now at 7 a.m. it is finally back down to 100.

His white count is 2 today.  Doc says his body is using all the white counts he has to fight the colitis.  Doc has ordered another CT scan this morning to look closer at his liver, he is still very yellow all over his body and eyes.  Pray that the jaundice is a side effect of one of the antibiotics he is on and we can stop it and not some infection or failure of the liver.

Day 21 (after chemo) is Sunday so our goal is to see the white count increasing by then.

Hope you all have a great day today, keep us in your prayers.

Love to you all.

Day 15 - Night

Terry surprised me this morning and came to the hospital to relieve me today.  Thank you to whomever at Dell allowed this to happen.  I was able to go home for the longest amount of time yet and caught up on my sleep and even had the urge (yikes I hate to admit this) but to do some cleaning.  Really just to do something normal and non-hospital for a while.  We were able to enjoy a family meal together at home, Nolan's choice, chicken fajitas.  My sister, Elizabeth was able to relieve Terry at 5 for him to eat with us.

I think Elizabeth enjoyed her time with Matt tonight.  She is the feeding of ice expert now and he immediately complained that I wasn't doing as good as Elizabeth had done it.

Fever is staying below 100 which means we are pumping him with platelets and blood as much as we can.  I see outside the door his next $1,500 meal waiting him for tonight.  Yum Yum.  He is still nauseated, but isn't complaining constantly as he was the past several days, so I'm thinking it is getting better.  His color looks better and he is joking around with his nurse.

The nurses up here are overworked and severely stressed this week.  They are working single handily with 10 patients at a time.  They don't get additional help (a tech) until they hit the 10:1 ratio.  Of course Matt seems to take them the most amount of one on one time right now, yet they have other patients just as sick they are needing to help.  I understand that it got so bad today while I was gone that they had to call in the director to assist with just Matt.  GOOD, maybe someone higher up can see how crazy this 10:1 ratio is.  I keep praising the nurses at how good they are doing and how pleased we are with their care of Matt, they are doing an excellent job! 

Congratulations and prayers of thanksgiving go out to a friend from the past in becoming a grandma today.  Looks like little Cole is truly a little angel.  What joy!

I hate to sound like a broken record, but continue to pray for the nausea to go away (it has been little by little each day)  Pray for another semi-peaceful night of sleep for Matt.  Pray that his platelets will begin to climb, I think they were just 60 this morning.  Pray that MaMaw has a safe trip here tomorrow as she comes to sit with Matt.

Thank you to McNeil students, 60 of them, who donated blood today in Matt's name.  That is a huge gift.  May you each be so blessed for your sacrifice of time for him.

Love to you all!

Day 15 - Morning - Enough of the Rapids, Please

Doctor Kocs came in early, 5:45 a.m., this morning, which always startles me.  But he said that we have another week to go before we hit the right turn in this journey.

What he said reminded me of when dad and I use to go on long overnight canoe trips growing up.  I remember dad always had  a map to show the different turns and bends in the river.  The map would show us what to expect....smooth or white, rougher waters.  But even though it might show us the waters were going to be rough, we didn't always know to expect, just to expect roughness.  I remember the one time we were not prepared.  I didn't have my life jacket on, and the canoe did hit more rapids than expected and the canoe flipped me out and down the river, just as I was getting my arm into the life jacket.  I remember being churned in and out of the water.  I'm sure dad was quite worried when he didn't see me bobbing up and down as quickly as he wanted.  I'm sure he was in a panic as he tried to get to me.  But he did get to me and we finished that overnighter.

Well that is what we are going through right now.  We knew going into this journey to expect some rough waters, but we didn't realize just how rough this trip was going to be, me and Matt.  But the doctor has given us some hope that we are getting closer to the end.  Knowing we have just one more week of white water lets us know we can to the end. 

Please continue to be our zipped up life jacket as you continue your prayers for us.  Please continue for healing of Matt's colitis and the protection that he doesn't develop additional infections on this new nutrition IV.  The new meds are helping with the nausea, but continue to pray the nausea will cease.

Day 14 - Night - Food for Though?

I was able to go home again this afternoon to sleep again in my own bed for a while.  It had been a rough 24 hrs. so I always feel more energized and equip for the night when I have had some sleep.

Ashley called while I was home.  She is hosting Thanksgiving dinner at her place for several friends and Bekah will be coming to help cook.  She is asking a billion questions on how to cook the turkey, when to thaw, when,when, when.....so I hope I helped her somewhat.  I have faith that she can do this dinner and it will turn out fabulous!  I know that with everyone pitching in they will have a great time.  We got to talking about Thanksgiving traditions, reminiscing of when the kids were younger.  I remember the kids always loving to help with this little sweet treat.  We always made such a mess in the kitchen and I think the kids were typically covered in icing by the time we finished, but they were good memories.  I figured I would share it with everyone keeping up with this blog and you could make it and think of us on Thanksgiving.... OREO TURKEYS!!! 

Okay, now back to more food like stuff.  Matt will finally begin tonight at 9 PM an IV nutrition concoction.  It is mostly sugar with vitamins and good stuff that will feed him.  The nurse was warning me that there is a higher chance to develop infections when on this, but after not eating in a week it is necessary.  Now let me tell a little story before I finish this one.

Several years ago Terry and I headed out to Vegas for a romantic getaway which included dinner at Picasso's.  We had the most expensive meal we have ever had, four course, wine with each course, amazing dinner at a mere $200 per person, which made it hard for me to fully enjoy....but it was great.  Flash forward to tonight's meal for Matt.  He too will be having the most amazingly expensive meal of his life, one he will never taste, but we hope will nourish him....at a mere price of $1,500 per 24 hrs.  I'm too tired to be more witty and do an American Express kind of comment, but the bottom line is this meal will be Priceless!

May this week be filled with many blessing for you and your families as you come together to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Be thankful for even the smallest things this week as you are together.  I know I'm so very thankful for each and everyone one of you, friends and strangers alike.

2 Corinthians 12:9 (New International Version)

⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Day 14 - Nausea is Better

Matt's nausea is better, they have changed up and doubled the dose.  We are getting ready to start platelets now.  This afternoon they will start "feeding" him through his IVs.  He hasn't had food for the past 7 days.  He nibbles but can't hold down anything so we've got to get something in him.  Feeding him through his IV is good since his colitis is still bothering him something awful and the lest strain on that area the better.  We are also now concerned with some crackling sounds in his lungs...so they will watch him closely today.

He is now tasting the styrofoam cups when he sips his FIJI water....so we are now icing the water bottles down so he can sip cold water from the bottle.  Terry is going to be a small ice cooler up today to start keeping bottles iced down.....though as cold as we have the room you'd think the water would freeze on their own.  The room is set at 68 and we have a fan now running on high to keep him cool.  I'm very tempted to run out to my car, where I have my thick heavy winter coat in the back seat...through I'm thinking people may think me quite odd.

Here's to a better afternoon for Matt.

Day 14 - Pray for Non-Nausea

So we have been up all night battle the overwhelming, non-ceasing nausea.  Matt hasn't slept really at all last night.  His fever is staying around 100 but he is red and splotchy all over and we have him covered in ice bags that are melting so fast against his body that I have emptied out the ice machine on this wing.  Sweet nurse Shaun has finally hunted down a fan to blow on Matt, which in the past 10 mins. has seemed to help somewhat.  Now if he can cool down enough to sleep a little.

For those of you praying please be specific that his nausea will go away for even just a little bit of time today.  Second, pray that he will feel cooled off from his constant burning on fire feeling. And last, pray for those students who will be giving blood in Matt's name tomorrow at the McNeil blood drive.  What a wonderful gift they will be giving.

Thank you all for your constant lifting up of prayers for Matt.

Have a wonderful Sunday and love to you all!

Day 13 - Night

Matt is still feeling horrible.  Praying the hormones will begin to increase white count soon, which will help balance everything else going crazy right now in his body.  God has blessed Matt in so many ways through our two weeks here already.  I know there is a purpose in everything and I pray that Matt will know and feel that purpose & love more each day.  Special things are in Matt's future, he just doesn't know it yet.

Sweet Vicki was a saint today.  She stayed the afternoon with Matt and I know it got a little bad by the time I got here tonight.  I was able to go home this afternoon and get some deep sleep so I feel renewed and ready for tonight's battles.

Matt completed two platelets tonight and we will be doing blood tomorrow, if the fever stays down.  The morning will bring another chest x-ray to make sure nothing it happening as he has more difficulty breathing. I'm sure all three doctors will be making their rounds again with him since each are watching different things going on with Matt.

I tried looking for Matt's quilt I made him years ago to bring up here.  I know when he was little he was always so scared of bad thunderstorms and he use to sleep with that quilt during the storms cause it was like me hugging him.  I'm gonna bring it up here all clean as soon as I find it somewhere in him room.

Continue to pray for some relief to his colitis and heartburn pains.  Pray that his nausea will cease tonight. Pray we see a boost in white counts.  Pray the jaundice will begin to improve.  Pray for some straight deep sleep for him for longer than 2 hours at a time. Pray for the nurses on staff tonight, they seem to be a little (a lot) short handed tonight.  I know they look pretty weary by the mornings.  Pray for Ashley, Bekah and Nolan.  I know this can't be easy for them as they hear of and watch the sufferings of their brother.

I came home to a mailbox full of such sweet cards and letters.  Thank you to everyone for your good thoughts.  Our family is so lucky to have so many people who care so much about Matt.

Good night and love to you all!

Day 13 - Same Old Same Old

Same old information, nothing new.

He is still in pain, still having trouble breathing.  Two sets of the doctors came in this morning to say everything is normal with what is going on in his body right now.  Once the white blood cells can start to increase then the infection he has going on will begin to go away.  His body will begin to heal.  He is still yellow all over, jaundice, because of his liver emzymes.  We joked that we could take him over to the maternity ward and get him butt naked in one of those light machines....he just said he wouldn't fit (so the nude part didn't bother him???)

Since he is having difficulty breathing during the night they did do another chest x-ray that we won't have results back until this afternoon.  They are looking for either lumps and fluid.  Doctors didn't seem that concerned with that this morning.

He really likes his night nurse, Kristen, who will be here again last night.  She was on top of everything last night without us ever having to call for her.  He did do a weird fever thing.  By mouth he was normal, but under his arm he would be 102.  Strange.  They ended up bringing those mood ring kind of thermometers to stick on his head....so if you visit today, that is what the black rectangle is on top of his forehead.

I'm planning on taking advantage of Vicki and Kyle coming to visit today to go home and sleep in my own bed for a while.  Maybe they can talk him in to going ahead and shaving his head today or tomorrow, since his hair is coming out now on his pillow more than before.

Have a good Saturday (it is Saturday right??).  Please continue your clicks and prayers! 

Love to you all!

Day 12 - night

Matt seems to be feeling better, though he always does after his visits with Kyle, Laura & George.  He was up talking since 6 p.m. tonight.  He had Vicki go out an get him a banana snow cone, which I understand he ate almost all of.  Of course Kyle let me know that Matt has been over self medicating himself with the button being pushed every 6 minutes.....so Matt wants to make sure I don't let him push it tonight as often.  Wish me luck with that.  I will say the medicine has helped with the pain in his gut.  Hopefully the new antibiotic is what is helping also him feel better. 

I was able to go home and eat, shower and get back up here by 9:30 p.m.  As I was sitting in the hallway talking with my sister-in-law, who comes up the back elevator, but a sweet co-worker who is battling pancreatic cancer.  She has been thought and prayed for many times while I have been here with Matt so it was both good and bad to see her tonight.  Anyway, she is our across the hall neighbor for the next couple of days.  So while you are lifting up prayer for Matt please lift up an extra big one for Lillie.

Pray that Matt continues to be in less pain and that we can keep the fevers down long enough to finish up the second blood transfusion tonight.  Pray for some rest tonight (for both of us).

Have a great weekend and enjoy your family.

Oxygen Time

Matt's oxygen was low this afternoon, so it is oxygen bar time.  I guess since his stomach area is so swollen there is not enough room to breath, thus less oxygen in the blood.  Still trying to get fever down to 100 so we can begin our daily cocktail of platelets and blood.
We did finally get the sonogram and confirmed that the gallbladder is full of stuff and the other organs are inflamed in that area....but we haven't heard back anything differently from the doctor.

Had some sweet visitors this afternoon and want to thank everyone at RRISD for their lovely gift this afternoon and to thank McNeil High for the blood drive on Monday.  I understand that the school is asking the blood be in Matt's name.  That is such a huge gift.  Thank you!!

Please continue the prayers that we can get all these secondary problems over with so we can get back to the business of recovering his body enough to go home soon.  I'm thinking we will be here another two weeks.

Have a great night!  Love to you all!

Waiting Game for Sonogram

Still waiting to have sonogram for Matt.  Someone came up over and hour ago with a wheelchair....ha ha ha.  Matt is so doped up right now he can't move, so I don't know why the machine wasn't brought up to his room to do the test, so now waiting on "new orders" for the machine to come to him.

The pain is still bad, even though they have him asleep, cause he keeps moaning a grabbing at his stomach.  The doctor has now started a morphine drip machine that can give a dose every six minutes if Matt pushes on the button.  But again, he is asleep and doesn't realize the drip is at his bedside yet.

Hopefully we will know more soon.

On another note, you may have now noticed Amazon Ads on this blog.  This is another way that Ashley has set up to raise some funds to offset medical costs.  If you so choose to do some of your Christmas shopping via this blog, via Amazon, then anywhere from 10-15% of sales are sent back to Matt.  So why not shop a little while you are visiting for updates.

Day 12 - morning

Thankful to God for answering prayers.  Matt was in more comfort with his gut pains.  He kept fever free without ice baths, but we kept the meds going every 3-4 hours for fever.  We finally settled down to sleep at 5 a.m.....hence the later post this morning.  I think Matt was a night owl at home, so it has carried over to the hospital as well....which is totally opposite for me.

Two of the doctors were in this morning early.  Oncologist feels everything is going as it should be, and the gut inflammation is part of chemo killing off everything.  The blood test haven't come in yet for the morning but we will be looking to see if the hormone is increasing his white counts to begin getting himself healthy again.

The Infectious Disease doctor listened to Matt's gut and said it sounds better.  It is still a little swollen so there is still concerned that too much fluid (infection) is in the right side.  The ultrasound will be sometime this morning, but as I've told Ashley this morning, WHEN is the million dollar question.  At least that test will be performed here in the room.

I hope all of you who have family coming home from college for Thanksgiving Break have safe travels and that you enjoy each and every minute with them.  Give them a hug and let them know you love them.  I pray that Bekah enjoys her Thanksgiving with Ashley in San Diego.....apparently Ashley is hosting Thanksgiving dinner for several friends at her place...thought, thank goodness (for those that know her) she is NOT doing the cooking.....which is something to be thankful for!!!

Thank you Jerry for coming to Austin for the bath and bed makeover for Matt.  I haven't been back to the house, but I understand from everyone who came to see the changes that they are WONDERFUL...just as you and your crew were.  We will never be able to thank you enough!

Thank you all, again, for the prayers and blood donations for Matt.  They really do mean more than you could know.

Love to you all and have a great Friday!

Matt Just Can't Get a Break

Matt sure needs a break today. 

We now know why he is in such pain.  Seems that there is a bacteria running crazy in Matt's right side (a bacteria that is normally in each of us, but with nothing to fight it, it has gone super crazy).  He has severely inflamed and swollen colon, spleen, appendix, gall bladder, and liver.  The ultrasound will be done sometime tonight to help determine more info on the gaul bladder and liver, which also is spotty.  At this point, he is not eligible to have surgery to fix or remove any of these, so the meds have got to work.

This new doctor has started a new antibiotic and anti-fungal medication that can hopefully keep things in check while we wait at least 72 hrs for his white count to start to kick in.  He will be able to keep pain meds coming every three hours, so we will try to keep him asleep and fever free tonight.  So we are in for a rough next three days.

We will be having visits from all three doctors tomorrow to really determine more.

Please continue your prayers, at this point I'm not sure specifically what should be prayed for, so just overall prayers.

Day 11 - Afternoon

Laura has been in charge today.  She updated me all morning that Matt's fever had continued to go up this morning and he was still having severe stomach cramping.  It doubles him over in pain it hurts so much.  I've come on back up to the hospital to be with him this afternoon while Jerry and crew finishes up the bathroom and bedroom re-do for Matt.  I can't believe they have gotten almost everything done by lunch....it would have been a month long do-it-ourselves project had Terry and I attempted this.

So back to Matt.  He now has and Infectious Disease doctor assigned to his case.  They are concerned with the stomach cramping he has had the past three days so this new doctor is going to be doing a CAT scan this afternoon to see what is going on in the colon.  Could be anything from a reaction the antibiotics to a bacteria that is multiplying in his colon.  So hopefully this test will provide some answers.  He has three yummy cups of barium to drink before 3:30.  Thank goodness he is holding it all down, so far.  I think they should come get him for the test around 4 p.m.

At this point, we are just praying for answers as to what is causing the pain so we can treat it and get rid of the fever.

Thanks for all your support in so many ways.

Day 11 - Morning - Continued good news!

Matt was up and down a couple of time last night going to bathroom, which is great he has energy to want to walk that far and move around.  Fevers didn't get over 101 as we continued ice and meds to keep it down.  Matt & I didn't get to sleep until 5 a.m.

Doc came in a little earlier this morning, so Matt didn't get to ask the questions he asks repeatedly.  Doc was smiling and saying everything is looking so good and that the DNA results yesterday were a HUGE (I think he said HUGE at least four times) thing in the recovery and the confidence we are going to get all of this leukemia.  Today doc will start Matt on hormone injections to speed up the white blood cells recovery.  They are sort of like injections in the stomach that diabetics take and I think (in my sleepy state) he said those would be daily.  Doc is still trying to determine what is causing these fevers, which should be over with by now.  I did ask what to expect when we get home.  He said he would talk more with all of us, but once a month, for 3-5 months, Matt will be admitted into the hospital for a 5 day chem treatment given every 12 hours.  It should be easier on his system than what he going through but because of the continuous length of the chemo he would be admitted to the hospital. 

Matt "ate" a frozen chocolate Ensure this morning at 4:30 a.m.  He likes them frozen so he has to use a spoon to eat, instead of drinking it.  Makes it better.  He is still wanting Mandola's for lunch so that is our plan.

Momma Laura will be with Matt today while I'm home with bathroom redo.  I'm so excited that Matt won't have to worry about nasty bathroom stuff when he returns home.  So thankful for wonderful friends!

Continue to pray for daily good news.  Pray that the stomach cramps he is having will cease today (and not come back into another part of his body).  Pray that today will be the last of his fevers.  Pray he holds down solid food to get his energy back up.  Pray that conditions are right to finish the bathroom project all in one day - today.

Hope your day is as good as ours.  Love to you all!

Matt is Up on Computer

Matt's fever is staying down this evening so far.  He has been sitting up in his bed on his computer for about an hour now, so that is good.  He still is suffering from sharp stomach pains today, but seems to not be bothering him too much right now.  He is still wanting to eat but worried he won't keep it down.  I ran to HEB to get him some banana popsicles...so hopefully he will eat those tonight.

Thanks again for all the prayers and clicks.  Everything is working so thank you!

Here's to a fever free night and a great tomorrow morning.

Fevers Continuing

Matt has been battling the fever ups and downs again throughout the day.  Just as they seem to be under control, they spike again.

He has finished another bag of platelets and will start another round of blood this afternoon, once his fever can drop around 100.

He is really wanting to eat, he is worried that he has already lost too much weight, which he hasn't.  His bed is pretty cool, since it can weigh him while he is lying there.  He laughed this morning that when he gets out he will have lost some fat and will be able to really buildup a set of abs that will look ripped!

I pray for safe travels for our friend Jerry and his crew from Houston tomorrow morning.  He is coming in to get Matt's bath and bedroom ready for Matt's return home.  What an amazing friend to give of his time and talents!  (We love you Jerry!!!) 

Laura is going to take off work to be with "Mattie" tomorrow while I'm at the house.  Hopefully he will be feeling better for her to carry on some good conversation...and hopefully a great lunch.

Thanks again for the prayers, they continue to be working.

Day 10 - Surprise Party!

Well this morning was like the best surprise party ever!!!  Doctor came in with the DNA results, that we didn't think were coming until Friday.  The DNA shows that Matt's leukemia will not require a bone marrow transplant.  The chemo should do the trick, this first time around.  Matt asked how much longer it will take to know for sure, and we think we will do the bone marrow test to see if the treatment killed everything within a week and at least another week for Matt's body to rebuild itself before he can come home.  So best news we could receive today.

Matt still battled with high fever last night, but the nurse last night came every four hours with his meds to keep the fever down as much as possible.  Matt did NOT have the leg pains as he did the night before and was able to have peaceful sleep throughout the night.  (Which mean I feel very well rested this morning, since I slept too.)  OF course it goes without saying, these were all request that were answered by your prayers.

Today we are going to be flushing out his port to keep everything flowing.  No chest x-rays today.  I believe both blood and platelets are coming again today.  That should help more once we keep his fever down without aid of meds.

Thanks to those at Dell and RRISD who have donated blood.  The coupons are starting to come in.  Read my earlier post on how to donate if you want to. 

Have a wonderful day and love to you all.

Day 9 - Night

Matt had a great afternoon from what everyone has said.  I went home to sleep at 2 PM today and didn't get back up here until 10 PM.  When I arrived he and Laura were having some good conversations, especially since the good drugs to relieve the pain and help him sleep had started.  He was full of it...just like a regular "Mattie".

His fever is a little above normal tonight, but we are going to keep that in check so we don't get the spike we had last night.  The nurse tonight is going to check in every half hour to make sure it all goes smoothly tonight.

God has been so good to Matt in so many ways.  Hopefully he will be able to look back at this experience in his life and be thankful too.

Please continue your prayers.  I have been so moved to receive so many calls from people I haven't spoken to in years who know of our situation.  Your prayers and love mean more than you know....it's what give us strength through these times of darkness. 

Please pray specifically that the fever stays down, that Matts legs don't give him sharp pain tonight, that Matt has a peaceful night of much needed continuous sleep.  Please pray that Matt's wish of eating a bowl of Mandola's ravioli and a cheese pizza for lunch on Thursday will be able to happen.

May your night be a good one.  Love to you all.

Day 9 - Morning

Someone asked, haven't we been in the hospital longer than eight days.  Yes.  The count of days is the number of days we are counting down from the first IV chemo treatment to day 21 which is the day another bone marrow test will be done.  So we have actually been in for 12 days.

Matt's temp is still staying between 101 and 102+.  He finally slept some at 4 a.m. until now.  We will start more antibiotics and a patch for long term continuous pain relief.  We've got to get his temp to 100 or below before we can start more blood then platelets today.

Good news overnight is there isn't kidney failure, lungs remain clear, and haven't found what's causing him to be so feverish....which means no bacteria found yet.  So that is good.

We giggled last night when the fever was almost 104 and he was talking crazy talk.  I think he watched too many Borne movies this week....because the CIA was coming to cut his legs off for sale at auction....so if he kept complaining his legs hurt they wouldn't want his legs....which apparently are a secret hiding place for swords.  He was also very worried that I still might try to walk and eat Oreos at the same time which apparently could kill me.

His heart is being tenderized....he has told me he loved me for all I'm doing, which I told him I'd do no matter what.  This morning when he was a little awake he wanted to make sure I go eat breakfast.  He is also talking about when he gets out of the hospital not "if".

I can not begin to list all the thank yous to all of you who have done so much.  Continue donating blood (see earlier post how if you don't know), continue prayers, specifically we can break this fever, pray for continued peace within his body.

Love to all and have a great day!

Fever Ups and Downs...and Ups

Today has been a day & night I hope we don't have to repeat, but afraid we will be doing so.  The fever remained around 102.4 all afternoon.  I was exhausted and went home late this afternoon.  Came back with fever under control at 99.....now it has spiked to 103.7.  So ice packs are getting ready to start along with some more good drugs.  He talking crazy stuff right now, he can't walk and eat oreos....I guess it is making very loopy to say the least.

It's going to be another long night.

Day 8 - Fever has started

No sooner than the chemo stopped, that his body began to heat up.  His temp. has gone from 99 to 103 in 30 mins...that was an hour ago.  We are working on three different antibiotics and stuff to drop his temp.  He aches all over, he says it hurts just to breath right now.  Just had a chest xray to confirm that all is okay with lungs.  They also took blood three times today already running different tests and cultures.

Again, pray for some recess from the pain.  If he can just sleep for a few hours and stop fighting the pain it can let his body work on the fever.  Pray we can get this under control today and it won't be long term this week.

Watching a love one so uncomfortable and in pain is the worst part. I'm glad Ashley came when she did so she didn't have to see him like this. 

Day 8 - Morning

Chemo bag is still running.  It has been a very rough night, with only about 30 mins of semi sleep at a time.  Still no fever, but his body is in a battle.  Hot and cold with violent shakes.  The heartburn hurts from one end to the other as he says.  Stomach cramps, thirsty, but if he even eats a piece of ice the acid floats up.  The meds to help him relax just aren't doing the trick right now.

Dr. came in earlier this morning and they are mixing up a anti-acid with a pain killer for him to take.  Hopefully that will sooth the heartburn to give him some longer sleep at a time.

Platelets are still low (17) so they are starting another bag of platelets around 9 a.m.

All through the night all he keeps talking about is how hungry he is for Mandola's ravioli and cheese pizza.  We've talked about how I'm going to go over there at 10:45 to get his food and bring it over to the hospital in something to keep it hot, since it takes about 40 mins. to get over there and back.  I keep telling him lets see how he feels once the heartburn stops.

Pray for some peace in his body, let his body just relax and not fight the shakes.  Pray that we can get this heartburn feeling under control.

May today turn out to be a good day!

End of Chemo - Day 7

So chemo will be ending sometime tonight.  He has just a half a bag left to go.  Matt did end up receiving platelets late this afternoon again.  After visits from family and friends this afternoon he is getting some sleep.  He has had bad heartburn today and they are trying to figure out what to give him that will work in calming that down.  He also said he feels like he has a sore starting in his mouth.

Matt's going to miss having his big sister here in the middle of the night.  I'm so thankful the Navy let her come on these past few days.

The doctor should be here around 6:30 a.m. tomorrow for updates.  Hoping and praying for continued good news.  This week will be the waiting game, waiting for the chemo to do it's stuff.  This coming week is the when they say to expect fevers.  Praying this week won't be as bad as it could be.

Can't thank everyone enough for their prayers, donation of blood, and general support. 

Enjoy your night (YEA COWBOYS!!!).

Love to you all.

Day 6

Today was another pretty good day after a rough night last night.  I'm so thankful Ashley has been able to stay with Matt the past couple of nights.  I think she is better at talking to him in the middle of the night to let him safely voice what is going on right now.  We are going to miss her when she heads back tomorrow night.

Matt slept a lot again today, but did get out to the lobby area to move around and get out the hospital room.  He has to stay completely masked up while out, but at least he was out.  He was up watching the A&M game tonight and then started on another Borne movie.

I was able to sleep in late this morning before heading to the hospital.  My friend Kim made it safely from Houston.  As soon as she arrived we (Kim, Ashley & I) headed over to the Blood Center to donate blood.  Due to Ashley's Navy travels this past year, she wasn't able to give, but I was touched to see one of our Arbonne consultants, Betty, come in to donate.  As I keep saying, I'm so blessed to have such wonderful friends.  The lady at the front desk of the center said that a few people had come in yesterday to give for Matt.  So thank you to everyone who is giving. 

Tomorrow is day 7, the final day, of Chemo.  YEA!!  Again, everything is working so quickly and we continue to pray it is killing off those stinking Leukemia cells for good!  Next week will begin the body's fight big time.  We know the fevers are coming, but pray that it will be bearable for Matt.

May everyone say an extra prayer tomorrow for Matt.  Have a wonderful Sunday! 

Love to you all!

Day 5 - Evening - Whataburger Time!!

Matt has been awake and watching tv since noon today.  He isn't sick to his stomach anymore, thank goodness.  He has been drinking the chocolate Ensures today and he just now has requested a Whataburger with fries and a large sweet tea with lots of ice.  So hopefully that will stay down tonight.

His color and energy are good tonight.  The blood and platelets are doing the trick.  Hopefully he will feel good enough to shower.  I know that will make him feel better.

He did take an interest in the hand held game that Ashley brought in.  I think Alex is to thank for that??  He also spent about an hour on his computer catching up on the outside world.  One of Ashley's high school friends brought a wonderful dinner for us earlier this week.  Crystal the pulled pork sandwiches have been very much enjoyed!  It's amazing to see what wonderful adults all of Ashley's friends have turned out to be.  Their parents should be proud!

I think he has several visitors coming tomorrow afternoon.  One of my high school girlfriends, Kim, is coming up from Houston tomorrow.  I always enjoy her company when we get together for our weekend trips.  I know I will enjoy her distraction from our current reality  tomorrow.

Bless all those who are planning on donating blood or platelets this week.  I think Kim and I are headed that way tomorrow when she gets in.  Keep the prayers coming, they are so appreciated during this low point in our lives.

Good night and good weekend!

Blood Donations in Matthew's Name

Thanks so much to everyone wanting to help in some way.  The best gift right now, besides your prayers, is the gift of blood and platelets.

I just got off the phone with The Blood Center of Central Texas.  Thank you to everyone who has been calling their offices.  We decided that we should post the information so you could give anytime you wanted to at any of the Central Texas locations.  He will be needing both Blood and Platelets while here in the hospital.  Visit their website above to see if you are eligible to give.  Click here to see location and hours of operation.

Bottom line, when you donate you will need to let them know you are donating in the name of Matthew Miller.  They will then give you a $10 coupon that will need to be returned to Matthew to complete the back portion of the coupon.  These coupons are good for 6 months and will be applied to the total blood bill from the hospital.  Be sure to ask for the coupon, they might not automatically give it to you.

The coupons can be mailed to:
    Suzy Harting
    8807 Split Arrow Drive
    Austin, TX  78717

Thanks to all!