Monday - Updates

Can't believe it almost February, November 4th seems like yesterday still to us.  I'm so thankful that we are entering month four of Matt's treatment.  That means there are only two more months to go.   My prayer is that come May 22nd he will have the best 21st birthday anyone can have, and that he will be 100% completely curried and cancer free for life.

So Matt's schedule will be the same as before for blood work....Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Right now it looks like he will go back for the third consolidation treatment February 21-25.

His counts look as good as expected right now, except for his Magnesium, which he will get IV's for on Wednesday.  Hopefully that will give him the boost he needs so his magnesium tablets will kick in and begin to even out his levels.

In your prayers, please be thankful of the wonderful nursing staff that has so lovingly taken care of Matt, even when he was grumpy.  They deal with so much minute to minute and they could really use your prayers.

Love to you all and happy early February!

Sunday - Same old Stuff

So Matt says his lungs and legs are on fire right now.  This time home is very different than last time in December.  I guess there is a build up of chemo meds in his system so he will progressively felt worse each time.

We will know tomorrow his doctor's schedule this week, but I'm betting it will be every Monday, Wednesday, Friday again.  I think this week and half of next will be pretty good, but then things will go down hill from there.  We are expecting both blood and platelet transfusions again, but hopefully that will be week 2 or 3.

As you may have noticed, I've had to remove "google ads" from this site.  Apparently, they don't have to have a reason, other than invalid activity.  So many of you may not know, but funds were being raised via google ads.  Google sent a very ugly letter with basically no right to appeal their decision and have suspended the ads and kept all funds earned December and January, which was a substantial amount.  I'm wondering how many other people this has effected....seems a little fishy to me...I wonder if they have every had a suit filed against their practices?

I have three spots left for the blood drive at RRISD.  They are after 5:30 p.m. on Monday, February 7th.  So let me know if you want to participate and I can write your name in.


Anyway, thanks to everyone for their various gifts, whether it be blood, platelets, prayers, or money.  They all have meant so much to us.  So thank you for your continued support.

I'll have to share some music I've been listen too, thanks to Gina's. The group is the Avett Brothers and the song she posted called January Wedding was perfect for the video of her daughter's January wedding.

Speaking of weddings, I want to share one more thing unrelated to Matt's journey.  My dear friend and breast cancer survivor, Rhonda, is a huge blessing to so many of us. Us girl friends have been praying for her the right love and joy of her life .  We had a very specific list for God to meet for our very special friend Rhonda.  Isn't it truly amazing how God goes above and beyond when answering prayer.  He has sent to her a true BLESSING, John Blessing to be exact.  So come June, Rhonda will be known as Rhonda Blessing.  A name fitting to someone who has truly been my Blessing in so may ways!!!

Love to you all!

Matt is Home

So Matt is now home from the hospital.  His last treatment ended around 8:30ish tonight.  So after the flushed the lines, pulled the PICC line, gathered up his things, he is finally home.

He still feels just tired and blah.  We haven't got the schedule for next week, but I'm sure it will be the Monday, Wednesday, Friday blood test and doctor visits.  If things go as before, next two weeks should be not so bad.  But then his counts should start falling, and the blood and platelet transfusions will begin.  Then the next week counts should turn up...and then we start the process all over again with Chemo.

Please continue your prayers.  They are truly a blessing to us. 

Thursday - Getting to the Blah Days

So one more day of chemo, tomorrow.  Matt still is just blah and grumpy.  Gets pretty boring I'm sure.  They hopefully will move up chemo in the morning so last dose is 5 PM so we can get home at a normal time.

Again, thanks for prayers and support from all.  Thanks for everyone who is bringing in blood coupons.  The blood drive I'm coordinating at work is full but for two spots, which is great.  I think that ends up being 38 people who are giving!!!  I think that this will just about gives us all the coupons we will need to carry us through his treatments in March.  YEA!!!!

Love to you all and have a great Thursday!

Wed. Morning - Chemo Day

Matt slept through the night, lights off, tv off (which mean I got a good nights sleep too.) He just seems so much more blah and yukky this time around.  Just tired.  I left at 6:15 a.m. and Dr. hadn't made his rounds yet.  So hopefully all is well, they are to call me if anything is up.

Matt will start chemo around 9 a.m. and then 7 p.m. today.  Trying to move him up so his last dose on Friday will be around 5 p.m. so we can get home around 9 p.m. on Friday.

Pray all goes smoothly today and Matt gets some energy back today.

Night 2

So Matt slept most of today away.  He still has an upset stomach and yukky feeling all over.  I don't remember him feeling this bad last time.

The nurses have been great putting up with his not so nice behavior.  They said he did pretty good by himself today.  He had Arby's for dinner and then I've headed home to go back up for the night.  The getting up at 4 a.m. just about killed me today, so I'm sure I'll sleep pretty good tonight.

Pray Matt's yukky feeling will not be so severe.  Pray he sleeps okay through the night.  Chemo will start again tomorrow morning, I think around 11 a.m. and then they will move up the night chemo by an hour.  Hopefully they can move it up an hour our two so we can get out before midnight on Friday.

Have a great night and thank you all again for all your prayers and support!

First day of Chemo Done

So all in all last night went well.  Matt is already getting upset stomach with this chemo.  So the drugs they are giving are making him very sleepy.  Hopefully tonight he will let me cut off tv and lights so I too can get some sleep, before I get up 4ish to go home and shower.....otherwise I might have to get me some of his sleepy drugs!

Hoping for boring updates from doctor for Matt. 

Pray for today.  There is a woman, 37 I think on of the other families I met in the lobby said.  Brain cancer, with a son, maybe 9 year old.  Apparently she is in a comma and has just a short time.  I've seen many family members going in and out through the day and night.  Please keep her family in prayers.

Chemo has begun....finally

So took an extra long time, 2 + hours, this morning to get the PICC line in Matt.  Then they only put one instead of two lines.  So he didn't come back up to the room until 10 a.m.  Apparently there were still meds to give, blood to be drawn, etc. before chemo finally began at 1:20ish today......he was suppose to start chemo by 9ish, per the doctor.  So don't know where the mess up was, but I hope it doesn't happen again.

I'm home real quick to get changed and up to hospital to spend the night.  I've got lots of paperwork to go through before I meet with Blue Cross/Blue Shield on Wednesday.  I just have been too overwhelmed to go through it all, but I've got my notebook, hole punch and a HEB reusable bag full of bills to sort.  That will keep me busy for more than tonight.

My plan is to be up and home by 4:30 a.m.  Shower and then head back up before the doctor makes his rounds at 6 a.m.  Then head to work to print handouts for a meeting and then be over to the other side of the district by 7:30 a.m. to be at an all day meeting.  Not sure if I'm gonna be able to hold up this routine all week, but I'm gonna try.  (I better get me some Wheaties!!)

Matt seemed to do okay alone today, I'm sure I will hear the whole story of the day when I get up there.  Pray that tonight goes smoothly, we get some good sleep and awake energized and ready for the day.

A special thanks to Shirley from work.  She made two wonderful casseroles for us to enjoy this week.  with me getting home so late this afternoon, this was a great blessing!  YUMMY!

Thanks as always for your continue support and prayers.  Love to you all!

Giving is so Easy!

So I wanted to update everyone on just how easy it is to give platelets (or blood) at the Blood Center of Central Texas.

Come to find out, I apparently have tons of platelets, which means the platelets were processed quicker.  So instead of two hours it only took one.  The little nurse kept bragging about my number.  Come to find out that the shelf life for platelets are just five days.  That is why it is so important to give platelets if you can.

It was a very painless process.  The only effects I felt was tingly tongue, which has something to do with the calcium and I got very cold, which would stop the machine.  They finally brought over an electric blanket.  So all was good!

During my hour there, they "small talk" with everyone, asking what made you want to donate, etc.  So I shared my "Matt" story several times while there.  They were moved and hoped that Matt and I might send in our story of why it is so important to donate and how it truly touches lives.  It was so easy, I agreed to donate platelets every two weeks and let them get double platelets each visit from me. 

Okay, I'm going to confess what I do when donating blood and now platelets.  I pray over what is being taken from my body and pray God's blessing, healing and protection to whomever will receive my donation.  I pray for their families and how the illness must be effecting their lives.  I pray for the medical personal who are working to heal the person.  I pray their family will be as bless as we have been with support from family, friends, and strangers. 

My prayer tonight is that someone reading this blog will be moved to become a regular donor of either platelets or blood.  And that all fear will be removed about the process.  Because it truly is one of the easiest things to do!  (And where else can you do such good while getting a little nap all curled up in a warm electric blanket -- It's a WIN WIN situation!!)

Here is to a good night tonight and a smooth check-in to the hospital for Matt tomorrow.  Were are energized and ready to kick some leukemia butt!!!!

Day before Hospital

So I'm heading down to donate platelets at lunch today for Matt.  I've been taking double iron, so hopefully I won't be rejected today.  It is such an easy way to give.  Matt has been poked so many times that it is the least I can do.  God truly made us amazingly...that we can so freely give of ourselves for a friend in need.

I'm coordinating a blood drive at work for Monday, February 7th.  It is going to be from 2 - 6 p.m.  I have so many great co-workers who stepped up to donate within minutes of me posting the info.  There are just seven spots left to fill after 4:30 p.m.  Again, such an easy way to support Matt.  You don't have to be his blood type, just donate and remember to ask for the coupons.  Then get the coupons to me.  They defer $10 per coupon from his blood bill.  And as those who have kept up with the blog know, he has had lots of blood and platelet transfusions, and with three more months of treatments to go, he will require even more in the coming months.  So thanks to everyone who has donated.  It really means a lot to us!!! 

Hopefully everyone will have a great nights sleep at our house since we have to get up early to be ready to check in at 7 a.m. tomorrow.  Matt is scheduled first thing to get the PICC line inserted and chemo will start shortly after that.  I just keep praying these consolidation chemo treatments go as easy as they did last month.  These are a piece of cake compared to the induction treatment in November.

Thanks for all your support and prayers.  Love to you all!

Getting Ready for #3 Chemo on Monday

All of Matt's counts are good today, which means he is scheduled to be back for his next round of chemo on Monday morning at 7 a.m.  He will have chemo on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  He should be back home around 10 p.m. on Friday night.

Continue to pray that all goes smoothly while he is in the hospital.  The great thing about this treatment is once the chemo is finished dripping, he is able to have the iv unscrewed from his arm.  This way he is able to more around instead of just laying around in bed.  So all in all it is pretty boring for the week.

My plan is to work next week while Matt is in the hospital during the day.  I will then try and spend the night each night with him, getting up around 4 a.m. to go home and shower for the day.  I'll then head back to the hospital at 6 a.m. to hear the daily doctor updates.  Again, we are planning for things to go as smooth as they did the end of December.

Matt will continue to have chemo treatments the last week of each month for February and March.

Again, thank you all for your prayers and support in so many ways.  It has really made a difference.  THANK YOU.

Enjoy the weekend!  Love to you all.

Hump Day - All Counts Going Up!

Today was blood count check and everything is on the upward swing.  We will see doctor on Friday to discuss next round of chemo for next week.  So I guess all is good for now!

Back Home Again

So we are back home, very early, from the hospital.  They never did figure out what caused the fevers, all we know is he doesn't have them now.  All his blood counts are on the swing to the good side.  So we will know more later this week, but sounds like Matt will be on schedule for his next chemo treatment the last week in January.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support.  They mean so much!

Sunday & Still in Hospital

So all the test they have run they haven't found anything way out of line that would cause the fevers in Matt.  His counts are all on the upward swing, so it might just be his body reacting to the good it is doing.  The doctor said that the fevers sometimes happen as things begin to get better, so hopefully that is what it is.  Matt will have to remain fever free on his own for 24 hrs. before they will let him go home, so I'm hoping that will be tomorrow sometime.  Of course he is due back in the hospital for the next round of chemo the last week in January, so not sure how this trip will effect the next treatments.

He and I are both bored just sitting and waiting.  He is feeling really good so it is hard to just sit and wait at the hospital to be released. 

So I'm off to quickly shower, maybe get some clothes washed and head back up for a "good" nights sleep.

It's Pouring

So it pouring in more ways than one right now.

Laying in bed this morning, I could hear the steady sound of rain, which we need so bad, so that was good.  Terry was up to take a shower, he was taking Beka and Nolan to see the Aggies basketball game and Matt was going to sleep all day and I had the Christmas tree still to take down.  So a good day was planned by all.

In my last peaceful moments laying in bed, Nolan comes in, to say that water was dripping in the pantry....since Terry was still in the shower, down I go to check things out.  And yes, dripping was an understatement.  Nolan is so good, he helped me quickly get stuff off the top shelves of the pantry, towels on the floor.  We got some big pots, and I mean my huge turkey roasting pots, and started to try and figure out the best place to catch the water.  We can hear the water in the wall, sounds like the rain coming in or something.  So I decided to punch a couple of holes to release some of the pressure we can see in the ceiling, which is a little saggy.  Well then the water really began to flow.  Me catching water in the pots, Nolan dumping the water out.  Come to find out when Terry finishes showering, the shower valve is completely open inside the shower wall and water is just pouring out the valve.  Terry gets the water off at the main line, we finish cleaning up water.

Then during all the commotion, Matt says he is feeling hot and has a headache.  What a terrible mom.  I hadn't stopped all this morning to check on him and sure enough he had a 101.6 fever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So I get dry clothes on and off to the ER we go at 9 a.m.  Matt is now back on the third floor with all our favorite nurses.  Still not sure what infection is going on, since nothing has been found yet with all the tests.  So it looks like we will be having a great weekend at the hospital as they continue to rule things out.  Right now he is on iv fluids and fever reducers.  So hopefully we can get this under control by tomorrow and we can head back home. 

As I always say, there is never a dull moment in our house, ever.

Praying for stabilization, in all things.  Thanks for your continued prayers!  Love to you all.

White Counts Low Low Low

Matt's white count is about the lowest it is going to get, which means he is open to any tiny infection.  As they told us today, no matter how little it may be, if he feels sick at all it will be a trip to the ER this weekend.  So trying to keep everything as germ free as possible.

His magnesium IV went well, I think pretty boring actually.  I left him there while I went back to work.  I think it only took about 1 1/2 hrs. to finish.  I think they gave him fluids to hydrate him too.

Beka goes back to school on Sunday.  I'm sure gonna miss her chauffeur service.  We are off to celebrate her birthday tonight.  Can't believe she is 19!!  Matt has his order to go, that we will bring back home to him.  Mandola's is one of his favorites, so he is really disappointed he isn't well enough to go.

Praying for a great weekend for all! 

Blood Today....Magnesium Tomorrow

So blood transfusion went well today.  He got started right at 8:30 a.m. and was ready for me to pick him up at 12:30.  So thank goodness for Beka being home from school still.  She has been a huge help in getting him to his appointments for me.

Received several calls from the doctors office today from different departments on different items.  Never did hear anything about his CT scans of his brain.  The last call of today was to set up a two hour magnesium drip for tomorrow, since Matt apparently is very very low.  He will have another magnesium treatment on Monday.

He is very tired (and grumpy) this afternoon.  I guess when all your levels go crazy you have the right to feel that way.  Hopefully next week he will begin to produce all counts back to normal levels.

I feel like we should play a little game for the next couple of days.  You can play by posting a comment back.  It is called "Guess The November Hospital Bill" (prior to insurance payments) game.  I think I'll have to come up with a prize for who every guesses the closest.  I'll just say it wasn't what I expected it to be.

I'm in contact with the Blood Center about hosting a blood drive at Round Rock ISD Admin building in February.  I'll post all the details as soon as they are finalized.

Thanks for all your continued prayers and support of us.  They have helped so much.  Love to you all!

More Tests for Headaches

Is this wrong to confess, I'm getting tired. :((  Feeling life is full of unscheduled events right now. 

Matt got to go in early today to have blood work and then visit with the PA.  They had lots of questions about the headache he had since last week, which he said was now gone after the meds in the IVs from yesterday made him sleep until this afternoon.  So with all his counts low (except for the platelets due to the transfusion yesterday) he will need a blood transfusion tomorrow.  So this is how our afternoon went....

2:15 Beka takes Matt to his blood workup
2:30 I meet over at the doctors appt. just in time to talk with PA to find out that they want to do CT scan today to make sure there is no bleeding of the brain, which might cause the headaches.  (Didn't even realize that could happen.)
2:55 But to save time, we first had to go to the hospital to have his blood "typed" again to make sure they get the right blood type for him for tomorrows transfusion.....we wait for almost an hour to have the five minute test done.  (Also learned that he will have to have his blood typed each time he has a transfusion to double check that nothing has changed with his type of blood...again didn't realize that could happen.)
4:10 Back over to the doctors office to finally get the scan done, which we won't have results until tomorrow. 
4:35 Drive back home only to get to listen to the way Matt's mind in already imagining the worst case results of the scan. 

So please pray results on scan show nothing.  Matt will be at the hospital for about four hours for all the blood to drip.  So pray that all goes smoothly too!

Not a Fun Day :((

So today wasn't a fun day for platelet transfusions.  Matt has had a headache for five days and it finally hit him hard as we were trying to get platelets.  Very sick young man.  We finally drugged him enough for him to sleep.

We now have an earlier longer appointment tomorrow, instead of his regular blood work.  They are going to try and figure out what is going on with the headaches and give him some fluids there.  So maybe it is just a hydration thing.  We will know more tomorrow I guess.

Keep him in your prayers.  This is now the time he is starting to be low in everything poor guy.  A mother just hates to see their babies (even if they are big babies) sick like this.

Time for Platelets Again

Matt's platelets are going down fast again, so he will go in for another two transfusions tomorrow morning.  His white count is bottoming out now too, which is what it should be doing after chemo, but this is getting to the danger level as far as being around sick people.  The PA stressed again to Matt to be on top of hand washing and keeping as germ free as possible during this time.  Any little infection, with or without fever, can be very dangerous right now.  With his blood counts down he also risks higher chance of bleeding that won't stop, so hopefully no ER visits this week.

Matt is continuing to eat well, but still hasn't gained weight this week.  I guess that is better than him loosing weight, but we'd like him to gain a little.

Someone asked today if Matt still needs blood donations.  And the answer is yes!  Both blood and platelets.  I know this is repeated info, but if you want to donate both, you should do platelets first and then two days later you can give blood.  Again, see my earlier posts for more information.

Please continue to pray that his headache, which he has had for the past four days, will finally react to the medicine they have given him today.

Thanks again for everyone for all their support.  We love you!

Counts are all good!

So Matt's platelet transfusion worked great.  He was at 10,000 yesterday morning and today he was back up to 64,000.  Amazing.  All his other counts are good for now, but by early next week everything should be bottomed out and he will need blood and platelets.  The next couple of days are the most important in keeping him healthy and not exposed to any little small infection.  He will also need to be careful since he bleed more easily during this time.  Hopefully there won't be any ER visits this weekend.

Again, he gets checked three times a week.  So continue to pray for good news.  How he reacts this part of his therapy will help us judge how the next three chemo treatments will be and all I can keep saying is this is so much better than when he was in the hospital for 28 days.

Got a pot of chili cooking and cornbread is ready.  We are getting ready to get our GIG'EM on!  Hoping the Aggies beat the hell outta LSU!

Hope you all have a blessed weekend.  Love to you all!

Platelets Went Well

Matt did great at taking himself to the hospital, as an out-patient, for his two bags of platelets.  I think it took him about 1 1/2 hrs. for everything to be done.  They always watch afterwards to make sure you don't have a reaction to the products, so that takes up some of the time.  Matt always complains about how long everything takes.  I'm thinking if there was a drive-thur transfusion place, that wouldn't be fast enough for Matt.

Physically, Matt is really doing so much better than his first round of chemo.  But now at the end of the week he does look a little pale and he gets a tired more easily.  But this really is all normal after chemo.

Matt has an appointment this afternoon to check all levels, so he will find out today if he goes in for blood transfusions.

So all is good and God has truly blessed Matt.  Please continue to lift him up in prayer as it is making a huge difference.  I'm going to try and call today about a blood drive for Matt and will post here when it is set up.  You can still give blood to benefit Matt (read my early post on how).  Just remember to ask for the blank coupons that you will turn in to me to complete an put with the hospital bill.  It really is one of the best gifts you can give!

Thanks to you all.  Have a great Friday....and GIG'EM AGGIES!

Wednesday - Blood Test - Platelet Transfusion Needed

Matt's labs were done today and his platelet count was 11,000, so that means he needs a platelet transfusion tomorrow.  (The magic number is 10,000.)

I'm going to let him go by himself to the hospital as an out patient tomorrow morning.  He will need two bags, which each takes about 15 mins.  So I figured he will be able to do the hour treatment on his own.  Again, I'm going to try hard to phase him into doing stuff on his own some more.

Other than that, all seems to be going great.  He will be tested again on Friday and we will know then if he needs blood transfusions.

Have a great night!

Increase Lab Visits - 1/5/11

Got the call yesterday that they are now wanting to do lab work for Matt three days instead of two days a week.  Now for January he will be going Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  I'm letting him try to do the visit by himself today since he just goes in and they take blood.  As long as he is well enough to drive I'm going to let him step up to the plate and start taking more charge of his life.

I'm thinking back to just two months ago when this was the first morning we were at the hospital and how so much different life was.  Everything felt turned upside down and like there wasn't going to be an end to any of this (not that we are at the end of this journey yet).  I think back to how grim everything looked.  Matt diagnoses of leukemia wasn't even imaginable.  Over those first four weeks in the hospital there were times I have to admit that I didn't think he would ever be coming home.  He was just so sick, like nothing he or we have ever experienced.  With me staying all of those days and nights with him, when I was in the thick of it, I just didn't realize how bad it really was, cause I just didn't know any better.  If there is any advice I can give for anyone else going through this storm, it does get really bad, but know that it does get better.  It may not seem like it, but it does.  I'm just so thankful for so many family and friends that were able to come to the hospital to relieve me.  You should take advantage of these moments to go home to physically and mentally refresh and renew yourself.  I also have to say that the power of prayers helped so much.  God is awesome in listen and listening to specific needs no matter how small.

Matt's experience during this last batch of chemo has be amazingly easy and normal.  He keeps saying he feels just fine like he's not sick.  So we should be so thankful that there is some normalcy back....but as a mom, I'm still standing, waiting on edge, for something unexpected to happen, but praying we continue on this normal path.

May God bless you each today.  Love to you all.

Monday Dr. Update

So I guess no news is good news?  They drew blood today only to wait for every and to find out that the machine to test the blood was broken, so we won't get count results until tomorrow morning some time.  The counts will tell us if Matt needs a transfusion.  Of course he gets test again on Thursday too.

Matt was up to 153 pounds so that means he did gain some weight.  He kept telling him how good he felt and how normal he feels.  Of course we know his counts will go down and he will be feeling bad, just not sure when or how bad.

They did start him on a preventive pair of medicines for fungus and a broad spectrum antibiotic.  So hopefully that will take care of anything before it can start.

So all is good for now.  Thank you for your continued prayers.  Love to you all!

January 2, 2011 - All is Good!

So this would be day 7 after the start of chemo.  So far all is good.  Matt has been eating and feeling good this time around so we continue to pray that things will remain semi-normal.  Matt's schedule for January is every Monday and Thursday doctor visits to check counts and if needed he will go to the hospital for transfusions, which the doctor says will happen sometime this week.
I have a crazy schedule this week, between starting back to work tomorrow morning, Matt's two doctor visits, Nolan is getting his root canal finished up and Beka has a followup to take out stitches from her foot surgery.  Poor Beka had a really bad reaction to the adhesive bandage or the butterfly stitches they used.  So her food is all boiled over and really gross looking from what we can peak at from the wrapping.  She is on all sorts of medication to try and help it but it just doesn't seem to be working all that well.  We may have to move up her appointment for the doctor to take another look at her.

I'm praying for energy for us all to survive the week!