March 7th- ABT-869
For all our medical friends and family, here is the scoop on the clinical study in layman terms. I hope others, who want to know, will also understand this explanation. Abbott Laboratories has a...
View ArticleMarch 9th- Life is Good
Bill is back. And that is a good thing. He was given red cells last night, and Nurse Nancy predicts he will get platelets tonight. It seems that whenever he gets red cells, more oxygen gets distributed...
View ArticleMarch 11th- Two Days of Tests
Just when things are going well for Bill, the doctors discover another problem. The extreme stomach pain Bill was occasionally experiencing turns out to be a gall bladder problem. After an ultrasound...
View ArticleMarch 12th- What's Next?
I was glad I spent the night on Tuesday (my third night in a row to sleep at the hospital), because they called Bill for surgery at 7AM. During the night he received one bag of packed red cells and...
View ArticleMarch 15th- Encouraging News
Finally, some encouraging news in our journey with this aggressive disease. Bill is recovering nicely from the surgery. He is still in a lot of pain when movement is involved, but it can be controlled...
View ArticleMarch 18th- P.U.S.H.
I will explain P.U.S.H. in a minute.We have now come to the crossroads in our journey and it is time to decide which path to take.The doctors report that the Leukemia is under control with the...
View ArticleMarch 20th- Decision Delayed
March 20th- Decision DelayedAs anxious as the doctors are to start the bone marrow transplant process, the issues with the gall bladder must first be resolved. Bill continues to be heavily medicated to...
View ArticleMarch 24th- The Healing Power of Prayer
Several good things happened over the weekend.The doctors could not control Bill’s pain with medications without overdosing him. He could only handle a small dosage, and it would last for hours, but...
View ArticleMarch 27th- Two Steps Forward. One Step Back.
Bill has been doing so well, relatively speaking. The surgery area was healing well until……. the bile bag accidentally got caught on a hard surface and pulled at the incision. OUCH! Now he is back to...
View ArticleMarch 28th- Moving Forward
What a difference one week can make. Bill is still handling the ABT-869 drug very well. It is controlling the cancer cells in his blood, and has very few side effects. It is the answer to a...
View ArticleApril 1st- Contolling the pain
Bill said this morning, “If it wasn’t for this pain in my side, I would feel good”. It is such a shame that the catheter to his gall bladder is so painful for him. But he is a trooper and is getting...
View ArticleApril 2nd- Matchmaker Matchmaker, make me a match
The University of Chicago Medical Center has accepted Bill for a bone marrow transplant. Yeah!!!! The doctors meet on Thursday, and official approval will be made then, but I think we are on our way....
View ArticleApril 4th- Prayers are needed
The Leukemia is back with a vengeance. Bill’s liver counts are 10 times above normal. For those who understand. SGOT is 340 and SGPT is 318. He is being sent for a CT scan this evening and I won’t have...
View ArticleApril 5th- "Funky" is not a good thing
Beware. If a nurse ever uses the word “funky” to describe the results of a blood test, and they want to retest, it means something is wrong. This is the second time this has happened to Bill. The first...
View ArticleApril 6th- Improvement
Bill had a good day. No pain at the catheter site, and no pain medication taken. His only discomfort was in his pelvis area. This is where Bill makes Neutrophils. When your body produces Neutrophils,...
View ArticleApril 7th- Next round of Chemo
We did not get the results back on the bone marrow biopsy today. His white cell count is not good, way too high, so we are not anticipating an encouraging number on blasts in his bone marrow.Bill's...
View ArticleApril 9th- Going Home
This is one decision I hope you personally never have to make. But what a blessing that Bill has the mental awareness to make the decision on his own. Bill has decided that he doesn’t want to fight the...
View ArticleApril 14th- Home Sweet Home
Bill did really well on his trip home from the hospital on Friday. He was seeing the outside of the hospital for the first time when we left. Remember in February, we went to the clinic for a doctor’s...
View ArticleCan someone clone Mom???
Hello... Jon here, back by (un)popular demand. Mom asked me to write the blog today, so here goes.As to be expected, Dad likes being at home much better than at the hospital. He can sleep with minimal...
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And Now A Word From Maggie
Grandpap is getting settled into bed for the night, so I have just a quick minute to tell all you wonderful people how my Grandpap is doing before Nana comes in here and makes me go to bed.My mommy and...
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