| June 21st 5:30 pm Michael had an appointment at the wound care center and to get the dressings changed on his picc line yesterday. He did well at both. We got to go to the new Kaiser offices on Homestead and Lawrence. It's a really nice new building and the offices are so much nicer than the old hospital offices. It's very comfortable. While we were there, we also saw Dr. Pan for a couple of minutes. He wants Michael to do a blood test for white blood cell counts on Wed or Thurs. Then he wants him to check into the hospital on Friday to start round 2 of chemo. He will be in there until Tuesday again. Today, we went to Valley Fair to spend a gift certificate that Michael got as a present. He bought a couple of posters for his room and some DVD's for the hospital. I bought him an I-pod and I am going to load all his songs on it tonight. He had such a huge stack when he was at the hospital last time...the IPod would be easier. 9:15 pm I was just sitting here reading and re-reading some of the postings that all you faithful people write to Michael. I just really appreciate that you take time out of your days to check on Michael and to talk to him. Some people have even called him. He doesn't know all of you, but he really talks to me about the messages. It's really a special thing for people to care about him and he questions us as to why you all would even take the time. I explain to him that his story touches people in their heart and that he is inspirational...I also tell him that the people signing the guestbook and checking the website are friends and family in God. That means a lot to me personally. We are planning on working on thank you notes for all of the generous gifts tomorrow while he is still up to it before he goes back in for the next round of chemo, I do want all of you to know he really wants to get the cards out and we will work on it together. He is well stocked up on videos and games and music to try and distract him during the chemo sessions. Thank you all so much for your generosity. June 23 6:00 pm I'm sitting outside on our deck that my mom decorated while she was here visiting. Taylor and I played a few games of Abalone. I won 2 out of 3. Nate has been out riding his new bike non-stop. Michael is resting right now. We made a trip to Kaiser to get his bloodwork done for tomorrow. He does so good at getting it drawn. They always get it right away and he never complains. Last night he ate 1 1/2 Filet Mignon for dinner and a bunch of dad's mashed potatoes! Great job! He needs all the protein he can get. He requested burgers for dinner tonight, so Chris is going to grill again. He is really good at it. Pops (Chris' dad) came to visit Michael this afternoon before heading home to the Treehouse. He brought pictures from the graduation for Michael and a book that Nanna had printed out of all the public postings from Michael's guestbook. That way, he can read them whenever he wants. He was looking at them when I went in earlier. I don't think I mentioned it earlier, but may have, so forgive me if I am repeating myself. Michael's hair is falling out quite a bit, so we shaved his head. His scalp was really sensitive and we had to take it slow. He looks good with no hair. He even made up a song about looking cute that he says will be on MTV soon! He made Chris and I laugh anyway. He has a good sense of humor. Kelsie, Michael's good friend is out of the country until next Friday. She's been calling him a lot though. She is at a hula competition in Italy. She's already been gone a week. He says he misses her a lot. She spends a lot of time just hanging out with him in the bed and watching videos or reading. She's going to be a Junior this next year. She's a very nice girl. He also has a good friend named Peter that has come to visit quite a bit. Peter is doing summer school though, so comes over after he is done. He gets around in a cadillac wheelchair (I tease him that I am going to steal it!) so he has to leave early before the sun goes down so he isn't out on the streets in the dark. Michael has a good time with him as well. As we get prepared for the next few days, we have been talking about the last round and coming up with some things that worked well that we want to be sure happen this time again. Michael loves grapes, but not the hospital one (seeds)...so we are going to stock up and bring fresh ones each day. He also loves dad's mashed potatoes so we are going to be sure to have them made, so we can heat them when he wants them. We know for sure he isn't going to use the sleeping pills this time as they contributed to the hazy feeling that happened last time and the unresponsiveness. We know that the vicodin does the same also. He gets better help from the morphine for pain and another pain pill that Dr. Pan prescribed instead. Last time, we kind of followed the nurse's lead as far as changing sheets and gowns and bathing...ect...This time we are going to be sure he is bathed twice a day and the sheets are changed daily. We know a cold cloth helped with the nausea at home, so will have a supply of clothes there this time. We are praying for a private room again. We just got a call from Kaiser. They want us to come in tonight for more blood tests because his potassium is too high. I don't know anything about it, so I have to go and do some quick research. I will update again tomorrow after we get him settled in the hospital. 9:00 pm False Alarm! Thank God! The original reading was 6.9 which is a near fatal level of potassium. However, when we redid the test it was 4.9 which is perfectly in the normal range. The Dr. said it the false reading was probably caused by the way the lady took the first sample of blood. Evidently if the blood is drawn too slow, the cells break down and cause a false high on the potassium test. We had to sit in the waiting room for what seemed like forever! Michael was starting to get tired, so I asked about the results again. They offered to let Michael lay down if he was tired and he said yes. When they took us into the exam room and the nurse left, Michael said to me that he didn't really want to lay down, but he said he did so that he would get into the room. He said that if he got into the room, they wouldn't forget about him and leave him in the waiting room forever. Can you believe that? I laughed at him and he said, "well, if you act sick, they treat you like you are sick and hurry up." I guess he's figuring out this system. Can you believe him? I asked about the rest of his tests and they were all within normal range, so the Dr we saw tonight said that Dr Pan should call us tomorrow and say that the chemo is a go. Now...for a late dinner! Michael and I are both starving! June 25 3:15 pm Sorry no words yesterday, but if I am learning anything about the system, nothing works fast. We finally got a call to come in and a room would be ready at 3:00. We got there to the admitting office at 3:15. Unfortunately, the person that was vacating the room wasn't gone yet. We did the admitting procedure and then had to sit in the waiting room for another half an hour. Then they came and said housekeeping was in the room and if we would walk real slow up there, they should be gone by the time we got there. We decided to sit in the lobby for the 5 minutes and then go. When we got there, housekeeping was still in the room and Michael had to wait in a chair in the hallway for another 15 minutes. There's time (on time), Chris time (those that know Chris appreciate that) and there is hospital time (it's gonna get done when it gets done). I am learning to be patient and just go with the flow there. Michael is in room 759 again. We are happy with that as it is a room big enough to put in a reclining type chair for me to sleep in at night. He finally got into the room about 4:30. They explained that we had to wait to begin the chemo until our Dr came and signed the orders....around 5:30. Dr. Pan ended up getting there about 5:45 (that's really on time for hospital time). They have to do 3 hours of hydration before the actual chemo can begin. We thought after they signed the order, that the hydration would start. Well...around 8 pm it finally did. Then there is a shift change at 11 pm so the starting of the chemo was delayed until midnight when the evening nurse could catch up the overnight nurse. At 12:15 am they finally started the chemo. Michael ate a good amount of chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner. He is doing good with drinking his water. He fell asleep at about 12:30 and slept all the way until 6:30 am this morning. He had to do urine samples and blood samples and then went back to sleep for a couple more hours. He was resting his eyes when Chris came at 9:30 (suppose to be 9 am-see what I mean) and listened to me catch up Chris on what had been going on during the evening and night. He visited with me a bit before Chris got there and said he really misses Kelsie. He said I just am not the same as seeing her there sitting in her chair reading her book. Love sick Chris said. She'll be home on Friday. He was feeling good with no nausea and a 0 on the pain scale. The only problem we had last night was a nurse trying to give him "something to relax"...I explained we didn't want that and she still tried to talk us into it. Michael's vital signs were perfect and he was just hanging out watching tv, so we really didn't understand the persistence. I really had to say flat out "NO". Interesting to me they would be so persistent, when he didn't ask for it or appear to need it. Weird. If anyone can explain that one to me, email me. I'm going back around dinner time to trade places with Chris and will update again tomorrow around this time after I have slept a bit. (The recliner helps, but I am a light sleeper and every single noise wakes me up.) So, Chris comes in the morning and spend the day until bedtime and then he comes home to sleep. We are both there in the evenings to talk to Michael and keep him company. Taylor is at home enjoying having full control of the tv and is living on burritos (his choice). Nate is with his friend Justin again. He took his new bike over, so hopefully is staying out of trouble. June 26th 3:45 pm Michael ate a really good dinner last night. He ate a large mashed potato from KFC and a popcorn chicken again. He was joking around with Chris and I a lot last night. He even guilted Chris into staying an extra hour and a half past the time he was going to stay. He fell asleep around 12am. He woke up at 4 am to go to the restroom and got sick though, He had said to me that he didn't want to get sick in the hospital this time, but he would do it at home. When I was leaving this morning around 10:30, he got sick again. You can just tell by looking at him, he feels like crap. So far he is following pretty much the same pattern as he did last time, but I think he is doing better this time because he doesn't have the pain meds and the sleeping pills. He's more able to communicate with us this time and tell us what he needs. Keith and Trevor came by for a visit last night. They had just gotten home from Disneyland and brought Michael a cool overshirt. Chris tried to take it home and Michael wouldn't let him cause he wants to wear it home from the hospital. Well...I am going to shower and clean up, pick up our dinner and head back to the hospital. Talk to you again tomorrow. 4:35 pm Update: I called Chris to check in and he said that although Michael hasn't gotten sick again since this morning, he is sleeping non-stop except for his hurried runs to the bathroom. For some reason, he waits until the last possible second to go to the restroom and then tries to just jump and run there and doesn't give you time to unplug the IV pole from the wall to follow him, He hasn't eaten anything today and Chris said he is not doing good at drinking his water. When Chris tells him to drink it, he grabs it really quick and takes a swollow and then puts the bottle down hard on the table like to say "There...are you happy now?" Hopefully he will continue without vomiting tonight though...at least that is a good thing. When he gets like this, I have to remind myself that it's because the chemo is building up in him and beginning to work on the tumors again. As a parent, it's hard to look at your child and think that you are allowing something to be put into him that is destroying his body and attitude. Chemo is weird to me in that normally when you are sick, you take a medicine that makes you feel better usually right away. With the chemo, it tears your body apart first and then you see the results later. For me, I have to keep looking at Michael and remembering that as the weeks pass after the treatment, he gets worse before he will get better. One of Chris's customers said to us that she thinks God will heal him, but he has to go through the process first. June 27th 3:30 pm Michael slept a good part of last night, but when he would get up for the bathroom he was sick. He finally asked for some nausea meds this morning. When I left today, the Dr. had come in and said he could go home tomorrow. He said Michael had done much better this time in his opinion. He hadn't drank much water yet when I had left as he had been sick. Not much else to report as of now, but hope he is feeling better when I go back this evening. The chemo bag will empty at about 12:15 am. Then they have a couple other things they give him for his kidney and sugar levels and he is done with round 2! He wants to come home so badly. I wish we could bring him home in the middle of the night! During the night, about half of the stubble on his head came out on his pillow. I kept cleaning it off when he would get up, so he doesn't know that he is half bald. I am sure Chris told him though. The two of them have been joking around and Michael is trying to get Chris to shave his head, beard and mustache. I keep telling him the head and beard are fine, but I have never seen Chris without a mustache. I married him with one and he has always kept it. I don't want to see him without it. Michael keeps using his newest excuse, "Come on Mom, I have cancer!" I told you he is learning to work the system (me included)! 4:00 pm update Chris said that Michael took another pill for nausea earlier this afternoon and has been ok since. He is even up and eating some pretzels. He said and intern that saw Michael on Monday last round came in and said that she thought Michael looked a lot better this time than he did last time. I think so too, but it's nice to hear from someone else. His color is good this time, not so pale and since he did good at eating before and during this process, his face is a little fuller and not so hollow looking. June 28th 4:30 pm The day started out with a blessing. Dr. Pan came in to see Michael before discharging him. He examined Michael and really poked around on his stomach tumor. He said he wanted to do a CT scan in 2 weeks because he feels like Michael is responding remarkably to the chemo. He said the tumor in his belly is soft and smaller. He thinks that after two more weeks of the chemo working on Michael, he may be able to remove the tube from Michael's kidney. He said he couldn't believe how well Michael seemed to be responding to the chemo. I CAN! ALL OF THE PRAYERS ARE WORKING! KEEP PRAYING! They even got us out of the hospital by 10 am! Wow. Talk about miracles! They gave Michael a new anti-nausea pill to try at home called Ativan. It dissolves under his tongue, so if he does throw up the pill is still in his system. He feels tired and a little nauseas still, but hasn't gotten sick since he took it. Not ready to eat yet, but at least he isn't in bad shape like he was this time three weeks ago. We have the best nurses at the hospital. Two of them stand out especially. One, Shoawen, is the night time nurse. She is so caring toward Michael. She has two children, I think she said 9 and 11. She started working the night shift last year so she could spend more time with her kids. She sleeps while they are at school. I also met a man durning the night last night that was sitting in the waiting room. He was around 50 years old. He brought his girlfriend into the emergency room 2 days ago for chest pains and abdominal discomfort. She was diagnosed with uterine cancer. He was waiting for her to come out of surgery. They felt confident that they had gotten in out. I told him I would pray for her as well. Her name is Antonia. She had a bought with breast cancer 13 years ago and was healed. Her Dr. said the two cancers weren't related. She had a long road of chemo ahead as well as possible radiation treatments. So, please add Antonia and her family to your prayers tonight. Ilene Wolters, one of our customers sent this to me today and I liked it, so thought I'd share it here. Yielded though my world is shaking Trusting while my heart is breaking Thankful though I cannot understand; Even in the pain of weeping My Father’s eyes are watching, keeping Circumstances held within His hands. So near me I can feel and hear it The comfort of the Holy Spirit Who tells me I can surely bear it, Knowing God has been there from the start. And in the moments yet to be Releasing fear and walking free Following still more perfectly The peace that holds the pieces of my heart. Sandra Palmer Carr |