Sept 2nd 7:25 AM Michael was to start chemo this morning, but his white blood cell count was very low when they
did his blood test yesterday. It needs to be a minimum of 1200 and it was only 480. He has to do 3 days of shots to
try to raise that level and then they will give it a couple of days to work. They will retest on Tuesday. If it's higher, it
will happen on Tuesday, but if not, more days of shots and then retest again later. When his white cell count is low,
he is much more likely to not be able to fight off disease, so he can't be around people. I feel bad for him cause he
actually feels good, but can't do anything about it.
Sept 4th 9:34 pm Michael feels good, but isn't going out of the house. He wants to. He'd like to go to the movies,
but we just don't want to take any chances. He doesn't have his blood test again until Tuesday at 9 am. Then if it
comes out good, they will put him in the hospital to begin treatments.
This little kink in plans is bad timing. We have the Santa Clara Home & Garden show this coming weekend. We have
to start setting up on Wednesday and be done by Thursday. We always spend the entire time with Michael at the
hospital in shifts. I usually am there from 7 pm to 9 or 10 am and then Chris spends the rest of the day there so I can
go home and sleep and deal with the kids. Now, Chris is going to have to stay the nights, but less time than I spend
at night, so he can work building his booth during the day and then get rest in the evening. Then the show will be
Friday-Sunday. He will get out on Saturday, so that day and Sunday should go smoothly. This is all assuming that
the tests are ok on Tuesday and he will get to start.
I'll let you know again on Tuesday if he gets to start his treatments or not. Until then...have a good holiday weekend!
Sept 6th 10:15 am Michael's tests came back good, so we are off to the hospital to get him registered and get the
chemo started. If he can get started early enough today, he may get out on Friday, but if not, then on Saturday. It all
depends on what time he gets started. His one chemo is 72 hours long, so if it ends in the afternoon or even early
evening, they will let him go home. If it ends in the late evening, then they make him stay the night and he gets to go
home the morning after instead. They said he will be in room 762, but if you want to call or visit him, ask for sure as
we are used to getting moved around without notice. (He's at Santa Clara Kaiser hospital).
update 10:30 pm I have to tell you, I am steaming mad and frustrated tonight. They tell us to hurry up and get there
to get him started early. You are not going to believe this, but he still hasn't started on the chemo. There have been
the most uncaring, rude people in there today. He got into bed at 1 pm. By 1:30 all the pre-questioning was done.
Then nothing....not one word from anyone until I went and got someone at 4:00. Even then, the lady was rude and
said she had ordered it and it would get there when it got there. Then...a shift change and again....nothing....Finally
at 6 pm this nurse that drives me nuts cause he doesn't speak English very well and he speaks very softly so you
can't hear him came in. He hooked up the pre-hydration, but wouldn't communicate to me how long that had to run
before he could start Michael on his chemo. Finally at 9 pm, he came in for the second time to give Michael his
regular meds and I asked again. He said the whole bag had to be gone before he could start the first type of chemo.
That puts it at midnight. Then the second type won't start until sometime around 2-3 am!
I'm frustrated because this was the earliest we have ever gotten him checked in and we expected to get him started
early. He is actually starting later than any other treatment! This is just crazy. And no answers. No reasons!
Chris is staying the night there and I feel bad for him. He won't get any sleep at all because of dealing with the chemo
starting and iv changes...
Please pray for patience for me. I am really frustrated if you can't tell. Michael got tired and went to sleep at 7 pm.
It's better that way as he could use the rest.
Sept 9 7:30 am I am getting ready to take Nate to school and then back to the hospital. Thank God today is the last
day. I am worn out this time. I went home early last night and left Michael alone for a couple of hours. I felt bad, but I
was so tired. Chris finished working on the booth for the show around 10 pm and then came home to shower and go
stay the night with Michael. He should get to come home first thing in the morning. The nurses have been back to
being the greatest people (I haven't seen that nurse that drove me crazy again). Michael ate great and was feeling a
bit nauseas, but not bad. He was watching a movie when I left last night. I almost finished a baby blanket I am making
while I am there. I'll write more tomorrow when he gets home.