Day Plus Two-Hundred-Fourteen

Jody has been watching the English Springer Spaniel Rescue site almost weekly, when a couple of days ago a dog named Murphy showed up. During our visit to the clinic last week, Jody again posed the question to Doctor Brunvand as she did back on January 18. "Do you think it will be all right if I had a dog?" Doctor Brunvand again said it was OK. He felt it would be great for Jody. Taking care of a dog will give her lots of exercise and even help to pick up her spirit.



Jody began calling the Rescue and by Thursday we went to meet "Murphy". The Rescue, before Jody could adopt wanted to visit our house and if they felt things were OK they would leave Murphy with us for the weekend. Murphy arrived at our house around 4:30 and immediately moved in. Jody fell instantly in love with him, and he with her (me too). Friday afternoon we took Murphy off for a bath at Petco and by Saturday there was no doubt Murphy was staying.

Here's MURPHY!

Go Figure! We got him a bath on Saturday, then we went to the "Dogie-Park" at old Stappleton. He had a blast running around off his leash with the other dogs. 

Jody and Murphy at the "Dogie-Park"



 He was very well behaved and did not steal any one's ball. Murphy had lots of meet-n-greets, if you know what I mean, but he always returned to Jody.

He knew who to come back to...

 (In case you were wondering, Jody did have a supply of treats in the bag.)


Such a SERIOUS face!

My last post I posted some picture of Jody. I wanted to show everyone how her hair has begun to come back. Jody has a picture of her mom on our dresser that I like a lot and I keep telling her the hairstyle is coming back. What does everyone think? Should Jody go for her Mom's waive or not... Need to hear form you...



Jody's mother circa 1936

The picture above is a picture of her mom, Maxine. It was taken in California when she was 24 years old. I love the curls and the top wave. I think it will look great on Jody.

Jody circa 2011

Like mother like daughter. I love the smile and the expresive eyes.

Day Plus Two-Hundred-Ten

This is Day Plus Two Hundred and Ten and Jody has some fantastic information she would like me to share with everyone. As I mentioned earlier we had a clinic visit with our transplant doctor, Doctor Brunvand on Tuesday this week. We were anxious to find out the results of our Chimerism Lab report. The report showed Jody has fully en graphed with her donors stem cells her T-cells are developing and are over 95-96% her donors. This test is plus or minus 5% so it is as close as you can get to 100%. Her granulocytes, which include Neutrophil, Eosinophil, Basophil granulocytes are at 100% her donor and continue to grow. In addition to this news her CBC came back better than before we began the transplant. Jody's HCT continues to improve along with her hemoglobin. She is back to totally normal with her White Blood cells and platelets. We are both ecstatic!

Today, Jody had a tooth pulled and she did fantastic. It seems one of the side-effects of chemo is it causes Jody to loose layers of enamel on her teeth. Cavities can form quickly. Jody went to her dentist for a check-up and he only found one cavity. It was in one of her rear molars, partially below her gum line and did not have a matching tooth below it. The dentist felt he would have a tough time drilling and filling the decay. He felt it was best to just remove it since it did not serve any function. After consulting with the BMT team on Tuesday everyone felt the risk was low enough to proceed with the extraction. Jody had her appointment today and everything went well. Well almost, she did protest a lot before the tooth was removed, but afterwards she told me it was nothing. Ask her to tell you about the tooth, she wanted to bring it home but the dentist would not allow it, something about a major bio-hazard.

Jody and I wanted to share some pictures with you. The picture below was the two of us at our Valentine's dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants... Notice the margaritas? Trudy and Derek know exactly where it is...



Valentine's dinner... Notice the Necklace! It was her birthday present... I told her she is wearing my heart around her neck.

I wanted to show everyone the progress she has made in growing her hair and I just could not make a choice as to which picture to use, so I used the following three pictures. I hope everyone enjoys them.  

Picture number 1 "Smiling"

I was given strict instructions... No turkey gobble neck this time... I think I succeeded, isn't she pretty? 

Picture number 2 "Chin-up"

Check out all the curly hair... It is known as "Chemo-Curl", she is not sure if she wants to keep it... but she has it for now. The doctors and nurses tell Jody sometimes it last only for a year and sometimes it stays longer. Jody is just happy she has some hair for now. 


Picture number 3 "Looking-up"



Day Plus Two-Hundred

Can you believe how far along Jody has come... Yes we are at Day-plus two-hundred! I have some GREAT news for everyone, but first I wanted to show you how the hair was coming along...

December 2008



 The picture on the left was taken at Christmas time. I gave Jody the "Blue Wave" necklace for Christmas. I bought the necklace when we were in Hawaii for our honeymoon.  



July 2010



The picture to the right was taken at Maggiano's restaurant a few days before we checked into the hospital for the transplant.

The picture below was taken in August about twenty days post transplant. Jody by this time had her full dose of chemo. Jody's hair was falling out in clumps so she decided to let me cut her hair.



August 2010



 The next picture was taken a few weeks ago. This was our first visit with Doctor Brunvand since she had her lungectomy. Doctor Brunvand was excited about her progress.



January 2011



Below we captured the moment together, I was wearing the new hat and bow tie I got for Christmas and Jody was sporting her new hairdo. All smiles!



Jody and I together



Doctor Brunvand and Jody



Doctor Brunvand and Myself



As I mentioned above I have some great news to share with everyone. Jody has continued to improve and she has actually progressed further than she was before the lungectomy surprise. Jody's lungs have improved enough that she does not need oxygen during the day, but as an added precaution we are continuing to use the oxygen at night. The really big news is Jody has been told to she no longer needs to take her daily IV fluids. The doctors have continued to adjust her medication and have even eliminated a couple. Her energy increases daily as her blood counts continue to improve. In July Jody will begin a regiment of vaccines as her immunity system improves. During our last visit the doctors took an extra blood draw to send out for a Chimerism Test to test her engraftment. I will let everyone know the results sometime this week.

This should bring everyone up to date... Feel free to call, visit or write...

Love to everyone!



Day Plus One-Hundred-Seventy-Three

You may notice I posted "Day Plus One Hundred Sixty Three" earlier today and I am now writing "Day Plus One Hundred Seventy Three". I know it may be confusing, but it allows me to stay chronological. Sometimes I start a post and get called a away or distracted and do not complete it for several days. If I post it on the same day I write it then it stays connected to the day,  but I have to take it down and complete it or edit it later. I forgot to do it on the last post... anyway I am here writing to you now.

I want to catch everyone up on the fabulous progress Jody has been making. Since Jody's last visit to the clinic; where I mentioned we met with Doctor Brunvand, Jody has been to PSL for her monthly Pantamanine (used to prevent Pneumonia) and back to the clinic for her weekly CBC. The clinic visit netted some great blood counts. Jody was normal or close to normal in all categories.

Jody (and yes, along with me) have been doing our exercises almost everyday. Jody's energy level keeps improving.

Jody remains on oxygen for now, but can take it off for short periods of time. Jody is hoping to someday get rid of it completely, but she will be happy if she can go back to using it only at night. Time will tell... Doctor Brunvand remains uncommitted, he told Jody "It is a fact we all need oxygen, it is not really an option." In Jody's case she needs help getting it in her blood via her lungs, which now have a reduced capacity. "I know its a nuisance and you do not really like it, but the consequence of not having oxygen is not very appealing." Jody has accepted the fact, but still complains (a little less boisterously as anyone who knows her, know's what I mean).

We have gone to the movies recently; saw "True Grit" and snuck into "Little Fockers" that was playing in the next door theatre. Nobody was there! There are some advantages to going to an eleven o'clock matinee on a Thursday.  Ain't retirement sweet!

We have nothing planned today. It is supposed to be in the high 50's, so maybe we will drag the tank (oxygen) behind us and go for a walk.

Day Plus One-Hundred-Sixty-Three

IT IS FRIDAY!

Well... I am sorry to keep you all hanging for so long. I wanted to tell you more about the "Cancer Etiquette" book ,but something came up. Jody's father (Joe) as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, has a blood disease and he has to have a CBC every two-weeks to monitor his HCT. When his CBC comes back at a certain level he gets a shot, which stimulates his bone marrow to make more red blood cells. Occasionally Joe will drop too low, which requires him to get an infusion. So off we went...

We have the infusion process down pretty good and it is no big deal. We finally got Papa Joe scheduled and to the hospital Centennial Hospital on Tuesday January the 4th. All went well with a just a few incidents.

On Wednesday January the 5th Jody had her appointment with Doctor Metzdorff; the surgeon who removed a part of her lung, all went well. He was very pleased with Jody's recovery and felt she could return to her normal routine. Later that afternoon we met with Jody's BMT doctor, Doctor Mark Brunvand. We had not seen him since the first week of December. Upon entering the exam room Doctor Brunvand inquisitively asked Jody if she was trying to scare him; referring to her partial lungectomy. After the exam Doctor Brunvand proclaimed she was doing great. All of her blood counts have returned to normal (Jody's normal) and she continues to make progress. He cautioned Jody to continue to be diligent and these types of setbacks, while not pleasant, are a part of the process.

Since the transplant Jody was on a azole antifungal called Vfend, which treats and helps prevent fungal infections. Its ingredient name is Voriconazole. The reason Jody needed the lungectomy was because she had a specific fungal infection in her lung. The Vfend evidently was not strong enough to prevent the infection. Jody now is taking another azole antifungal called Noxafil and its ingredient name is Posaconazole. Noxafil treats and prevents a specific type of fungal infection in severely weakened immune systems. The medication is on national allocation due to short supply. After a great number of phone calls we were able to secure a two-month supply and hopefully by March the supply issue will be resolved. The drug cost $800 per bottle and Jody needs six bottles a month. Thank goodness our monthly co-pay is $50. Unfortunately, Jody will be on this drug the rest of her life.

I will speak to the "Cancer Etiquette" book in a latter post...

I am back... sorry I did not post this earlier... I finished it up corrected the grammar and spelling, so here it is... I will update you in the next post

Day Plus One-Hundred-Fifty-Nine

The last couple of days have been uneventful. Yesterday, Jody showed some real signs of improvement. It used to be a struggle to climb the stairs at bedtime. Now she goes right up the stairs and into the bedroom, typically sitting on the bed and resting before going through her nightly ritual. Before she would go up the stairs halfway, rest, continue to the top, rest, and then into the bedroom. I was concerned about how steady she was, so I would follow her. As I mentioned she has good days and bad days, sometimes the pain makes her very lethargic. Jody takes medicine for the pain, which adds to her unsteadiness.

Yesterday was a good day so we took down all of the Christmas decorations. It felt good to have everything picked up. It feels like we are moving on to the next season. Every small change seems to pick up Jody's spirits, mine too. The four walls can be confining. Come Spring I am planning to get out a lot more, maybe some golf, or go to the sports bar and watch March Madness games. Everything depends on how Jody is feeling.

Today is a so-so-day, Jody is feeling a lot of pain in her chest. She had to take some pain medicine to get moving this morning. Jody decided she needs to catch up on her ironing, so I set up the ironing board in the living room in front of the TV complete with her little heater to keep her warm (she loves the heater... swears I keep the house too cold). "Oprah" is on now soon to be followed by "Judge Judy" Judge Joe Brown", Doctor Phil and "Maury... You are NOT the Father!" Watching Jody mesmerized by the thrilling drama these shows have to offer is entertainment enough for me. Typically I read or go to my office.

Jody's scars from the surgery continue to heal. The steri-strip bandages are holding on by a thread and of course she will not let me touch them. The doctor told her they will fall off on their own. We have an appointment with both the surgeon and her transplant doctor on Wednesday. We are both anxious to hear how Jody is progressing, even though we both know she is improving. It helps to hear it confirmed by the doctors.

Anything you can do to keep her spirits up helps. The doctors tell us we are running a marathon and not a sprint. These set-backs can be demoralizing. Jody is now telling everyone she is not going out and she is determined not to have anymore set-backs. Deep down Jody and I know there will be more. The cancer support group we go to calls set-backs "bumps in the road" to recovery. Everyone has to hang in there for her, this disease is not like... you get sick... take the medicine... and then you are better. In Jody's case the cure is as hard on her as the disease. The disease has a definite outcome, the cure has lots of twists and turns and the outcome is never certain. I know it is a lot to ask, but pace yourself... call on a whim.... email her whenever you have something to tell her... send pictures of things happening in your life... cards and letters make her smile... You are never bothering us, and if the time is not right Jody will let you know. Do not be offended or think you intruded if Jody cuts you short or does not seem to be into what you are saying. There is a lot going on and none of it has to do with you.

There is a book called "CANCER Etiquette" by Rosanne Kalick. It has a lot of great information in it. You can find it on Amazon.com used for $1.29. It is a great reference for me to use.

More to follow

Day Plus One-Hundred-Fifty-Six

Here it is New Years eve. Jody is doing great today! It makes me feel good when she has a good day. We cherish everyone of them. We learned the other day that Jody's Aunt Ruth, who live in Los Gatos, CA fell and broke her hip Wednesday. You might remember her from our trip to California... Aunt Ruth is 95 years old and lives on her own, she is the most active person we know. We love her so much, she is Jody's second mom. I always tell her she is my favorite Aunt. Her daughter Debbie Rice and her husband Tom is with her at the hospital. We were told she went through surgery OK and is recovering in the rehab care section of the hospital. Jody and I ask that you share some of your prayers on her. We are praying real hard too.

We have no plans for tonight... probably will not even wait (stay awake long enough) for the ball to drop. Living in Denver the ball drops in New York at ten o'clock our time. WHOOOOPPPPEEEE! 2011 has to be a better year, so you can surmise we are looking forward to next year. I thought for a minute I might go over everything that happened in 2010. But then again who cares... It was a bad year (Jody was diagnosed) and yet it was a good year (Jody got her stem cell transplant) so I do not know... I think I will just say I am glad it is behind us... We are moving on!

Feel free to call or write tomorrow, we will be up early watching the parade, dog show and football. Jody and I hope everyone has a safe and HAPPY NEW YEAR! See you next year...