October 30, 2010 Getting ready!

The whole street is getting ready for Halloween tomorrow - all the kids are so excited!! Olivia got to wear her costume yesterday in school and she was so proud. We should have 5 girls in the cheer leading squad. It is Sienna's friend Story, her auntie from Dallas sent the dresses. Soooo sweet! I wish she could have been here to see them!

A cold front came in yesterday too so keeping fingers crossed this is it this time. I want the COLD to stay!! Mind you I am looking outside and the kids are in shorts and t-shirt... so maybe it was short lived.

We got a package from transplant team with information for me to read. I have to admit, it feels a little surreal... that it is so soon! When they first told us it seemed so far in the future, but it could potentially only be a couple of months away.


Cross your fingers that we will have a plan on Wednesday!!!

Cutie Julia and baby O

October 28, 2010

Adrian is feeling great and looking great!! Ready for a trip out in the wilderness tomorrow!! He is taking Sienna & Olivia to our friend's ranch for a night.

Cheerleading squad

October 26, 2010 Busy again!!

As you notice, when I don't write every day, he is doing well :)

He went for a check up today and it was fine, they didn't even do blood work on him. Next week is the re staging and then meet with Dr. Alousi. Following week meeting with Dr. Fayad.
I am hoping that we will come back from Houston with the plan of the next few months. But, as it has showed in the past, not always you get what you wish for!!

My dear dear friend Annelie is coming into town tomorrow night (from Sweden) and she is going to stay with us until next weekend, when her visit overlaps with my parents coming in! Double joy!!! Annelie will earn her keep by taking care of the kiddos next week when we go to Houston. :) :)

October 24, 2010 Count down to Halloween!

It has been a super busy week, Jason and Jayden were here, birthday parties, play dates and all the rest!
We are all doing great, Adrian has had a good week, completely back to normal.
Working away with Jason like crazy.
In the beginning, in the spring, I used to tell him to stop working and rest and take it easy. Now I leave it up to him to feel how much he can cope with. I think working for him is the anti venom for chemo. It keeps his mind off it and we all know he is a WORKAHOLIC. Can't change that :)

It will be a little longer between the chemo cycles this time (second and third). We are going down to Houston for just a day to do the re-staging (PET, CT & Bone marrow biopsy). Then I hope we will find out the course of how it will all come together. Harvesting of stem cells, admitted to hospital and the actual transplant.
The fourth round of chemo will be in the hospital, if I have understood things right. Not sure if it will be ICE or something else. I have a feeling it will be something a lot stronger since they have to get him down to zero immune system. That is why he will be admitted one week before the transplant takes place.

Michelle, Dr. Alousi's transplant coordinator called this week. She said when she did the wide search on donors she found 70 possible ones. Out of them, they will pick out 5-6 who they will ask to do a blood test and then see how close of a match they are. Basically they look at the ones that have done like the swab test that I did and then they have to look closer and closer.
The ultimate match is a 10/10, sometimes they can even use a 9/10 or an 8/10 depending on what does not match. They will look for someone who matches Adrian's HLA tissue type. HLA stands for human leukocyte antigen, a marker your immune system uses to recognize which cells belong in your body and which do not.

I am not that knowledgeable about this - YET!! It is the next level in the quick nurse degree that I have received while reading about cancer and asking questions.  :) :) I think I should qualify for a PhD before the end of the year!

In short - It is all good in this camp!

Ski shores for dinner!!!

October 20, 2010 LAB day

Adrian is back to normal - completely!

He went and did labs today and his WBC is a whopping 10!!! That means that the Neulasta has worked and he has had no bone ache!!!!! Great news!
I was thinking maybe he would start feeling bad towards the end of the week, like last time. But no!!

It has already worked and he is doing great! I am so happy!!!!

This is who I had on my arm when I woke up!

October 18, 2010 Great Day!

Great day today!
It always feels easier to breather when things are looking better!

Adrian has been in the office all day pretty much, working away, phone calls etc. He is feeling pretty good. Almost scary how quick it turns. But, I don't have any complains at all, when it turns for the better!

He's staying away from crowds and kids this week since his WBC is dropping. Weird really, that when his WBC is low, he feels pretty good. WBC goes down when he start gaining strength. Let us hope that the Neulasta side effects won't be as bad this week. (knock knock on wood)


Also what I have noticed, this time around, even though ICE is a much 'harder' chemo than Chop. Adrian is looking a lot healthier. If you didn't know that he had cancer, you would not be able to tell, at all. He's lucky he is so handsome that he can pull this bald hairstyle off!! The hair on his arms are falling out, slowly. But eyelashes and eyebrows are still there like normal.

Girls are really excited as Jason and Jayden are coming to visit tomorrow. We talked on Skype with Jayden (who is 2) and he shouted in the microphone "I am coming down!!".
He is one of the cutest kids I have seen, for sure there will be a bunch of pictures on the blog of him and the girls. Baby O will stay home from school so she can play with her new buddy.  Plus the girls adore Jason, so it should be a fun week!!!

October 17, 2010 Up and about again

Adrian has been up and about today. Slowly but surely gaining more strength. I went over to a friend's house with the kids this afternoon and I got a text that he was out driving!!!!
He had gone to have his tire fixed on his car and then going to HEB for sushi!

I was pretty stunned and started thinking if this could be delayed reaction of the Carboplatin and that he had no clue what he was doing?? But Carboplatin side effects should be within 24 hours... so I wrote that off.
I called him and he was doing just fine... :) I was just getting worked up for nothing. He said he started getting cabin fever of sitting it when the weather is so nice outside. Btw, it really is gorgeous this time of the year here in Austin. I totally get him, I would go a little bit bonkers too!

All is good over here!!