Blood Counts are down!!

Just as we were warned Don's blood counts dropped today. His white blood cell count is 1.5. He should bottom out completely by tomorrow. I know that sounds really bad, and it is dangerous of course....but this is part of the process. It is the part I have been afraid of. He will be sick for about five days now they tell me. Like he has the flu. But since he has zero immune system during this phase, we must be very very careful. He is in isolation now. He is still in his same room, but no visitors at this time. They still let me in, they havent kicked me out yet..LOL. And they better not try either!!!!!! He has developed mouth sores. He hates those. You can't hardly eat anything. And he is very weak. Now is when we experiment with what he can eat. Nothing sounds good to him. Ice cream maybe, he loves ice cream. He will be sleeping more now. Rest is what he needs. A nurse today told me about Aug. 5th he should be feeling better. You all pray he has NO complications or problems now. And soon his counts will be coming back up. I will keep everyone posted.
Blessings,
kathi

Our Day TWO.

As I already told you all, after your stem cell day you start counting to 30. We are on our day two. I have been writing the day count on Don's dry erase board on the wall in his room. Along with picture's our grand daughters drew for him, and pictures of all our loved ones.
He is doing great. He does have spell's of nausea, but that is to be expected. They give him med's for it, and it hasnt gotten too out of control just yet. Today the nurses on our floor had a BINGO day for all the patients and caregivers. They have some kind of event every day around here. Mind you this is only on the eleventh floor that I know of, the nurses themselves got this together. They try really hard around here to help make your experience a little more pleasant. I enjoyed playing BINGO today, but Don won twice!! I didn't win once...! When I left him tonight to return to the hotel he was putting his jigsaw puzzle together he had won. It does help pass the time.
They told us today that when your blood counts start dropping, it is sometimes sudden. One day you feel pretty good, and then WAM!! So far Don's counts have not been dropping. They check them every morning. However he is starting to feel a little "yuk"!
I noticed tonight as I marked off another day on our calendar, that July is almost gone. Gosh...I feel like we missed the entire summer. School will soon be starting. But I am so glad alot of our time here has already passed. I know alot of people love Houston...but I think Don and I would rather see Tioga..LOL.
We have had alot of our friends calling us. It is wonderful to hear from you all. We feel so loved. Don says it is so humbling to know so many people are praying for him. He told me he feels unworthy. Thank you all so much.
Blessings and Love,
Don and Kathi

STEM CELL DAY!!!!!

Well...the day has come for Don to recieve his own stem cells back! DAY 0. Yesterday he had his last chemo and one he has never had before. It was a very short chemo..only 30 minutes. He had to suck on ice for two and a half hours during and after the chemo. They tell us it is the the most powerful of all chemo's he has ever had. I believe it. This morning he called me from the hospital to tell me to be prepared to stay all night. He has been sick. We knew it was coming. Thank GOD he was moved to the eleventh floor late last night, just in time for his nausea. I can now have a bed to stay with him up there...PRAISE GOD!!
Today Pastor Bart is going to call us at 8 a.m. and Pray over the Stem Cells! Our church will be praying as well. We are soooo blessed to have them all in our lives. Praise be to ALL MIGHTY GOD!!
Our thanks to all, you are wonderful,
Don and Kathi

*Edit by Brandon*
Dad getting his stem cells back!

Day Five!!

Last night Don had test to determine if he did indeed still have a blood clot and would have to have his cvc cathetur relocated. Unfortunately he did. It wasn't a pleasant experience, they did have a hard time surgically placing it. He has some pain, but they have him on pain med's. Today they will resume his chemo and I am sure he will be sore from the experience last night. He has had so many small surgeries on that area!! They tell us this should not change his schedule in any way. They are also giving him shots in his stomach with blood thinner to break up the clot.
His mother has back surgery today in Alexandria, please remember Dorothy in your prayers. Also last night our neighbors Kevin and Peggy Kessler came to our room at MDA. Kevin is having back surgery today at Texas Orthapedic here in Houston. They will be here for a week, and possible Peggy will be my roomate at the hotel. Nice to have company!!
Lots of folks need prayers. You prayer warriors keep it up. Love you and appreciate you all sooooo much!
Blessings,
Don and Kathi

We have hit a bump in the road!

Well folks,
Chemo number two went very well, still no nausea. But today they have found out he has a blood clot just above his CVC Cathetur. They could not get any blood return from the cathetur, and his left arm has swollen. Tomorrow they are going to do a test on him to determine if they need to remove his CVC and surgically replace it on the right side of his chest. He hates that. He has had it removed once already and then it was placed too close to his heart, so they had to pull it out a small amount. All this surgery on his cathetur area isn't fun, and causes some pain. It is also delaying his schedule, and we hope this doesn't mean our DAY 0 will be on Friday instead of Thursday.
Through it all he has kept such a good attitude. He has all the nurses remembering his name the way he teases them all...LOL. He will be having his chemo all through the night now, because of all the worry about his cathetur. No sleep for him!!
Please pray his test shows the blood clot is gone and his blood flow is normal, and they won't have to remove his CVC.
We talked to his brother Kim tonight, good hearing from him. Our kids and grandkids were such a joy to have here if only for one day...we love them so. They really cheered up Paw Paw and MeMe got lots of hugs. We needed that. It is kinda quiet around here now though....too quiet.
Thanks for all the prayers and S.S.class, thanks for wearing those ribbons and the special prayers during class as well.
We love all of you,
Don and Kathi

Day ONE of six Mega Chemo's

Today Don had his first day of the strong chemo drugs to kill his remaining stem cell's. He actually did very well. He did not get sick at all!! Must be all those prayers your sending up on his behalf. PLEASE...DONT STOP!! Tomorrow he will be recieving a combination of drugs. One he has had before, and one new one. I pray all days go as well as today, however we know he will start feeling very weak soon. Tonight they let him go to the "park" on the second floor. The "park" is an area of the hospital that we love the most. It is an open large area full of palm tree's and plant's. In the day time you can hear the piano player playing from an area near by. A very relaxing atmosphere. We love to just sit in the wicker chairs and have a change of scenery. He only got to sit there about an hour, and we know it will be his last day for about three weeks! I told him let's enjoy this while we can. We are trying to get a room on the 11th floor. It is the stem cell transplant floor.....but we have been admitted to the 9th floor because there was no vacancy on 11. On the 9th floor there is no room for a couch or bed for me to stay with him. Tonight thank the good Lord he is o.k. and doesn't need me to stay.
Also our daughter and grandkids are coming tonight!! HURRAY!! We can't wait to see them. Paw Paw will love having them to brighten his day tomorrow. And MeMe really needs a hug!!
We will write again soon,
Blessings,
Kathi

We are headed to step THREE!!!!

O.k...all you prayer warriors...its your time to pray really hard!!! We saw Dr. Nieto today and we are being admitted tonight! Tomorrow Don will start his MEGA chemo. It is called B.E.A.M. BCNU Carmustine, Etoposide, Ara-C Cytarabine, and Melphalan. On Friday he will be recieving the Carmustine. Then days 24-27 he will be recieving the Etoposide and Cytarabine. On Wed. the 28 he will recieve the Melphalan and then THURSDAY the 29th is STEM CELL TRANSPLANT DAY!!!!
Around here that day is called day 0. You count from there to 30. Your immune system becomes that of a little baby on day 0. Don will actually have to have all his baby shots all over again...LOL. I told him he could go with our little grand daughter when she has her's...HA!!
We noticed on his schedule that he will be having six not five days of chemo. And there is no two days of rest. I am not sure why his schedule is different from those of others we spoke to.
This is the step we have been a little scared of. I ask that you all pray for Don to have only minimal (IF NONE!) nausea or side effects. Also please pray for NO infections of any kind or complications. And for ME to be a brave "ROCK."
We will try and keep the blog current, but it may be a little difficult during this week. If I can't get to our laptop my son, Brandon, will be updating for us.
Thanks to all for your prayers, we really need them now.
Much love and Blessings to all of you,
Don and Kathi

Just Waiting......

We are in waiting. Our doctor has been in Spain! He just returned back to work today, and our nurse said for us to just hang in there. We have no appointments, no instructions. Don and I want to get this show on the road. Don is very anxious to start step three. Yesterday he had his new C.V.C. line put in, this one is much more comfortable, and he slept well.
Robin, Scott and girls are suppose to come to Houston to see us this weekend. We have missed them so much, it will be good to see them. We don't know if Don will be in the hospital at the time, but we will work around that. If we get step three behind us, the sooner we come home for good.
Our friend Wayne came to see us and we went out to eat. It was good seeing him again. Then today our friend Robert called us. So good to hear his voice. I think he and Don have planned a golfing trip as soon as we get back home. Or maybe some fishing. I told Don that after we get home, he can fish or golf all he wants!! I think he is going to hold me up to that!! HA!
We will let you all know when we hear from our doctor.
Blessings,
Kathi

I don't know how he does it!!!

Well...folks your prayers are working. I know it is HIM working right now. Don went into Aphersis last night to harvest and we were there until 9:15 p.m. Don jokingly said here I gave you about 7 million tonight, when the nurse came to take the bag away....hehe. I said, "I wish!" They told us they only needed 5 million all together. Most people take days to perform this. He returned today to donate again, and guess what!! I can't believe this guy, but they just told him his count from last night was 7.2 MILLION!!!! I am amazed! They sent him back to the hotel and said...that's enough. Now we are waiting on instructions to move onto step three. I am shocked that Don managed to finish harvesting in only ONE DAY!!!!
Your prayers are doing wonders, please don't stop.
Our God is AMAZING!!!!
Blessings,
Don and Kathi

IT'S TIME!!!!!

Hey all! I got an email update from Mom a couple of hours ago. I think she wanted this to be blogged but got excited that Dad was suddenly being sent off for harvesting of his Stem Cells. So I figured I would post it for her :)

Keep Praying, the hardest part of this journey is yet to come for Dad!

~Brandon

WE ARE HARVESTING!!!!  HURRAY!! This is the time all stem cell transplant patients look forward to.  We are on to step two.  Pray Don will harvest plentiful! They want 10 million cells.  One friend we made here took eight days, pray Don doesn't take that long.  God is soooo good.  Praise be to him.  Don has been so faithful in giving his self four shots of Nupregin per day...ouch!  But it worked.  We will keep you all informed of when we go to step three, hospital admitting.

Much Love,

Don and Kathi

YEA...Harvesting????

The other day I got a daily devotional on line that started out..."The Harvest is Plentiful!"....hehe. Funny, we hear that term alot around here. It is the term all stem cell transplant patients and their family LOVE to hear. It means your blood is ready and your stem cells have come out and its time to start your harvesting. Something all patients in this situation look forward to. I thought after reading that devotional that God was trying to tell us something. IS IT TIME????? I had been praying for it. The other night Don woke up to really bad bone pain, a sign your stem cells are coming out. It was a very uncomfortable, but happy pain. Sure enough after his blood test yesterday they told us its time to test his stem cells. Today he has that test and hopefully will start his harvest today. Not all people harvest the same...it depends on your body. We met a man recently who had to harvest for eight straight days! They want 10 million cells. He was only able to give them eight million. We pray Don will be one of the unusual ones and can give all 10 million and in just a couple days. As we always said, the sooner we start, the sooner we are finished!!
Pray all goes well for him please.
Blessings,
Don and Kathi

Same ole thing!!

Not much to update with right now. We seem to be in an endless time of blood checks and blood transfusions. Don had his checkup today and we find out now he needs platlets. He will be recieving them tonight. We have met so many people also having stem cell transplants here, and we can all compare notes. Some harvest soon, some dont. I am afraid we might be in the not ready very soon. It just takes time, and around here you spend alot of time, just sitting and waiting. Hours at a time in waiting rooms. Lots of time to read books, work puzzles and watch t.v.
We found out today that Don's Mom will be having back surgery. It has become too difficult for her to get around. We are so sorry we can't be there for her, but as I was told just today, we were told in the beginning of this thing, that we couldn't ever be more than fifteen minutes of the hospital during the entire process. I had hoped to talk them into letting us have a break and come home for the weekend, but I was told no. God knows what is best.
We will not be updating now until more info is giving to us, but will let you all know when we know!
Love and Blessings,
Don and Kathi

Guess I need to update...sorry..LOL

OOOPS....had some people ask for an update. This week Don had a couple days off without a hospital visit. He wasn't feeling well, the chemo had taken all his energy. He said..."Someone stole my giddy up!" Hehe. Poor guy spent his two days off sleeping most of the time. It rained constantly the entire two days, so as he slept I spent the day on the computer playing cards, or watching t.v. Today, Friday, we had to go in for blood test. His counts are all way down. He had to have another blood transfusion. He always feel's so much better afterwards.
We went out to eat tonight with my cousin Sharon and her husband James. Saltgrass Steak House, one of Don's favorite places. It was soooo good. And so good to get out for awhile.
Tomorrow Don's friend Mel and his wife Felicia are coming for a visit!! We are going to site see and go out to eat again!! Nice seeing family and friends. We still miss everyone at home though. Next weekend is our grand daughter, Crislyn's, birthday. We have never missed a birthday for our girl's, this will be a first, and hopefully the last time we miss one.
Thanks so much to all of you who are keeping up with Don's blog. He really enjoys reading all your comments and encouragment.
Much love to all,
Don and Kathi

Back home in our hotel now.

I got to bring Don home to our hotel today, for a little while anyway. He is not feeling well today. I guess it is side effects from his chemo. He is experiencing alot of muscle pain in his back, shoulders, and neck. He is also very very exhausted. He is in bed already, and it is only 8:30 p.m. Tomorrow we have more appointments, blood work, doctor visit, my demostration test on what I learned...yuk!! Sure hope I pass this thing.
When you get a day off here, you still dont get a day off. They have you returning to the hospital every day. And they almost always make your appointments early in the morning so there is no sleeping in either. I sure hope Don can get some rest tonight. They sent him home with a i.v. drip in a portable backpack. It must be hard to sleep with his "buddy" on the pillow next to him.
We spoke to our daughter and grand daughter tonight, it was so good hearing their voices, but always makes us so lonely for them. It has only been a week, but seems much much longer to us. We are missing everyone so much. I met a lady today who has been here since January!! Makes me feel silly for being so homesick already. I know it must be so hard for her. Lots of people here to pray for. God is doing alot of work around here. I am gonna try and get some sleep now.
Nite everyone.
Kathi

Chemo has started.

Yesterday Don had his CVC line put in and he was really sore afterwards. They removed his port, and there was too much scar tissue to put the CVC line in the same area. Thus he had to have it put in the other side of his chest. He had two very sore area's! They later admitted him to start his first chemo here. The chemo will be the same as he had at home to start. So he is tolerating it very well. He was joking with all the nurses alot today, so you know he is feeling good...LOL.
Today they send me to school! I had to learn to take care of his Central Venous Catheter. The class was an hour and a half long, and I have to repeat it again. No not because I failed it...Ha. Everyone gets to do it twice and then a nurse makes you show her what you learned. Not my cup of tea folks, I am not a good nurse, so you all pray for me.
Don will have chemo until Sunday afternoon and then they are gonna cut him loose for awhile. He will return to the hotel with me and be outpatient a few days. He will go in for a blood test daily until they say his stem cell count is up enough for him to return to start his harvest.
It has been raining here all day. The outer rims of Hurricane Alex. Not really bad here though, just a steady rain. Today before my class started I had lunch downstairs and heard a young man playing guitar and singing in the lobby. It sure was nice for a few minutes to just relax, watch the rain outside and hear him sing. The whole atmoshpere here is so different than any other hospital I have ever been in. It gave me some time quiet time with the Lord. I feel Him close to me alot. Must be all those precious prayers that we know are being lifted up for us.
Thanks to all our family and friends for those prayers.
Love all of you,
Don and Kathi