Gennie's rebirthday!!!

     March 27th 2012 will be Gennie's Rebirthday!!!

     Everyone is invited to help us celebrate Gennie's rebirth. On Tuesday the 27th of this month courtesy of her brother (our hero), Gennie will be given a second chance at a cancer free life. She will be admitted to the hospital on the 19th and chemo treatments will begin the next day. It will only take a few days to kill off her immune system. On the 26th Spud will have his stem cells harvested and on the 27th they will be transplanted in Gennie. 

     Today we had several meetings with folks at MCV to discuss everything from who is going to pay for this to life after transplant for the next five years. The first meeting was for Gennie to have more blood test done and turn in her pee bucket. For the twenty four hours prior to her visit she had to collect her pee to be studied and tested. The next time you feel like complaining about your job remember you could be a pee tester. Come to think of it it probably pays better and has better benefits than what I did for thirty five years and it sort of looks like beer. Sorry tangent. The second meeting was to determine who is going to pay for this. It seems all is in order on that front. Thankfully. It only cost the two of us $24000.00 a year to have health insurance and for once I don't mind. Sorry again, random thought. The third meeting was with the Doctor who had Gennie sign all the consent forms. He explained all sorts of things. To many to mention or remember. All are facinating and awesome. One is that they will keep a sample of Gennie's blood and DNA frozen for maybe twenty five years. This is in case sometime in the future they discover something and it relates back to her case they can ask for that sample and with future technology they can determine what was unique about her DNA or blood. Pretty cool. However it has it's drawbacks. If she desides to murder me she is going to be caught. She is on file now. I feel so much safer now. The doctor told Gennie she will be under the care of a team of 85 doctors, nurses, caregivers and support people all with the sole goal of helping Gennie through this. We have met many of them already and they are great. His pride in his team is apparent and that gives us a good feeling also. Next was on to the post transplant coordinator. She shared with us what life would be like for the reborn Gennie. Without boring you with the details let's just say it will be a little different for a while. In the near future it will mean a move to Richmond for atleast six months. Once released from the hospital in about thirty days it will be daily visits to the hospital for about six hours a day. They will be checking everything every day. Rather than try to explain what they will be looking for I will keep you informed as it happens. When they say we can move home to Poquoson it will mean frequent trips back to Richmond for more test. Right now we are not sure how frequent, she probably told us but I forget. She did say we will be going to MCV for years in the future. I really should buy a Prius. We spent almost two hours with her. To much to remember but she said there would not be a test. Then on to our pretransplant coordinator. She is the one who gave us the schedule. Her name is Judy and she is great. She did not keep us to long as we were saturated with new knowledge. As my mother use to say Gennie is "wound up like an eight day clock". Judy saw this and got the doctor to prescribe meds to help. She will start on them tomorrow.  It was a long and insightfull day, but we are ready.

     We did not learn anything today that caught us offguard except, we are not going to be able to take our little Jazzy to Richmond with us. This is going to be difficult but we will work it out. We have had a few friends offer to help us if this occured. We are hesitant to ask anyone to take this on but we are going to have to impose. Another difficult part of this is the seperation from our family and friends. During the hospital stay Gennie is technically allowed to have visitors as long as they are completely healthy and have only been around healthy people. OK, I am going to make this easy on everyone. She is only going to be in the hospital for thirty days. Many of those days she is not going to be feeling her best. I am asking that if you would like to visit please wait until we move in to our apartment. Then if you would call me we would be happy to have you visit when she is feeling better. Remember for the first thirty days we will be at the hospital for six hours each day. Visits would be best in the late afternoon or evening. You still need to be healthy and wash your hands when you get there. Once the daily visits to MCV stop we will have days off when visitors would be great. The best way to keep intouch with Gennie is e-mail. deadogdottie@yahoo.com She may not get right back to you but believe me she will as soon as she is up to it. She is going to need someone other than just me to bitch at, sorry I mean talk to.

     Thanks for reading and I know many of you are only here to see how my diet is going. No progress from last time. Oh well 200 is nice for now. Still going to 190 but taking a little longer than I thought. My golf game seems to be stuck too. I just hope I live long enough for my golf score to catch up with my age.

     Thanks as always for your thoughts and prayers. That's all for now folks!!!

Bob

The Schedule as of today.

     Today we went to MCV for a blood test. The past week or so Gennie has been feeling tired. This normally means her hemoglobin is low. Well guess what it was 6.9 and normal for you and me is 12. With Gennie they hope to keep it above 8. We were about out the door when they got the results and we decided we would just extend the trip and get a unit of blood.
     The other day Judy our coordinator called and told us the FLAG treatment had worked the way it was intended to and it was now time to move on to testing. Next Tuesday and Wednesday we are scheduled for full day tests. These will include a stress test and lots of other stuff they need to know before the transplant. (how's that for technical) Then on the 9th of March we will have a consult to go over those results and hopefully set the schedule. I asked the doctor we worked with today what we should expect as to when Gennie would be admitted. He said late March or Early April. This is about a month behind what we thought. Not to worry, Gennie is doing great and we can wait. Also on the 9th Spud (Gennie's brother and donor) is also scheduled for test.
     Now for those of you who are also concerned how my weight loss program is going. I am down 28 pounds thus far and feel great. My goal is another 10 to 15 pounds but am in no hurry to get there. I plan to continue the nutri-system for at least until Gennie is released from the hospital. It is just so easy to prepare that it is easy to stay on it and it works. Somebody from nutri-system should contact me to do an ad.
     Sorry for not posting in a while but I promised not to report unless I had something to tell you. Well there you have it. Right now you know as much as we do. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. We are doing fine. It is interesting just how many of our friends are going through or have been through some difficult medical ordeal. I guess the lesson here is part of getting old just sucks. Other parts are  wonderful.  It is the mix we have to live with. Loyal and loving friends and family makes it tolerable.

Home again!!

     Well Gennie made it through the FLAG treatment with flying colors. She was able to come home this past Saturday. That was about five to seven days ahead of schedule. Of the 25 days she was in the hospital she really only had three bad ones. Of course these would be the three our son, daughter-in-law and grandson were here and could see her. This visit did not happen, sadly. Gennie did recover quickly from those bad days and five days later was told she could return home. The last couple of days here have been quiet by design. She has been resting and trying to eat some to regain some weight. She went in the hospital at 98lbs and came out at 92lbs. The lowest she got to was 90lbs. We both hope she can get back to at least 98 before her next stay. There have been some unwanted changes in her outlook in life. She has gotten use to having folks do things for her. This has to stop. In the hospital if she did not like what was offered for a meal she would just ask for something else. When she wanted a milkshake all she had to do was ask. I am naming this the "queen bee complex". I am hoping it will disappear with time.
     This Friday we are headed back to MCV for her next biopsy. I am hoping they will lay out the schedule for us then. They have asked for Spud's (Gennie's brother) contact information. They will be contacting him shortly to inform him of the schedule for him. If everything goes as we were told by Dr. McCarty sometime in the next three to four weeks we will be back at MCV for the transplant.
     I know many of you are more interested in how I am doing with my diet. Well I am down fifteen pounds and going further. Started to wear my skinny pants and moved two notches on my belts. Long way to go but it has been very easy while Gennie was in the hospital. Cooking for two is so much more difficult.
     Well that's it for now. I will update again after Fridays meeting.
Bye for now, Bob   

1/9 update Good News.

This morning Gennie saw the doctor with the results of the FLAG treatment. It has worked just as planned. Her bone marrow is completely empty. Her white counts are still near 0 but her red is around 8. This is good. She had a transfussion two days ago and that is why her red is up there. Now it is just a case of waiting for her white to recover enough for her to came home. This will probably take a couple more weeks.

We are very greatful she has had only minor side effects. These were delt with quickly by the doctors and nurses. By the way the care she is getting at MCV is amazing. These people really know their stuff. Kudos to all who are aiding in Gennies care!!!

Yesterday the nurses gave Gennie an award. They brought it to her room. It was for fastest walker on the floor. Many times they have had to chase her down to give her a treatment. This stuff has not slowed her down that much. Her spirits are very high. The other day I noticed a liitle something in her voice when I called her. This was the day her red count was very low. She needed that transfussion. Now that they are back up the strain in her voice is gone.

As always, thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.
Bye for now and GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!
Bob

update 1/5

Today is day nine. i just arrived here at MCV and found Gennie on her side having a bone marrow biopsy. It is a little sooner than I had thought it would be but her blood counts have bottomed out and that is what they look for. I suppose we will have the results in a day or two. The doctor just told us that what they are looking for is her bone marrow to be without any stem cells at all. I guess what that means is that she is without bone marrow at all right now. That is sort of scary.


To date this treatment has been going pretty well. Gennie has held up really well. There have been some minor issues but so far she has done great. The balance of time here will be waiting for the marrow to regenerate. That will be determined by another biopsy in about two weeks. The actual timing will be determined by her blood counts. She has a CBC check everyday.


As far as the dog and I are concerned we are doing fine. Jazzy misses Gennie but seems content with me as primary care giver. While Gennie is here in Richmond I decided to go on nutrisystem and drop a few pounds. It is working great. I am down eight pounds in six days. My goal is thirty pounds in three months. I am off to a good start. I have used the system before and know it works. It is really easier for me while traveling to and from Richmond.

Gennie wants to let everyone know she appreciates the thought and prayers coming her way. She misses all of you.

Well that is all for now. I will update again when we have the results of the biopsy.

Bye for now, Bob

FLAG update

Today Gennie is taking her third treatment. She will only have two more. She is beginning to feel some changes but nothing to bad. I can see some strain in her face. She is having trouble sleeping. Tonight she has requested so meds to help with this. They have told us it will take about ten days before she bottoms out. Then hopefully she will slowly begin to recover.
Her spirits are good. Today she had a visit from friends of ours. Patty Streiner and Greg Kline. They are good friends I worked with at Ferguson in northern VA. Patty and I had just become Facebook friends a couple of weeks ago. She lives in PA and was in Williamsburg to visit Greg and his family for New Years. What a nice surprise. It was very thoughtful of them to come to Richmond to visit.
Well I promised more updates so there you go. I hope everyone has a happy and safe new years eve.
Bye for now, Bob

FLAG started

Today Gennie and I drove to Richmond and only I drove back. She is at MCV for the next four to six weeks. This was planned once we found out the Vidaza was not working. They started her treatments today at 5:30. This treatment is only for five days. The balance of time is for recovery. Once her blood cells recover to the point they want to see she will come home for two the four weeks then off to MCV again for her transplant.
The first thing you realize when you enter a hospital is that the doctors all got younger. We met the four doctors on the floor today that will be handling her case. One I am sure had to leave by 6PM in order to get home before curfew. She was the number two in charge. Oh and she was cute too. They were all nice and took their time to answer any and all our questions. The nurses we met were great also. We all know they are the real care givers. Yes they were young also.
Many have asked how they can reach Gennie during this time. The best was is via e-mail. Her address is deadogdottie@yahoo.com . The story behind this address is that deaddog was her persona as a guide and story teller in Williamsburg and Yorktown,VA for several years. I know she is my wife but I will tell you she is a wonderful story teller. She can not only tell a good story but she has been known to make up several as well. I swear almost nothing she says about me is true.
If you want to send her a note or card other than e-mail she is in the CCH hospital room 120 second floor at MCV in Richmond. If you are reading this you can google the address. If you want to visit her that is allowed. The only thing asked is that you not be sick in ANY way. Make sure you wash your hands before entering the room. There is a disinfectant thing just ourside the door as you enter. Sorry no flowers as they are not allowed on the floor. I just tried to find the mailing address and had trouble. I will ask when I am there tomorrow and pass it on.
I am planning to commute to Richmond each day and spend several hours with Gennie. It is only about an hour and twenty minutes each way. That way I can take care of our dog and not hve to make other arrangements for her. It really is not a bad drive.
Wish us luck. Now that her treatments have begun I will try and post updates more often.
Bye for now, Bob