I guess my life is just not that exciting any more or having no crazy husband around to do stupid things has left me with nothing much to write about these days. This week our school lost another teacher to cancer. Barbara and Brad had many conversations once she was diagnosed. You could find Brad sitting with her and they would be deep into a conversation about numbers, blood work, tests, good docs, etc. The way I received the message was by text stating that she and Brad were sharing breakfast at the banquet table laid out for them. I hope she told him that Katie and I were doing OK. I wish there was a way to get cell phone reception from Heaven…I sure would like to hear his voice.
House reno is going good. I was beginning to get a little crazy when all the kitchen stuff was spread out everywhere. My house looked like an episode of the Hoarders! All cabinets are in, tile is mostly done, next comes the granite!!! All this started because I wanted a dishwasher after a year of not having one. This was the last big purchase Brad’s knows that I made….I’m sure now he sees all the other “costs” associated with that dishwasher and the funny thing is is that it isn’t even hooked back up yet and I don’t care!!!
It is nice not having a class this semester. Katie just started her spring round this week all while being sick with viral bronchitis. I guess it will be good next year when she can maybe miss out on every first year teacher disease since she has had it all this year starting with a case of swine flu!!! Maybe she thought my care taking skills weren’t being practiced any longer and she needed to do her part.
Thanks for still logging in and checking to see if I had written….maybe I will get back in the swing of doing it. Or maybe something exciting will happen soon that I can write about!!!
January 21st, 2010 at 09:39pm
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I just wrote this awful blog. I thought I hit publish but now I can’t find it. I guess the good Lord didn’t want me to really publish the things I had said so he took it from my computer. Brad is back in the hospital (HEB) because the heavy duty antibiotics aren’t working and the fever is back. I am home to get a few things done but then heading back soon. I will write when I know more. If a blog called Frustration sets in shows up then that is the awful blog…..full of me ranting. Tami
September 17th, 2007 at 08:09pm
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I wrote a little too soon yesterday about Brad feeling ok. He went down hill most of the day. Didn’t eat until late last night and he wanted McD’s chicken nuggets. He is such a gourmet eater! Ran that nasty fever that he couldn’t get rid of in round 4, but he had a pretty good night and around 4 a.m. was clear of fever. They just came in and said he could go! We have to get another push of that miracle drug on Tuesday or Wednesday, but that is a three second thing. Now our prayer requests are: Brad’s numbers respond well and the final tests can be done around the end of Aug., Katie and I make the move with little drama, and we figure out what God has in mind for us to do with this cancer story that we now have.
Congrats to Randy (my eldest brother )and Kathy! The wedding was so sweet even though it was 118 degrees. It was a nice diversion for awhile. Tami
August 12th, 2007 at 10:26am
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It is Saturday a.m. here at the hospital. Brad is halfway through with this round of yucky medicine. He is not having as hard of time as he had the two other times he had this particular combination of meds. I am not saying he isn’t sick at all….just not as bad as before. He has a headache and is nauseated but limited yaking has taken place! He just rolled over and told me to write that he was keeping focused on the fact that in three weeks he will be home. Speaking of going home…it just hit me last night while telling one of his favorite in-patient nurses goodbye that this is our last time hopefully. All of you should be proud of Brad-he represented well. The nurses loved him, said he was easy to deal with, he made them laugh,and he was a good boy all of the time he was in the hospital. It can’t hurt that we gave them fudge the last time he was in for 12 days!!! He has another dose of this bad boy medicine at 1 and then again at 1 a.m., then if his blood work comes out ok in the morning we should be heading to the apt. before lunch time.
Katie and I are anxiously waiting for Wed. when we will get to move back to the HEB area! Brad is going to have his sister in to babysit him and then maybe the other sister. He thinks he can stay by himself, but watching him stumble around at night is when I start to think that maybe that isn’t such a good idea! We are going to the new digs on Wed. to REALLY check the house out. We were so excited with the general picture and condition that we realized we didn’t really look at it so good. We assume there are toliets in the bathrooms, sinks and drawers in the kitchen! We will check it out and then go spend the night at mom’s house where the movers will meet us to go to the storage unit the next morning. It is so exciting to think we will be sitting on our own couch and using our own towels and sheets in just a few days.
We will let you know when we get released from the hospital this last time! I am sure we will have a few tears but a little whoop will go out too!!! tami
August 11th, 2007 at 09:34am
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God remains in control ! HE found us a house this afternoon! I won’t go into all the details now but just like when this roller coaster ride started in March-this story of the house will send chills down your spine OR it will just confirm to you that His plan is the ultimate plan. Yesterday around 5 p.m. I called my regular (in Hurst) hair stylist to see if she could work me on a Sat. First of all, you girls, should be laughing at that call anyway. What good hairstylist can work someone in on a Sat?!? Her 9:30 had just cancelled minutes before leaving a space for me. (God even takes care of hairstyles!) While driving down the street to the salon, I saw a sign for a house for lease. Nice houses, great trees and yards, no cars lined up on the street-just the kind of place we like. I turned around in the front of it with 10 mintues before my haircut and instead of just writing the number down, I called right then. Here is when it gets funny (as in a God-thing!) The lady that answers says “Hey there, I was just fixing to call you!” I said-”Really? You don’t even know me! I was calling about the house for lease.” She was embarassed, said my number looked like her friend’s number, etc. I took it as a sign and told her so, that this might be the right house! I talked to her, wrote some info down, called Brad on the way to the shop, got the haircut, went back by and called her back because I forgot to ask a few more questions. Well…that was at about 11. We made an appt to go back at 2 and at 2:45 we had a house!!!!! It is perfect. Katie has her own side of the house with a huge bedroom with a bath and a private entrance on the opposite side from our bedroom-there’s the apt. she wanted to get! We can take our pets…(no worries Heath….Dixie is yours now!) I can actually have my house plants back that have been babysat by sweet Ann from school. We can get our stuff out of storage and move in before Brad is ever released from MDAnderson. Which will be a good thing since he is pretty much a weakling right now and doesn’t need to do a thing with this move. Here is the really big GOD thing- the landlord lady lost her husband in the middle of the night three years ago. When I told her that we needed to rent for 2 or 3 years to see where our cancer journey takes us she indicated that she would write into the lease a clause that would let us out of the lease if Brad relapsed and we had to do the entire “Houston” thing again. WOW! That is a rare find-a great house, a perfect situation for Katie to stay with us but have some indepedence too, and no long term hanging over our head commitment just in case! Like I said…..God is in control. He knew what we needed, made sure we were really discouraged from our house hunt yesterday, and then placed the “ordained” house right in my path on the way to a haircut. Man….He is good.
Will get details of the address, move in date, etc. tomorrow when I met with my new friend “our landlord” to sign the lease.
August 4th, 2007 at 04:20pm
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It is funny how you start to look forward to the end of some big adventure as you are still in the midst of it. I am so ready to mark this summer off my to do list. While I have been a resident of Houston for the summer, I have marked a major to do item off my list. Just this last week, I finished all of my graduate work and I now have a Master’s of Science in Education with an emphasis in Curriculum and Instruction!!! This Monday I will mark off my 44th year and now have to round up. I had a hard time when I turned 35 because of the rounding up issue. I don’t feel that way this time yet….we’ll see how Monday morning goes. Katie and I took a Pilates class last Monday. I was sore most of the week. Guess that means I shouldn’t take it this Monday! 
I might fall apart. Katie and I went to a cancer counselor also this past week. No big revelations other than it is ok to feel stressed about our guy having cancer. DUH! At least it is free and it gave me a place to cry a little. Haven’t done that too much so it felt right to do it there. I have become really good at managing over 20 medications at one time. I have become really good at reading each little line on Brad’s face to know what is going on. I can wake up at the slightest movement and then sleep again when he is still. Overall, I think I am doing pretty good. I still can’t wait until this summer is over. I am ready to get home and relax. I’ll be seeing you all soon. tami
No numbers until Monday, so Brad will write then!
July 28th, 2007 at 10:25pm
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It is 7:30p.m. and we just got home from the “testing” day. We left the apt. this morning at 7:30 a.m. Makes for a long day. Brad’s numbers looked good this morning and we are hoping that after our dr. visit on Monday, we will be ready to start round 5. It is amazing that right when you start feeling sort of normal is when you can’t wait to get the next round started that will beat you up again. This is a weird dance we are doing.
I am writing because I wanted to tell of my experience today. As you read in a previous post, I was planning on giving platelets starting today. Well, they had me hooked up to the machine by 2:10 this afternoon! It was the weirdest feeling. My blood was going into a machine from one arm. My platelets were being removed and sent into a bag, then my blood was sent back into me. The first suck on my arm I felt nothing, just like having a blood test done. But man, when it went back into me it was crazy! I starting shivering from the inside out. My head sorta went swooning and then my lips started to tingle. Thank goodness they knew that all of that was a good sign! I don’t want to have the bad sign for sure! They covered me with warm blankets, they gave me a sip of 7 up, then shoved two Tums in my mouth(calcium is lost in this process)! Notice I did nothing. That is because both arms were needled up and had tubes coming out of them, couldn’t move them at all. Not even to scratch my nose-so you know what happened next-right? It is amazing how trapped you feel when you can’t move your arms at all. Two hours later I had donated almost 2 bags of platelets in replacement for Brad’s 4 that he has had so far. When they were unhooking me, they say see ya next week. Hmmm…..don’t know……might rather have a root canal or something. But…I did get a cute t-shirt and a really cool bag when it was over. They have 2 other styles of T-shirts so I might be convinced to go back 2 more times!
Shhhhh—-we are sneaking to mom’s house this Sat. am until Sunday afternoon. Probably the dr. would say “heck no!” but you know what rebels we are. We really need a Katie fix. Had a mom fix this week. My sweet brother-in-law brought her down to see us for a couple of days. 1 1/2 weeks of school remain until I am done with my Master’s degree! I can’t wait for that load to be lifted. I just wish this cancer thing would go away just as easy, but I have this feeling we will have to deal with it or the thought of it for a long time. No posts this weekend. Look for news Monday evening after the dr. visit. Pray hard, tami
July 13th, 2007 at 07:51pm
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6/28- Yesterday was a much better day for Brad. He looked better with a little color in his face and he had energy to talk and watch tv and even take a little walk. His bed which cost $13,000 was TERRIBLE, so they finally brought him an “old” version and it was a little better. He just doesn’t sleep at all while in the hospital. I just left him today at 1. Before I left I hid him in the corner on my “guest” bed, pulled the room darkening shade and made sure his IV tree that has lights all over it was covered. I even made up his hospital bed somewhat. Hopefully, when someone opens the door they will think he is out of the room and they will leave him alone for awhile.
Dr. says there IS an infection in his blood or maybe involving his catheter on his chest. Good news is…they have already been treating him with the correct antibiotic for this type of infection. Bad news is….he will have to stay in the hospital until they get it under control. His numbers are not responding, as in going back up, because they are trying to fight the infection. Brad is getting a little depressed for the first time in this process. So am I. I think coming back and forth from Irving really worked for me because I had a chance to be normal too. Now we are both stuck here with no one to talk to or visit with except sick people or those who care for the sick. Also, the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be getting a little dimmer. Just two weeks ago we were so filled with hope that this journey would be over soon. Now it looks like it might drag on. This morning Brad just looked at me with sad eyes and said, “I have two more treatments to go.” He mentioned something about kicking cancer but now chemo was kicking him.
One good thing-We found out this morning that he shouldn’t have been on a low sodium restricted diet, but when you check in through the emergency room that is what the order says automatically. He noticed it on day one and asked a few times why but no one could tell him. Nothing changed yesterday, so today he told the dr. that if he had to stay in jail longer he would be demanding better food and some sleep. Dr. looks puzzled, says he took him off restriction as of Tuesday lunch. Oopppssss…looks like someone forgot to input that info into the computer so the food service people would let him order off the regular menu! At least he might get better food now.
I am off to write(thanks,A) another paper. At least I have four more weeks of grad work to keep my mind semi-focused on. Tami
June 28th, 2007 at 02:34pm
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Last night right after I posted, Brad started having more fever. He has had a continual 99.3 fever since we got out of the last round of chemo last Wed. The magic number is 101. Most nights it would flirt with the 100’s but never got to the magic number. Then last night around 6 it went there. It has to be there for an hour to warrant an emergency center visit. So of course it went back down to 100.5 for awhile. Then around 9:00 it went to 101.7! Brad…still as stubborn as ever…..says lets give it awhile. At 10:20 or so we (as in ME, the boss) said let’s go. Checked in around the time for a shift change. Not a good idea. Finally got back to a bed and got hooked up to some powerful antibiotics. Then they tell us that Neutropheinic (SP?) Fever requires time in the hospital. Great! Basically, from what the dr. told us just an hour ago is this. His white blood cell counts and neutrophils which fight infection are at Nadir….their lowest point. They are doing blood cultures to see if there is an active infection looming anywhere in his body. SINUS!!!DUH! Dr. says that 80% of cultures come back negative and they just have to pump you full of antibiotics and check your numbers until you are at a “theraputic level” to go back home. 20% have something and that just means they have to play the game harder to fight the infection. He seems to think from Brads description of the constant little fever then the rise that it sounds to be in the 80% category, but no test results are back. Looks like he will be in tonight for sure and maybe tomorrow night. Just wanted our prayer warriors to know what to pray this time. Tami
New info as of 9 p.m.-Tuesday, June 26th Tonight at around 7 Brad got a bag of platelettes….those things are his friends remember??? After that he was even interested in watching America Has Talent which is unheard of for Brad. He was even rating the acts! Man…..a few GOOD things in your body and what a difference! Since all of his RED (as in red parts of the blood) numbers were down also they were filling him up with two bags of blood too! Tonight was a perfect example of why we came to MD Anderson. First of all his research nurse came to his room. She is the one who is just writing up the research info and numbers on the patients in his clinical trial. By the way, there are 7 as of now and they are adding 3 more on Thursday. Brad is the first! She came because she found out he was in the hospital and wanted to see if he was pasty looking! That’s what she said! She is the one who calls to find out if he feels lousy yet so I guess she was satisfied today!! She took care of a couple of things that had bothered him in the hospital so far. Like having too little pain med prescribed than what his original Dr. prescribed. Then about 30 minutes later his main doctor called to see how he was. This is the head guy for the mantle cell division of lymphoma at MDA and one of the two drs. in the nation conducting this research. Then just about 20 minutes later the physician’s assistant who works with the dr. called his room. She said she was typing dictation and was about to cry because Mr. Bradley was having to go through all of this $(#$. I will explain Mr. Bradley later. I love this place. I miss family and friends but I LOVE this place. I told Brad that we need to take up a collection to buy better chairs for the caregiver to sit in in the rooms. They must have had someone that didn’t feel like they needed padding order them because man do they hurt your butt after awhile! I gotta get to bed so I can rest up for tomorrow. Tami
June 26th, 2007 at 11:27am
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I have seen Brad sit here at the computer a few times over the past 3 days. He just can’t sit here and explain how he feels. So here is my attempt. We went to the hospital this morning for a shot and ended up with 2 shots, a chest x ray, a wound care nurse and some “cheap” medicine. First of all, the 2 shots were the 1 that he gets for 10 days out of chemo that raises the white blood cell count. The second shot was the first one he has gotten to raise all of the “red” stuff in your blood-Procrit is its brand name. Dr. says he should feel “better” by Tuesday. He has had sinus and a cough for the past three weeks or so. They were worried about it settling into pneumonia, but Brad’s already been there and done that a few years ago! Chest xray was for their relief and Dr. just called to say it was clear. Wound care nurse….well….along with feeling like he has had the flu and then also been run over by a dump truck, we have also been dealing with some exposed skin where a man or even a woman wouldn’t want to have open skin! It is getting better but has been a real pain in the butt….literally! As far as the cheap medicine goes- I have a first name relationship with the MDAnderson pharmacy staff. It seems like I saw them everyday since Wed. of last week for something. Each time the bill ranges from $24 to $168 dollars. So I just automatically get the debit card out. Today I dropped off a prescription before the chest xray, went back to get it on our way out, got out my debit card and my friend behind the register said, “Whoa, this one is really gonna get ya. 189.” Then I realize she said $1.89!!!!! That was for 4 bottles of cough syrup! What a deal. Of course, the doctor said it was going to make Brad sleep. NOT! Nothing makes him sleep not Ambien, not Ambien CR, not Lunesta, nothing. Worst part of that is over the past 72 hours, he has only been standing or sitting or even out of bed for a total of about 10 hours. For those of you who really “know” Brad, you know that this is torture to him. He just feels pretty awful right now. Mr. Invincible has been beat finally. The cumulative effects are taking their toll. At least the nurses are happy now that he feels terrible. (You have to look back a few posts for reference to nurses and Brad.)
Speaking of a few posts ago. Thanks to all of you who posted. Some were no surprise at all. Others we both went-Really, how did they find out? I have read and reread those many times during this long, awful weekend. To quote Katie from her first camping experience at Joe Poole Lake ….”Daddy, I am tired of playing this game.” That’s where I am and I know Brad is too. To just know there are people out there still living a “normal” life but taking time to check in on us is priceless. Keep on letting us know. It sorta was fun anyway because Brad was like Dude…what did you write to get so many people to post!!! He was jealous!!!
Love all of you guys, miss feeling “normal” (no comments from Mark or Jeff on that), pray hard for relief from chemo treatments and their after effects, tami
June 25th, 2007 at 04:38pm
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Just like round 2-this combination of drugs really does a number on Brad. He was pretty good up until Monday at around 4 then the crash came. I left around 8 knowing that he was being given multitudes of drugs to make him sleep and not think about throwing up (which they call YAKing in chemo circles). The room he is in this time is in the back wing and the internet connection will not stay so it is hard for me to take my last 9 online graduate hours without internet connections! I went back this morning to a VERY sleepy and groggy Bradley. It was ok though. Nice and quiet and not too demanding. Two of these drugs just really kick him pretty hard. I was thinking today about this is what his last round will be like in Aug. Too bad it has to be the one that gets to him so hard. We will see how he bounces back this time. If his nurses will quit calling the apt. to ask him if he feels bad yet, I think it would help! They just can’t believe that he hasn’t felt all that terrible between rounds. We go to the hospital everyday but he doesn’t see all of the nurses. Then at lunch they start talking about Brad I guess because then they call to see if he still feels good! That is some kind of service!! I am back at the apt. tonight since I have two huge projects due this week and needed a connection to work on them. Drs. are planning for him to leave the hospital around 11 tomorrow so we will be back here just waiting for round 5 and then the LAST one! Small world story-I spent the night on Sunday at the hospital. Around 11 a new nurse came to see Brad. We were talking about sinus drainage. (By the way, chemo has not helped with that at all!) We said something about being here from Irving. She gasps, she grew up in Irving…etc….ends up we were in marching band together in 1978 at MacArthur High School. We were trying to recall names,and such. I was trying to come up with one particular name and couldn’t, she couldn’t either but one of the thousands of times she came to check on Brad or give him some meds, I sat up in bed and said the name. It was cool because I always do my most productive thinking around 3 a.m. but to be able to continue the conversation right then was really great. Then I could mark that off my to do list in my mind!!
Hey…we were talking the other day about wondering how many people are still out there blogging. We don’t have a counter on this thing so the only way we know is if you post a comment. If you are a reader, please post us a note so we will know who is reading. Thanks, can’t wait til August! Tami
June 19th, 2007 at 08:45pm
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Wow! This is Tami and has this been an exciting day!!!!!!!! First of all, it was my last day of school which usually is a relief but this one was exhilarating for me since I was on my way to actually being with Brad for the summer. Of course, the day couldn’t end without a little DRAMA, but it was done and now it is over. Cutting in line has a whole new meaning for me now and when my kids tell me about it at school, I will be much more symphathetic to their complaints. It does hurt your feelings terribly especially when the “cutter” is rude about it. I just thought that would be my excitement….BUT NO! I drive the four hours to Houston. By the way, traffic in Houston starts at 3 for some crazy reason! Got to the apt. so that I could get Jeff, Brad’s caregiver for the week to the airport. Brad felt like poop but wanted to go so we get in the car-that I had just driven for four hours by myself- and take off for the airport 1 1/2 hours before Jeff’s flight time. THEN……..do you feel the drama building? Bam, bam, bam…..while I am driving I experienced my first blowout while on the busy freeway in the middle lane! It was really weird because the sound was more what let me on to something was up than any loss of control. I pulled over, not sure what side was the problem. Of course, the side into the 6 lanes of 80 mph traffic was the bad side. It was a BLOW out…..a huge hole. So here is the scene…. I am blasted tired, Jeff is really close to being late for his flight, Brad is wanting to puke at any minute. Thank goodness Jeff had a AAA card. He called, told them to put a rush on it. The guy came in less than 15 minutes! We will be AAA members tomorrow as well as owners of a new tire! He changed the tire in 2 minutes. I was amazed. I would be still sitting there trying to figure it out if it was just me like it could have easily been!
So….lessons learned today-don’t cut in line, know how to change a tire, always join AAA instead of throwing away that letter like it is junk mail, and there is no place that can be home except with the love of your life who is now cancer free!
Much love and thanks for praying hard (keep it up), tami
June 1st, 2007 at 09:31pm
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Hi all, this is Tami. Well…as the title says, it is a good thing I came. Today has been a little rough for Brad. His heart is racing some, he feels wiped out, his headache has come twice really hard, he has a little fever, but hey…the rash looks much better! He is glad I came. It is just the pits to feel bad with someone else here. Mark left this morning at 4:30 am. I don’t think Brad would have ever made it driving him to the airport like the plan was until I came in last night. Like I said….good thing I came. I am headed to the grocery store to get him some vanilla ice cream and dr. pepper. Yes….he likes his dr. p with ice cream these days! Here’s to a better tomorrow. Love yall, pray hard, keep blogging! Tami for Slick Willy
May 5th, 2007 at 05:30pm
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Hi all, this is Tami! I am finally here in Houston where my heart has been for the past two weeks. It is so nice to put all your body parts back together. They work much better that way. Anyway, thank goodness that Brad was feeling super lousy yesterday so that when I came in the door I didn’t have a chance to really soak in his new look! I was just worried about how sick he finally looked. You know, he hasn’t LOOKED sick through this whole process. Well…that has changed. His look has also changed. He has lost 30 pounds and about the same amount of hair. He still has hair but it is splotchy. It is falling out at a quick rate so maybe by the time I leave on Wed. night I will be with Slick Willy! He felt awful last night but was glad to see me. I spent the night at the hospital which means NO sleep. This morning he still didn’t feel great and the drs. said he couldn’t go home-much to my relief. (I was watching him trying to move thinking what will I do if he falls down!) So…they finally changed his nausea meds to something else and he went to sleep. I went to the apt. to unpack, shower, relax a little,etc. I came back a few hours later to find him feeling some better. Enough to want Chicken Noodle Soup! He ate, napped, napped, napped. Then he woke up feeling pretty good…..wanted to order spagetti….WHAT? He doesn’t usually want spagetti on a GOOD day! Weird. He ate a little and had some Blue Bell Vanilla with M&M’s on top. We actually took a walk down to the lobby just now. The massive headache was gone this morning and now that the nausea is better he feels much better. Not great, but much better. He does have a really low fever that they are watching but not anything more than 99 at this point. Oh, I am going to have to buy him some new shorts this weekend cause while we were walking he couldn’t push the chemo pole and hold up his shorts. We certainly don’t need to give the weekend entertainment here at MDA! All for now, pray hard and love to all, Tami
April 28th, 2007 at 07:17pm
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Brad’s being a wimp so this is Tami. Not really, Brad is being a trooper. It is just late and since I am not in treatment of any sort I can’t seem to go to bed as early as he can now! Last night was our first night in the new place. Old place that is. This apt. had to have been built in the 70s. Under the coated countertops I can vaguely see avocado green! Obviously, the builders in the 70s thought people or furniture or something was much bigger than builders today think. This place is really nice and big-lots of big closets, big rooms,etc. Maybe that is because we just came from a 10 by 31 residence in the trailer. This morning I get up at 6 to start getting stuff out of the car. I open the front door and I can’t see a thing. It is pitch black in the hallway. The stairs are dark. The elevator(which Katie will NEVER ride) wouldn’t open up. Hmmmm….I am thinking, man, this place must be really safe if they don’t need lots of lighting. Once I figured out where the stairs were and made it down them, I noticed that there were lights on the first floor. It was already raining so no point bringing stuff in. We drove the 5 minute trip to the hospital…neighborhood traffic only…praise the Lord! Drove the 20 minutes in the parking garage looking for a space that I could fit the bus into and then made it to Brad’s first appt. of the day. His numbers were LOW but that was to be expected. This is day 10 out of chemo and it was the low day, so now the numbers should start going back up. “Numbers” refer to white blood cell count, hemoglobin, neutriphils, and platelets- I think. They say Brad’s are where they are supposed to be so no worries there except for keeping him infection free right now. We actually got mail today…that was fun. I am making a board for us to keep cards and letters on, so if you want to make it on the board-send us a letter!!! I know that Brad and I will read and read the notes just like we do the responses to the blog. I am going to Mom’s to teach again and be “normal” for the next few weeks while Brad is being babysat by his sisters and then his dad and step mom. He will be in good hands since the sisters are nurses. Cheryl comes first and she is a baby nurse(NICU) so she might have issues with his nightly temp. taking event. I would like to see her try her usual method of taking a temp with her baby brother! Then Vickie, she is a CCU nurse, so he will be in good hands there too. Dad and Betty will just spoil him rotten so then I get to come back to a real baby!!! We actually got some time to relax tonight and I got to go to a “SAFE” grocery store so we have some food in the house. You should hear the non-safe grocery story! Let’s just say southwest Houston is not like any place I have ever lived. Well…should go. Brad has another chemo in the morning. Just a 15 minute infusion of the red Kool-aid stuff. Brad was freaking cause after the last infusion, stuff was coming out that was red that shouldn’t be red. They said that was normal. Dr. even said that if he cried, his tears would be red. I am hoping I can make him cry tomorrow. I want a picture of that. Can you imagine that you tube video? Thanks again for keeping up with us. It is going to be another long 5 months but one month is already over. I really can’t believe it. In some ways it feels like 3 years, but in another way it feels like 3 days. Keep praying, writing, blogging and laughing and crying with us. Love to all, tami
April 13th, 2007 at 10:39pm
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It finally worked without causing the whelps, so now we are on the way to the really toxic drugs. Those should start around 9pm and go until 12. At 12 they infuse him with the expermental drug which we found out today is a 3 second infusion! Then I did some third grade math to figure out that not even a whole minute of this drug infused over 6 months is why we had to move here! WHAT? They have promised us that as soon as we are done at 12 then they will leave us alone until 6 so sleep can happen! I have never been so excited to sleep. t
April 4th, 2007 at 08:32pm
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Tami |
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Hey all, this is Tami. I am not sure what Brad meant about my bed being so comfortable here. Sleep was a little crazy last night. We slept for a few hours before the chemo began then someone was constantly in here. His night nurse was a gentleman that could have been doing stand up comedy. He was hilarious. Although it felt a little silly to be laughing at 1, 2, 3, 4 and then 6 this morning and every thirty minutes between! The minor setback occurred this morning when they bumped up the dosage of the Rituxan. They know that most people have some sort of reaction so they slowly put it into your system and can monitor the progress. At the 50 ml level he was doing fine, they bumped it to 100 ml and after an hour of that he started to break out in whelps all over the trunk of his body. They quickly came in and pulled the plug on that amount. They gave Benadryl through the CVC and it went down quickly. Nurse said that usually you have one reaction and it can vary from patient to patient. When he went through this list of possible reactions, it sure sounds like Brad got one of the best ones to get! The team of drs. came in, took a look and said we are ready to go again. I feel so much comfort in being here. Since this is ALL these people do they are very involved, educated and totally care about Brad (and me) during this whole process. For those of you keeping up with the Beemer to Black Bus issue! I drove it through the parking garage last night for the first time. It was a little freaky cause I was sure the top of it was going to hit the concrete beams but once I found out it wasn’t I was ok. Then came time to park. Realized I probably shouldn’t try a right hand straight in place at this time. Quickly I found a left hand at an angle spot which was perfect! Having the entire car full of boxes that we are moving into the trailer on Friday, it looks like we are camping here at MDA. Thanks for all who are sending notes and messages. Like Brad said, we read them over and over again each day. It sure helps to know we aren’t alone in this scary thing. Pray hard and love to all, tami
April 4th, 2007 at 10:27am
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Tami |
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Brad was just about to sit down and send out this blog request when they called him back to have his CVC put in. He is having a TERRIBLE caffeine headache so he was glad to go. The sooner they plug him in the sooner he can have a Dr. Pepper! How sad! So this is my first attempt. Thank goodness I knew all of his passwords, so I tried a few and got in! You know I have to keep up with all of his online girlfriends and such. LOL! For this minute’s request-as you know we are working minute by minute right now until we talk to the dr. It was “again” no coincidence that when we came to the Infusion Therapy unit to have the CVC put in that we ran into the gentleman we met last week who is surving mantle cell and his wife. As we hugged, we began our excited talk about the trial. They were very excited for us and said that we did need to move down here. So we asked where they stayed because we have looked around this morning and see $$$ only!!! They mentioned that there is an RV park closeby that has wireless internet…a MUST……and it is less expensive to rent a place there for a month than a week at this awful looking hotel that Brad was saying he could stay in! I told him if he wouldn’t stay there on a vacation, I certainly wasn’t going to let him stay there when all things need to be soooo clean around him. DUH! So here is the request. Does anyone out there have access to an RV or travel trailer that they will not need to use for the next few months? If so, please let us know ASAP. This sounds perfect and Brad has always wanted to live in an RV and I have refused that option many times. Man……he worked this out so he could get his way didn’t he? As I said, this sounds like a great plan. No furniture needed, just clothes, toiletries and food. Brad’s even talking about not needing many of his clothes since he is probably going to lose weight and will need a few new items while here! Of course, for me, I will need everything! In fact, I need to think like I live in Colorado to hang out at MDA! I can’t imagine what the electricity bill is for this place. It feels like a freezer. Maybe I need to start having hot flashes while I am here so I can get those over with while I don’t have to pay for the bill. Well….I guess in a way I AM paying for the bill! Enough for now. I am sure that Brad will get this blog up again as soon as we speak with the dr. in a few hours. Pray Hard and much love to all, Tami
March 29th, 2007 at 08:39am
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Tami |
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