Sunday, October 23, 2016

Just a quick update today.  Brian has been doing okay, we went for chemo last Tuesday and although his neutrophils were still low at 1.1 (they prefer at least 1.5 or higher), they still gave him his chemo and I was to give him two injections of the Neupogen, one on Thursday and one Sunday (I"m getting pretty good at giving needles now!!)   Brian had no ill effects until Thursday night when he started to feel nauseated but I made him take an anti-nauseant right away which he did.  Still on Friday, he was not feeling the best, very lethargic, nauseated and "off" as he likes to put it.  Anyway, by Saturday he was feeling good again, so we are good to go until Tuesday when we get the last chemo for  Round #2. We see Dr. McCarron on Oct 31 for a followup and then Chemo round #3 will start November 1st.  I suspect that she may recommend that Brian continues to get the neupogen injection.  I think she wants to keep the white count (neutrophils) up so that he doesn't have to keep missing chemo every other week.  

In other news, we moved my dad to a smaller room at Arbor Trails.  We were finding that having the one bedroom was starting to get too expensive and with downsizing he would save quite a bit of money, so he decided it was worth it.  So, between Bob, Roy, Brian, James and Breanne, me and Roy's friend, John, we got dad moved in good order and everything set up the way he likes.  Since this room is at the farthest end of the building from the dining area and other social areas of the building, we convinced dad to buy himself an electric chair for him to maneuver around the building without causing too much pain and effort on his bad leg.  At first he resisted, but soon we convinced him that with the savings he was getting by moving to a smaller room, it would pay for itself in a couple of months, so he finally agreed and I think he is quite happy that he did now as he realizes it is a long walk for him if he didn't have it.  

Dad so kindly took all of us out for lunch at the Mandarin on Wednesday as a thanks for helping him move and we had a great time!  Dad wants to go back to the Mandarin more often, he was quite impressed.  For those of you reading this who don't know what the Mandarin is - it is a high end Chinese buffet with very good food!  Thanks Dad!! 

Dad's new chair.  

We have beautiful colour to our trees this year.  This picture doesn't do it justice but this is the front of our house.  Very beautiful colours! 

Happy Thanksgiving - October 10, 2016

As I left off in the last blog, Brian had to have some IV fluid administered on the weekend and then he was to start chemo again on the Tuesday.  So last Tuesday, we went for blood work, then chemo was administered as all seemed to be a go from their point of view.  Brian was actually feeling pretty good.  Chemo went as per usual and we headed home hoping the week would go well.  Brian had decided that he was going to stay very low key, stay around the house and not overdo things.  On Wednesday, Brian, Breanne and Jenn had booked in for a "paint night" at Fiona McCool's - called cocktails and painting.  Brian had booked this particular paint night quite a while ago and now was regretting it as he was afraid to go out in public but as he felt good on Wednesday, I encouraged him to go and enjoy a night out with his two "daughters".  They were going to make sure they sat as far away as they could from other people and Jenn and Breanne would sit on either side of him and they were actually able to do that and all three of them had a great night. I was really glad that Brian could do something that he would enjoy.  He needs to feel that life is as normal as it can be, so it was good for him.  Here is the result of their paint night! 

We have proudly displayed Brian's picture on the wall in the dining room! 

Then came Thursday and Brian started to feel "off", felt very nauseated and tired, and lost his appetite.  I encouraged him to take an anti-nausea pill that the doctor had prescribed for times he felt nauseated.  At first he declined, hoping the feeling would go away and then I insisted telling him he doesn't need to suffer with side effects and they give us these medications for a reason.  So he took it, slept another hour or two and then he started to feel a little better.  He got up and had some toast and apple sauce.  On Friday morning, he was feeling better again but then we got a call from Dr. McCarron saying that she felt his neutrophils were getting too low and would like him to have a neupogen injection that day.  CCAC was called and the nurse came Friday night to administer the neupogen and show me how to do it.  She said if and when he needed it again, then they would come to watch me administer it the next time.   But I was hoping that one shot would do the trick and bring up his neutrophils.  

We had a great family weekend!  On Friday night we celebrated Annika's 8th birthday at Breanne/James place and enjoyed watching Annika enjoy her gifts.   Brian was actually feeling quite well, saying he felt 99% normal which was so encouraging.  Jenn's family had invited us over Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday and we were going to have our own Thanksgiving on the Monday.  We had a great time with Jenn's family, it was nice to have a good visit.  Then Sunday we had Thanksgiving at our place as I felt it would be best to be home so that if Brian felt tired, he at least could go and lay down.  We had a nice dinner for which Jenn and Breanne contributed to and helped prepare and clean-up and we had a very nice family weekend!  We are so thankful for our wonderful children and grandchildren.  We truly are blessed.    Here are some pictures we took Monday of the family:  

First of course is Timmie with his head twisted on his back - chilling out by the window; next is the whole family and lastly are the three cooks for the day! 

So off to Kitchener we go today fully expecting to get the next dose of chemo.  After blood work was taken, they found that Brian had absolutely 0 neutrophils again.  It seems that the neupogen didn't do much to help bring them up and they had dropped.  Chemo, of course, was cancelled and Dr. McCarron has now ordered two injections of neupogen for Wednesday, then again on Friday.  We have to do more blood work on Thursday as well to see what his counts are after the first injection.  Then, hopefully his counts will be good enough for chemo to resume next Tuesday.  So here we go again, chemo now delayed once again.  This seems to be par for the course right now.  Dr. McCarron called us tonight to say that she wants to get round 2 finished (which will now be at least 2 weeks - only if all goes well) and then when she starts round 3 - she is also going to book in a bone marrow aspirate.  Since Brian has nonsecretory MM, it means she cannot see how well the chemo is actually working and whether it is the disease, the chemo or a combination of both of why Brian is constantly losing his neutrophils.  Again, she said this is unusual, but she also said that his bone marrow could be immunosuppressed related to the chemo he had for his non-Hodgkins and it takes his bone marrow longer to reproduce the good cells after the chemo kills not only the bad cells but the good ones as well.  

So thankfully Brian has not caught any viruses or infections with not having any neutrophils, so we definitely have to keep him away from any sources of infection, so another week of staying low key.  Hopefully the neupogen will help and it looks like Brian may need to have neupogen now on a regular basis until chemo is finished. Only time will tell I guess.