Not ready for harvest

It is Friday, Nov. 6th. We thought Ken would be ready to harvest his stem cells starting tomorrow. But we got a call today about his blood test this morning. His white cell count and his platelets count are really low. They want him to start being very careful for infections. They said to stay away from crowds and watch what he eats. Of course, they told us that right after we went to a concert last night and to a movie tonight. So let me back up and put everything down in order. Just as much for our record as for your interest. This may be a long post...

Wed, Oct. 28th: We woke up to snow, lots of it. We packed up and headed to Denver. Ken had surgery that afternoon in the Presbyterian St Lukes to insert his main line in his left chest. It is a line that goes right to the top of his heart. There are three lines coming out of it and all went well with the surgery. We spent the night at a motel in Denver which was good since it was still snowing.

Thurs, Oct 29th: We got up early and met Tessa, our youngest daughter, in a Perkins for breakfast. Tessa was headed to New York to see her sister, so we were happy to see her for a few minutes before she left. Then we headed to the cancer center for Ken's first day of chemo. They gave him Cituxin and VB-16. The Cituxin is what gives Ken the hiccups, so they warned us. The Cituxin made him very sick in the afternoon. The nurse gave him some strong anti-nausea medicine and some hiccup meds. He was on heavy fluids all day and they even sent us home with a pump and drip fluid bags. They taught me how to change the bags and what to do to help Ken thru the night. They were worried about his kidneys with the chemo, so gave him lasix to make him pee alot. They made him pee twice before they would let me take him home. He was very weak and wobbly, so I had to help hold him up. Then on the way home, he wanted to go to Wendy's. Of course he was hungry. He had thrown up his lunch just an hour earlier. Luckily, I had a strict schedule of pills to give him every few hours. By staying on top of his meds, we were able to keep his dinner down and he didn't have the hiccups. But he was still pretty wobbly and he doesn't remember much about Thurs or Fri.

Fri, Oct 30th: We woke up early again, but at least it wasn't snowing. I got him breakfast, was changing his last fluid bag and received a call from Anna in Indonesia. Ken talked to her while I finished changing his bag. Unfortunately, Ken was still pretty drugged, so he doesn't remember her call. We will have to call her back one of these days. I then dropped him at the cancer center with his suitcase. I headed to Arizona with my friends Terry and Alan. I was delivering my dogs and my parents car to them for the winter. Ken received the rest of his VB-16 chemo. My uncle Stan picked Ken up and took him home. He slept most of the night and didn't feel to bad.

Sat, Halloween: Ken drove himself to Denver to get a Neulasta shot to boost his immune system. When he returned home, he started getting the hiccups. He went to see Heidi in the afternoon to have her flush his lines. It's nice to have a nurse in the family to take over for me when I am gone. Thanks Heidi. Ken got pretty sick that night. He threw up most of the night. I arrived in Phoenix, picked up my parents at the airport and spent the rest of the day helping them clean up the house. When it sits closed for 6 months, you would think it would stay clean, but it was covered in dust.

Sun, Nov. 1st: Ken was still hiccuping and pretty sick. He visited Heidi again today for his line flush and his shot. At least he didn't have to drive to Denver for a change. I was still in Phoenix. I made a ramp for my dog to go up and down the steps. I got the dogs all settled and helped Mom and Dad with more cleaning. I missed Ken and felt very guilty for being gone when he was so sick. But there wasn't much I could do. Ken said not to worry, but I felt bad anyway. He felt better by evening. Ken said he really missed the dogs. I knew he missed me too, LOL.

Mon, Nov 2nd: Ken picked me up at the airport at 4:30. He felt much better and I was so glad to be home. We went to dinner and didn't get home till about 10. We had a nice evening, but I was really tired when we finally got home.

Tues, Nov 3rd: I worked in the morning and then we headed to Denver for blood tests and a class. We were looking forward to this class they have been talking about. We wanted to hear more about what to expect. But we were very disappointed. It was just an overview of a bunch of points. The overhead sheets gave us page numbers to read in the book if we wanted more information. Ken and I had already read the book, so we didn't learn much in the class. It really was a waste of time. We ate out again Tues night and got home about 9. Tessa came to the house to stay with us when she flew in from NY about 10 that night. I wasn't able to stay awake to talk to her, but Ken did.

Wed, Nov 4th: I went to work. Tessa and Ken pulled all the coke stuff off our shelves and all the plants from the dining room. That was a big help. Now I can pack it up and get it downstairs and out of the way. We are trying to simplify the house for cleaning. Things are going to need to be pretty sterile for a few months when Ken comes home. So it's going to look pretty sad around here for a while. But at least it will be easier to clean. We had lunch with Tessa and then headed to Denver again for his proctology doctor appointment. They examined Ken, talked to his oncologist and scheduled a prostate biopsy for next Tuesday. The doc said there is only about a 20% chance that he has prostate cancer, but they want to make sure before his transplant. If he does have cancer, it will not stop the transplant, but they will have to give him hormones to keep the cancer in check during transplant. Ken took me to the Cheesecake factory for a late lunch. We shared a pumpkin cheesecake. The best.... Ken's mom called while we were at the doctor. Her TV broke that morning. So we headed back to Fort Collins to get her a new TV. By the time we took her shopping and got the new TV hooked up, it was 9:00 before we got home. Ken did pretty well today.

Thurs, Nov 5th: Ken was really tired today and slept most of the day. I wasn't sure he should go the the concert, but he said he wanted to, so we headed to Denver again. Joyce and her husband Bob, drove us down. They had gotten tickets to "Celtic Thunder", a men's Irish singing group. They were playing at the Paramount Theatre and we loved the show. Thanks Joyce and Bob for taking us. We enjoyed the show and Ken did ok. He was tired when we got home, but happy that we had gone.

This brings us to today, Friday. I was going to go to work and let Ken go to Denver alone and get his blood tested. But he woke up with a low grade fever and didn't look so good. So I went with him instead to the cancer center. I am glad that I was with him. We asked about things that are bothering him. His mouth is bothering him. His nails on his feet are strange. Things we just have to keep an eye on. We then went to the hospital. We registered for the weekend and took a tour of where he will get his blood harvested. We came home for a while and then went to a movie. We saw Michael Jackson's This is It. We both really enjoyed the movie, but then we are Michael fans. Ken has been very emotional all day, so I was a little worried about the movie. But is was all about the show and his music. So it wasn't a sad show.

We got the msg about Ken's counts after the movie. So we are headed back to the hospital at 9:00 Sat morning to get his blood tested again. We will be going day by day to see when we can start the harvest. I'll blog about the process when I know when we are going to start. For now I better get busy. I still need to put this coke stuff away and I want to clean out the pantry. So much to do. Till next time.... Bless you all. Keep Ken in your prayers. He needs strength to get thru this. Love you all. Bev