Author: Greek Fighting Orange

Dearest Peeps!
Chris had a bit of a rough night last night that carried over to today! He keeps getting a low grade fever and his bowels aren’t moving! You may remember that the bowels were a bit of a major problem in the first round of ChemOH! The amount of medicine that he is getting is crazy, especially for a guy that only took high blood pressure medicine  and occasionally Tylenol before all this !?(: happened! Because of the chemo he has to take antifungal meds, antiviral meds, antibiotics, anti nausea meds, miralax, synecot, etc. Oh and don’t forget Tylenol! His body is at war inside! Chemo is the bad guy and all the other medicines are trying to protect his insides and eventually build  him back up! In the meantime, chemo is winning! It is destroying cells in his hair, in his bowels and in his bone marrow, amount other things. Your bone marrow is where your body makes red and white blood cells and the platelets that are needed. PRAY that the chemo finds and kills the immature white blood cells and leaves the rest of his body alone! Of course, that isn’t how chemo works but it’s worth the prayer to try! Clark, Chris and I prayed that Chris would have a BM and guess what….!?(: happened! Thank you Lord!! Chris is smiling again! A small victory in this war!

The OSU/James Cancer Center is a beautiful place! From what I can see it is top notch! Chris and I have been pleased with the care he is receiving. They are VERY experienced in treating Leukemia. They watch for even the smallest sign that something could be going wrong and treat that symptom very quickly. Our doctors and nurses use war strategies to help Chris’ body win this fight!

It was a gray and gloomy morning that turned into a sunny warmer day! It always amazes me how everyone and everything seems a little brighter when the sun comes out! The grass is nice and green here! Daffodils are up and bright yellow! Trees are starting to pop! Chris is missing this time of year so please enjoy it for him. Take some time to walk outside on a sunny day and stop to see and listen to this new season blooming right in front of your eyes! This is another simple pleasure that we take for granted!

We love you all! Thank you again and again for all the kind words, thoughts and especially the prayers!

 

We have another day of ChemOH under our belt! So far so good! WBC was at 1.8! Dr. Long “warned” us today that the next 3 weeks could be rough! He will be tired, maybe nauseated, maybe diarrhea, lack of appetite and many other possible side effects. He is very worried that he might have to go through another bout of hiccups! Last round of chemo gave him FOUR days of hiccups, that had to be awful! 

Thank you to Elaine for bringing our Mom down to see Chris again. It’s good for her to see that he is doing okay. It also helps Chris to see that Mom is doing okay and everyone is keeping her busy. Also thanks to Elaine for coming down prepared to touch up my roots! You are the best! 

My sister, Lu, asked me if I missed our home.  My home is where Chris is, so no I don’t really miss our home. I know we will be back home in the near future. I think Chris would like nothing more than to lay his head in his own bed. We both look forward to that day! 

Short and sweet today my family and friends! Love to all of you! Tell a loved one you are thankful for them!

Day 2 has been quiet here! WBC is down to 3.9. Chris needed a unit of blood today, 2 grams magnesium and vitamin K. So far he is feeling pretty good. When the nurses go through their check list of questions, all of Chris’ answers are no. Answered prayers for sure! We walked the halls twice today. He is eating pretty good and drinking his Ensure!

Jan, Randy and Spiros came for a surprise visit! It was nice to see our kids. The kids and I explored the hospital a little bit, while Chris napped. We found the cafeteria and the gift shop. Two storms rolled into our area today. We all enjoyed the view of the storms from our 15th floor room. The second storm came with tornado warnings! What do you do if a tornado warning comes near our hospital? We closed the double blinds!? 🤔

Chris hasn’t felt like wearing his hearing aids, clipping his finger nails or shaving! He really can’t shave due to low platelets, and the potential that he could cut himself. He is pretty shaggy! 😊 If you know someone that can’t hear, you know how you have to “talk loud” sometimes. Hospitals are not the best place to have to “talk loud”! So since he has been feeling decent, I got him to use his hearing aids yesterday and today. They work so well that he thought something was wrong with them when he was hearing a ticking noise in his right ear! When he described the noise, I realized he was describing the noise that the pumps on his IV pole have been making all along.😄 He has also clipped his nails. I’m still working on trimming his hair and beard, both are now falling out due to the chemOH! Goodnight to all!

Our first day is complete and pretty uneventful! One thing going for Chris this round is he isn’t as sick as he was last time. He is on antibiotics as a precaution again. Platelets are at a good level due to the vitamin K they have been giving him. White blood count went down from 26.5 to 8.7 so the chemo is doing its job. His hemoglobin is good. Magnesium continues to be low, so he received 4 grams today. We are still working it into his diet as much as we can. 

So I’m catching up on my History channel shows, like hunting for alligators with the swamp people and picking with the American pickers. Oh and March Madness has been so exciting! 😳 We walk the halls and check out the OSU football stadium (as much as we can see, that is). Cindy or Clark stay with Chris occasionally so I can get out for a bit. We miss seeing all of you but Chris asked to get thru this round of chemo without visitors. We still welcome and need all of your thoughts and prayers please. 

We all make plans for our future. We make retirement plans, vacation plans, plans to go out to dinner or a movie, etc. We don’t plan to fall off a ladder and break our ankle or we don’t plan to get Leukemia. These things and many other things happen to people all the time. You NEVER think they will be a part of your life. If you get a speeding ticket you didn’t really plan that but, all things considered, it is pretty minor and not a life changing event. A new baby is life changing whether expected or not! I had recently semi retired after I broke my ankle and Chris was talking about working another 9 years. We renovated our new building and moved our business in last year.  Our business was doing great! My broken ankle changed our lives a bit, I still have trouble with it today, but I had wanted to semi retire anyway. Chris on the other hand is a worker, as you know. He LOVES being a heating and air conditioning contractor. He loves being a father and a Poully. He loves caring for his Mom. He loves golfing, gardening and attending our Holy Trinity Cathedral. Every one of these things and many others are put on hold till he is better. THIS IS and will always be life changing!