Author: Greek Fighting Orange

It looks like tomorrow is the day we head south. I’m excited and nervous again/still. I’m pretty sure Chris feels the same way. We don’t know what to expect. We do know he will have another bone marrow biopsy, which will tell us if the white blood cells his body is making are healthy. We do know that there will be a bone marrow transplant in his future too. As well as more chemo treatments. We don’t know the timeline for all of this plus anything else they will throw at us. I don’t see the end of the tunnel yet! Did I say this is nerve wracking and scary??

Thank you for all the EXTRA love and support over the last few weeks. We realize that this hasn’t just changed our lives but it has changed some of yours as well! PRAY!

Chris white blood count was 4.8 today and again I am cautiously excited! Thank you for all the foods with magnesium in them. We are working them into his diet right away. He needed 2 grams of magnesium again today!

Goodnight all, it’s late and we have a big day tomorrow. Sleep tight!

Dearest Family and Friends,

We have decided to move to the OSU Cancer Center in Columbus! They have doctors that specialize in leukemia and specifically Acute Myeloid Leukemia! We should be heading down Monday but possibly Tuesday. The infectious disease doctor here would like to see Chris’ white blood count go up more before releasing us to move him.  I think we are both a little nervous about this move mostly because of the unknown. I’m just trying to handle one day at a time, sometimes one hour at a time. PRAY! Will it get warmer sooner since we are so far south?😁

White blood count was at 2.3 today! We are cautiously excited about that. His nurse said when there is a jump like that, .9 to 2.3, it usually goes down the next day! All of his other numbers were good except magnesium again. Does food have magnesium in it? Anybody know? We have been pushing protein so if there is food with magnesium in it, we will push that too. I think my sister Cindy and I are driving Chris crazy about eating proteins so we could switch to magnesium now to mix it up! Lol!

Chris was very happy when some of his Alea family visited today! Thanks Nick, George, Pete and Jim for making the trip up! Also March Madness has been good for him. He filled out some bracket thing and seems excited about some of the games.

Hugs to all!😘

 

Chris had our Zoe paint his fingernails green and he wore his new hat from Ray (boyfriend) to therapy today! I’m sure they don’t know what to think about this Greek guy celebrating an Irish day this way! Lol! Can you guess what they go home and talk about? All of his nurses and doctor “say” they love his polish but I don’t know!?!? Maybe the fact that he has been in the hospital for 3 weeks is making him do crazy stuff just to pass the time? The polish is coming off tomorrow for sure!

I hope everyone got to have jigs dinner! Our friend Frixos made jigs dinner for Chris tonight! I had jigs dinner too, at home. I think I’ll put extra oil in the room diffuser tomorrow!😂😳

White blood cell count was up to .9 today! We are cautiously celebrating the jump from .5 to .9 in one day! A couple days ago they were at .4 and then dropped to .3! PRAY!  The only thing that was low was his magnesium! Overall a good day!

Does everyone know where their birth certificate, citizenship papers, passports or other important papers are? You don’t need these papers very often but when you do, you do! I can’t be the only one that can’t find important papers when needed. Am I? I’d recommend everyone takes a minute, once a year, to find these important papers! Go on! Really! Right now!

Hi All! We had a good day today! The only thing low was Chris’ magnesium but his spirits are high! White blood count was up to .5! WooHoo! Despite the fact that he is eating better he lost 2 pounds. Not too concerned at this point, we all can fluctuate a pound or two.

We had a couple visitors from out of town today, George from Dayton and Jim from St. Louis! Our family at Georgios hooked us up with lunch a couple times. My sister froze, staying a our home, while new doors were installed. Chris received a very sweet note from his friend and mentor and his wife that brought him to tears. People that we hardly know, reaching out to offer encouragement and help as we continue our journey. Our nurses are kind, informative and patient with our room full of family and friends. The kind offers to help Chris and I are overflowing! This is just the tip of the iceberg. SO many things to be very thankful for. XOXO

Greetings Everyone! Chris’ white blood cells continue to go back and forth between 300 and 400.  Again we want them to go up to 4000! This is a slow process apparently. Due to low numbers he had to have 2 units of blood, 1 unit of platelets, 4 g. magnesium, and antibiotics among other things! He didn’t even take a nap until I got here today. Hum, is he telling me something? ☺️ It sounded like he had a good day!

Our kids and our siblings come to see Chris almost everyday! Chris’ Mom comes every day too! It is so sweet, she just wants to take care of Chris and help him all that she can. She’s brought him homemade food, Panera, McDonalds, etc. She loves to be here when Fr. Larry comes to visit and pray. I feel bad because she said wishes she could trade places with Chris. It’s always hard when your child is ill, even if your child is 61! PRAY!

A little funny from Chris…he has to drink these little bottles of chocolate stuff that is full of proteins and vitamins called Boost. As he was drinking it he was reading the container and it said “Big Satisfaction Small Size”. In his Chris voice he said “Huh, just like me, right hon”!  😂