Author: Greek Fighting Orange

I’ve been told that I left all of you hanging with my last post in November, so I am going back a bit to fill in the gap.

Chris had his bone marrow biopsy 100 days after his transplant.  The initial test results were very positive.  However, some test results take 10 – 14 days to come back.  When they did, they showed that there was about 2% of the same cells that were found in Chris’ bone marrow biopsy when he was first diagnosed.  This didn’t seem bad to me at the time, 2% out of 100%, right?  I definitely was shocked when they found the mass in my honey before Christmas last year.  NOT the Christmas present we had been praying for.  I understand that for leukemia to manifest itself like this isn’t unusual but it IS rare.  Leave it to my honey to not only be a stubborn man but to have a stubborn disease.  In a nut shell, that is it.

Hugs to all of you!  God bless you too!

Hi Family and Friends,

I have missed writing to all of you.  I’ve had some feedback that you have missed the posts as well, so I renewed my subscription and  I hope to keep you all updated.  Truthfully, I had hoped that my honey’s disease would be under control and I wouldn’t need to post my blog because you would all be seeing him out and about.

Things with Chris have not been great.  He is still fighting, but it seems that with all he has been through the last year, (YES it has been over a year!!) he is having the hardest time now.  Yes he is weaker than he was last year when he went from a seemingly “Healthy” guy to a very sick “Healthy” guy.  Now with the treatments he has endured over the last year, he isn’t so healthy AND he continues to need chemo treatments AND he is struggling with more health problems.

As you may know, leukemia is a blood disease HOWEVER Chris’ leukemia has decided to make masses in his body.  One has been removed, which is how we know it is still his leukemia, the other cannot be removed.  Thus the chemo treatments and possibly radiation treatments in the next month or two.  You might be thinking “Does this NEVER end?”, I’ve asked myself this time and time again.  What has been the hardest part for him lately is the pain from this mass that can’t be removed. He is taking pain meds but then he feels better, so he might miss a dose or try to stretch the doses out a bit, which has proven to not be the best thing to do.

Believe it or not, it has almost been 100 days since my honey’s transplant! Crazy I know! Next week he will have a bone marrow biopsy, then we will know how well his new marrow is doing the following week. Please continue to include him in your prayers! 

The main things bothering Chris now is his lack of appetite, the taste of foods he would normally enjoy AND he isn’t gaining weight. It’s funny that of all things, that is what he has focused on. His doctor doesn’t seem worried and we usually follow their lead but he just can’t stop worrying about that. I would love to give him some of my extra weight but obviously things don’t work like that. 😁

Happy November everyone! Are you ready for the holidays? 

I’m finally writing my blog about the “Light the Night” walkathon we had last Sunday. (Sorry it has taken me so long.) The evening was awesome! The weather was perfect! Our team, Greek Fighting Orange, was 65+ strong! We met at our church for a bite to eat, and walked to the Seagate Center for the event! I think we had the largest team there! Our youngest walkers were Teddy, who is 4, and Lukia, who just turned 5! Our “Young at Heart” walkers were Ann at “89” and Faye at “87”! I told our whole team, when we were at church, that I knew I would be there walking FOR my honey and countless others, but I didn’t know I would be walking WITH my honey! My Superman! Thank you ALL! 

I would like to thank everyone that was with us in spirit. You kind donations were greatly appreciated.

Today is day +79 since Chris’ transplant! His white blood count (2.04 needs to be 4.23 at least), platelets (25 trying to reach 163) and hemoglobin (9.1 looking for 13.7+) are holding steady. Not quite where they need to be but, from what I understand, this is normal. Keep praying! 

Hugs to all of you and thank you again for your love, support and prayers! 

Chris had his clinic appointment yesterday. He is coming along good. He gained a pound and his counts are moving but they are very slow this time.  This isn’t a bad thing the doctors say, as long as the counts and the weight goes up, they are happy which helps us relax a little. Again, answered prayers! 

The “Light the Night” event is this Sunday, 10/22/2017.  If you have registered and/or donated, Chris and I would like to thank you very much AND we hope to see you Sunday. Registration starts at 6:00 at the Seagate Center, however, Chris and I would love it if you could meet us at the parking lot of our Holy Trinity Greek Cathedral at 4:45 pm! We will have pizza, pop and water! Then we thought we could all walk to the Seagate. The walk for the event is a mile, they plan to “Light the Night” with lanterns and end the evening with fireworks about 8:00 pm! Some of us are wearing orange or our Hope Love Cure shirts, fyi! 

Our figs on our fig tree were not the best this year. I think they missed us, lol! Really the cool and comfy August and most of September slowed the ripening. When the heat wave came late September early October that helped the process but our figs weren’t as sweet as usual. Although the ants and the bees seemed to really enjoy them!😁 My metaphor between my honey and our fig trees continues. We were able to enjoy our figs but they weren’t as good as usual. Thankfully, we all have been able to enjoy Chris he just isn’t as strong as usual. This winter we will cover our fig trees so in the spring they will be uncovered and grow strong again, so too will my honey! This winter we will wrap him in love and warmth so that in the spring he will be stronger.  Golfing and gardening are tops on his list. Let’s pray for that! Hugs to all!