And We're Back

I started this blog when I was pregnant with Jack. But it became a really great tool when Tony was going through his Cancer treatments back in 2012, to keep everyone that wanted to know updates, in the loop. Sometimes it can be challenging to say the same things over and over, especially when they are so emotionally difficult to talk about. So I will do my best to keep this blog updated with the latest things going on in Tony's treatment. 

So here is the timeline from the last little bit:

On Tuesday, February 8th, Tony went to see his oncologist. Usually he goes every 6 months, but he was having some back pain, lack of appetite, and getting a few bloody noses. So even though it had only been about 3 1/2 months since his last appointment (where his blood counts were all good), he decided to go in and see his Oncologist. At that appointment, he was told that his counts were all dangerously low. They scheduled him for a bone marrow biopsy the next day. If you want to know what they do in a biopsy, this is a good site to read. https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/bone-marrow-biopsy/about/pac-20393117

They set up a follow up appointment with his oncologist for Tuesday, February 15th.

On Saturday, February 12, we checked his online lab results, and it informed us that his Leukemia had relapsed after 9 years of remission. Acute Myeloid Leukemia.  It was a tortuous few days while we waited to discuss a plan of action with his oncologist. 

During our appointment on Tuesday, the Oncologist let us know that we needed to follow a similar chemo/transplant regimen as we did back in 2012. His oncologist is still at Inova Fairfax and was able to get him in for his month long hospital stay the very next day. (7 days of chemo, with 3 weeks of recovery before he can come home). However, the oncologist no longer does transplants. So no matter what we decide, we won't be able to do the transplant at Inova. Right now we are researching doing the transplant at Huntsman Cancer Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

On Wednesday, they put in an IV line in his arm. And they got permissions from the doctors for all of the medications he will have to take. 

On Thursday, he was supposed to have a port (groshong catheter) put in. But no one told him not to eat breakfast, so he was not able to get the port on Thursday.

We were told that they would put the port in first thing Friday morning. So he didn't eat breakfast. Around ten, they told him he was scheduled for noon. Soon after they said they'd had an emergency and he had been pushed back. They ended up taking him in for surgery around 3:30/4.  They put the port in a lot lower than the last time he went through this. Tony says he feels like he's getting milked.

So after not being able to eat all day, I was able to bring up some food from Grille 13 (thank you Katie!) so we could have a date night. He had gotten back to his room only about thirty min before I got there. So he was still feeling a bit groggy from the anesthesia.

They started his chemo Friday night around 7. The first kind of chemo is nicknamed the "Red Devil." He will get this chemo around the same time every day for 3 days. 

The red chemo is sensitive to light so they have to put it in a bag while they administer it. Also this is a shoutout to the very kind nurses he has had so far. He has also had 2 of the same technicians as 9 years ago. So it is good to see some familiar faces. One guy that we especially love said something we thought was sweet, "Happy to have you. Sorry your here."

Then they hooked him up to the 24 hour slow drip chemo. He will get this chemo continuously for 7 days. 

Saturday afternoon they had to give him platelets because he still hadn't stopped oozing/bleeding from the port surgery. Joey (Tony's brother) says it looks more like they're giving him intravenous orange juice. The platelets are going to help his blood clot better, so it should stop the bleeding around his port. 

After they gave him the platelets they were finally able to take the IV out of his arm. So he's feeling like less of a borg now. 

We've done our best to set him up at the hospital. My neighbor Jamie picked up a unlimited data hotspot from the library for his room since the internet connection is terrible at the hospital. Tony got an early birthday present of a Fire Stick so he can watch the Olympics and Disney+, etc...  Norm and Deb got him a fuzzy blanket and Karen got him a very comfy pillow. And the treats have started pouring in. My SIL Amanda got him a digital picture frame that plays pictures of the kids. If you want to send any encouraging pictures to him, you just email them to Brittanyroring.062@photoshareframe.com and they will go straight to his picture frame. 

Thank you so much for all the love and support we have already received. We feel very loved and supported.