Tony is really not feeling well today. He has had fevers that started last night. He had to sleep with some ice packs last night to try to bring the fever down after Tylenol didn't work. His platelets also got down dangerously low and they had to give him a platelet transfusion this morning so they could draw blood to check for anything that may be causing his fevers. Please give some extra prayers for him today.
Saturday, February 26, 2022
Thursday, February 24, 2022
Last day of chemo (for this round)
Tonight they hooked Tony up to day 7 of his 24 hour drip line chemo. The nurse told us his blood counts will continue to go down for the next 4-6 days before they start coming up again. He has been feeling pretty awful the last few days so he is looking forward to hopefully feeling a bit better in a week or so. He is also looking forward to being able to move around without his IV pole.
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
5th day of chemo
Today was Tony's 5th day of chemo. He no longer has to do the red devil, but he is still on the 24 drip line chemo. It's definitely starting to kick in. His blood counts are all very low and he is extremally tired. He is also already sick of doing sponge baths. It's his least favorite. They are going to let him shower tonight when they switch to the new bag of chemo. Just 2 more days of chemo, and then his counts will go even lower as its effects kick in. He will most likely be in the hospital a total of 4 weeks while his blood counts bottom out and then recover. His blood pressure was low all day and he just wanted to sleep. No pictures today. But Nicole, (from Tony's work family) set up a gofundme for us today to help us with all the medical costs.
We are just so grateful for everyone that has reached out. We've had cookies mailed to us, smoothies delivered to us, people running errands all over the place for us. We have an abundance of babysitters, and people who have come up with brilliant ideas of things that can keep Tony entertained for his long stay in the hospital. I've had help with decluttering the house and packing up as we prepare to move and so many more things! I am just absolutely touched by the outpouring of love we have received. Thank you!
Tony's Birthday
Tony celebrated his 36th birthday in the hospital. The boys were able to come and see him.
The Family Life Nurse gave the boys some games they could play with him.
He is also very grateful for all the wonderful gifts he received. Thank you everyone!
The new room they moved him too has 2 sets of doors you have to go through, and is pressurized. Unfortunately, the lights in the first room don't turn off, so they kept him up at night. A wonderful friend came up with this awesome solution so he could get some better sleep.
Sunday, February 20, 2022
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.
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.
Saturday, March 12, 2016
Jack's Birthday
Jack is 4 years old!
On his actual birthday, we took him and his best friend Callie to Chuck E Cheese. We had a grand time, and had this awesome little photo/drawing taken there. They are seriously the cutest. We should probably just start planning their wedding now. All of Jack's plans always include Callie. When we were looking at vans, he would say "That's where callie will sit" and when we were looking at bunk beds it was "that's where callie will sleep." It's adorable.
We celebrated it a bit more today. Jack's birthday requests were as follows: Darth Vader cake, watermelon cupcakes, and Thomas the Train Piñata. We decided to top it all off with a giant fort in the living room.
Here is the watermelon cupcake (it's a box mix at Walmart and yes, it does taste like watermelon)
(The candle flames are the same color as the candle. What will they think of next?)
Here is the giant fort. To give you an idea, there are 9 kids inside of it. We got these cool building pieces from a consignment sale this weekend.
And here is the Darth Vader cake. It's the first time I've worked with fondant. I think it turned out pretty good. You can actually tell what it is supposed to be. (Jack insisted in making this pose for the picture).
And here is the Thomas the Train piñata. What a way to top off a 4 year old birthday.
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
5 months old and Happy Birthday Tony!
Aren't they simply adorable?
Happy Birthday!
Tony turned 30 on Sunday. He requested a red velvet cheesecake and it actually turned out pretty good (one layer of red velvet, a layer of cheesecake, a layer of red velvet, and frosted with cream cheese frosting)
Oh and as a side note, Jack got a haircut. Doesn't he look like Tony's mini-me.
And here are the twins! 5 months old and simply adorable. They are certainly beginning to show their personalities.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)