The Missed Vacation

Not too much has happened since the last update. The Latest round of Chemotherapy ended on November 3 at 5:30 am. I was home by 6:00 am cooking breakfast for the soccer players the reside at my home. Then we went to three soccer games. It was soo much fun. Sam scored Three back to back goals. Max played a good game. I was only able to watch part of Aubree's game in order to get Sam to his game. That was the best part of my week.

I went to the Doctor on Monday only to learn that my platelet count was one or dangerously low. They sent me to the transfusion center to get 2 units of platelets. While I was getting my transfusion the only thing to do is visit with the other patients which can be very interesting due to my impaired hearing, and lets face it most older people have hearing problems as well. The last thing that is left is watching people. I learned that rubber gloves must be very expensive as the nurse dropped a rubber glove on the floor, obviously not one to tolerate waste she quickly picked it up and put it on. This made me very ill and wondered if this happened when she was working on me.

Tuesday I was low on Blood and had to return to the beloved transfusion center. This time I took Lani with me, being a caring husband I told her to drop me off at he front door and return about 6 hours later to pick me up. She insisted that she wanted to come with me to at least see what this place is like (she can't say I didn't warn her). We got seated in the transfusion room. The people were very diverse. One gentleman had just gotten a new prescription, this brought his total to 27 pills daily. WOW!!!! I feel better about myself. The guy next to my had some sort of a problem with his knees. It is weird how this really helps me to keep my life in proper perspective. I went there every day that week. By the end of the week I was getting sicker and sicker.

Thursday Dr. Sanchez drew some blood cultures to see if I was getting an infection. The cultures would not be back until Monday. Friday I continued my routine of getting blood transfusions. My mother came to stay with me while Lani was in Disneyland. Saturday morning Lani and Brianne packed up to go to Disneyland!!! I woke up with blood shot eyes so bad that it was harder that usual to look in the mirror, and a fever. After alot of convincing, a reluctant and worried Lani went to Disneyland.

Monday, my blood draw was not good and the results of the blood cultures were worse. The blood draw showed that I tested positive for a Staph infection the type of Staph I do not know. My platelet count was 0 (Zero) which is dangerous. Apparently, my brain could have bled and killed me or another organ could bleed and cause unknown amounts of damage. The Dr. admitted me to the hospital. I left the Dr.'s office and waited for the hospital to call when they had a room for me. I was admitted into the hospital at 6:00pm, they started to do blood transfusions at 11:00 pm, apparently they needed almost 12 hours to get ready to do this transfusion. Saturday the Dr. had my Hickman catheter removed as it was the cause of my infection, I will have to stay here until my counts recover. As much as I hate being in the hospital, it has been comforting to have someone check on me closely.

There has been no news in regards to Seattle. We do have a couple of leads for places to stay but nothing solid, again if anyone can help us in this regard it would be appreciated.

Thanks to all who have been trying to help us find a place in Seattle, I know that if there are lots of people looking, we will find something.

Casey