We're No Longer Dreaming of a White Christmas; It is Here. Enough Already!!!

Happy Holidays to everyone. Now, I know people are sick of this politically correct reference and want me to say Merry Christmas. However, there is one hell of a lot of holidays taking place at this time of year. So Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Kwanzaa and Happy New Year (whew). Actually, I think there is some Islamic holiday in there some where too.

For those of you in warmer climates, we hate you. I would like to say that we are up to our asses in snow but we are WELL beyond that. And for those of you who think that we have an issue with global warming…stop by my house. The mercury in our thermometer ran out of room on the low side. This sucks!!! I was thinking of running my car non-stop for a couple of days just to see if I could warm this fricking place up a little.

All right, enough about me. What you really want to know is how is Princess Cynthia? Well, I can tell you that she is doing very well, except for the fatigue. She is still working full time so by the time she gets home, she is out of steam. Thank goodness she showed me how to turn on the dishwasher, start the cloths washer and dryer and how to start the microwave. My next lesson is how to turn them off. Seriously, I am trying to be as much help as I can so that she can get some rest. I never realized how much she does around here. The good news is that I will be able to give all of the chores back to her when she is well. :-)

Other than being tired, Cynthia is in very good spirits…well actually, that is poor choice of words because THERE ARE NO SPIRITS BEING SERVED AROUND HERE. We were supposed to go out with my brother Bill and his wife Paulette last Saturday and the weather was too dicey to venture out (big surprise). Although she was very disappointed that we were not going to get to see them, she was equally disappointed because she could not have the adult beverage she was planning on having. The next big development that they should be working on with regards to cancer treatment is a chemo treatment that you can blend with alcohol. Hmmm, maybe I should try to patent this. Until then, maybe she should start smoking dope.

On a more serious note, Cynthia wants me to thank all of you for the wonderful well wishes, cards and prayers. All of this support truly makes this journey easier. Also, thank you all for the Christmas cards as well. Our mantel is full from one end to the other. Hopefully you all received our cards…oh yeah, we forgot to send them out. I think this is the 20th year we forgot…sorry, we suck at sending out cards. Well, please consider this our wish to you for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Since we don’t have a good Christmas picture, I included a picture from our trip to Costa Rica (now that is global warming I can relate to).

Bye for now.

Bobby

On The Road Again - Finally!!!

Well, we have finally gotten the lab issue straightened out now. Cynthia finally received her official 2nd treatment today. All went well (except for the snail's pace that everything moves at). We arrived at the hospital at 12:00. Reviewed the labels with Cynthia's name, DOB, sex (yes) and phone number about 6 times. We finally had labs drawn at 12:30, then waited for our 1:00 Dr. chat. We got in to his office right on time...but the labs had not yet been processed so we waited yet again. Around 1:30, we met with the Dr. He reviewed the lab results with us while we reviewed the results to make sure they were Cynthia's. Everything was a go so off to the Day Clinic....where we waited again for about 40 minutes. However, once they came for us, the process moved along about as fast as it can. Two of the drugs are pushed by the nurse, the third is a drip. It takes about an hour to push the first two drugs and about an hour for the drip. We finally checked out around 5:00 and headed to Panera for a little soup & sandwich. Cynthia feels fine and is out reading the paper right now.

Leading up to today, we have been spending much of our time "going to work...coming home...going to work...coming home" That is Cynthia's little mantra for "not having any fun at all!" And you all know how she likes to have her fun. I believe she has most of her shopping done (most by Internet and phone) although I still have a few more items to pick-up. We also finally cut off the remaining hair she had left. It itched quite a bit and was getting very sparse. We found her two really nice stocking caps made of a very soft fleece which she likes a lot. Good timing too with the temps in the single digits and wind chills below zero (I really am starting to hate WI in the Winter).

Our tree is all decorated and there are presents under the tree...most of them for me I think. I do love Christmas..

Finally, we are starting to plan our trip to Las Vegas when this is all over. We are looking forward to many cold ALCOHOLIC adult beverages with our good friends Mark & Kim. Here they are from our last trip out there. Aren't they a good looking couple...and look at all that hair.

With Cynthia being couped up for the better part of a year...this trip could get very ugly (one could only hope). I can't wait.

Well...take care all. Lets all hope and pray that Cynthia has no more delays in this process.

Bobby

Hurry Up and Wait

Well, just when you think things are going well, something happens to slow down the process. Cynthia went in for her 2nd round of chemo treatments on Monday, December 1st. The normal process is that Cynthia goes to the lab to have the chemo needle inserted, then blood is drawn for testing. After the lab, she visits with the Dr. to review the lab results. If the lab results are OK, he will then send Cynthia to the day clinic where they administer the chemo. So, on the 1st, Cynthia goes through this process, lab first then the Dr. The Dr. reviewed the results with us and all of her values looked to be in the appropriate ranges so he sent us off to the day clinic.

In the day clinic, they administered the first of the three drugs. Then the nurse received a call telling her to hold off on administering any other drugs. We came to find out the labs that we reviewed with the Dr. prior to treatment were incorrect. They drew a second set of labs and found that her white cell count was too low. The Dr. and the Director of the Cancer Care Center came to meet with her and apologized profusely for the error. The Dr. stopped all further treatment and asked Cynthia to come back on Tuesday for a shot of growth factor (stimulates white blood cell production). Cynthia went in for the growth factor shot on Tuesday and more blood work. We met with the Dr. and Cancer Center Director again on Thursday. All of her values looked to be good. However, the chemo drug that they had administered on Monday needed to work through her system before they could restart treatment. So, the Dr. recommended that we hold off until the 15th and then, if all is in line, begin the 2nd round of chemo. We also received a written apology from Froedtert as well as complete explanation of what happened and the steps they are taking to make sure this lab error does not happen again.

Needless to say, this was a very emotionally draining process for Cynthia. Each time we get delayed, it extends the end date for this adventure. We are now looking at an end date in May (not April as we originally thought). We are also very disappointed with the error in the lab results at the hospital. If the Dr. had the correct results, he would have not recommended chemo that day and, instead, would have given her the growth fact shot, then started chemo later that week. The good news is that this incident is getting the full attention of the staff at Froedtert and we are getting more focused attention as well. The bad news...no more alcohol. It was determined that the little bit of alcohol that Cynthia had prior to December 1st may have suppressed her white cell counts. So it is back to the wagon for both of us.

So, other than that (which was a lot), things are going reasonably well. Cynthia's hair loss is having a little more emotional impact on her than originally thought. She told me the other day that she has never really felt ill throughout this process. With the exception of the post-surgical issues, she has always felt good. But now, she said she looks sick. The wig looks good, but itches. I told her that shaving her head might eliminate this but she has yet to make that quantum leap.

Finally, we have our Christmas tree up and a good deal of our shopping done so it is starting to feel like the holidays here. Let me tell you, Cynthia can not wait for this year to be over. 2008 has been a challenging year in many ways and we are eagerly looking forward to a better 2009.

We hope you all have a good week. And please, when you are out attending holiday social functions, please feel free to have a beverage for us. We will appreciate it.

Bobby