Sunday, December 7, 2008

Fred still does not feel well. The only change is he is not nauseous anymore. His temperature got up to 100.0, but luckily Tylenol got it down to 99.0 so far. He also is complaining about muscle pain in his legs.

Hopefully I will have better news tomorrow. We just take it one day at a time.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Fred is not feeling well today at all. He aches, is nauseous and has pain when urinating, and running a low grade fever. I called the Mayo Clinic doctor on call for the weekend and he ordered an antibiotic for him. Hopefully this will take care of the problem. We have to keep them informed at Mayo.

If his fever ever gets to 100.4 I am to take him to the emergency room, so I figured we better do something now so we don't have to do that later. I am keeping my fingers crossed the antibiotic works.

On a much happier note our eldest daughter, Carrie, graduated today with her master's in business administration from Southeastern University. We are sorry we could not be there, but with the advances these days we were able to watch the ceremony on the internet. So we did get to see her get her diploma.

Friday, December 5, 2008

We are back in Vero Beach. Fred received his Neulasta injection this morning and then we headed home.

Fred is not feeling well today. He has been nauseous and very lethargic. Hopefully this will pass in a couple of days.

Thank you to everyone for their good wishes and prayers. They have helped us tremendously.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Cycle 5 of chemotherapy is over. The nurse gave Fred his Benadryl by IV today and it didn't take more than a minute and he was out. He barely moved through the whole process. He was a little off balance walking back to our hotel room so I just held on to him and guided him back. He is sound to sleep now, just mumbling now and then.

Tomorrow he gets his Neulasta injection and then we can head home.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Chemo is done for today. Fred is sleeping. He seems to be a little "loopier" (if that is a word) today. I think as the week goes on the combination of the Benadryl and the drugs accumulate in his system and make him "loopy".

Loopy and loopier are my words for the day. I think the whole thing is getting to my brain too.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Today's chemotherapy went fine. Fred received the fludarabine and cytoxan drugs. They lowered the Benadryl amount he received and he seemed to be less out of it this afternoon. Moody, yes, out of it, not so much.

Our youngest daughter, Amanda, came to chemo with us today. She gives me time to go for a walk and a coffee break. Thanks Amanda.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Dr. Solberg is very pleased with Fred's response to the FCR (fludarabine, cytoxan, and rituxan) "cocktail" treatment. The FISH test (more extensive blood tests) taken last month showed all abnormalities in the normal range now. GREAT NEWS!

His blood work today is as follows:
Hemoglobin: 14.2 (normal range)
Red blood cells: 3.93 (low, but no concern right now)
White blood cells: 7.3 (normal range)
Platelets: 109,000 (low, we just have to keep an eye on this)

It has been a long day of chemo today. Fred is sleeping now. He has slept through most of the treatment today. Like I said it was long and the Benadryl really knocks him out. Dr. Solberg is cutting back on the Benadryl for the next 3 days of treatment so hopefully he won't be so "out of it".

Dr. Solberg explained to us today that the bone marrow biopsy will not be done next month. The rituxan usually stays in the body for up to 2 months following treatment, so they will wait until March of so before this procedure is done again.

Fred's last chemo treatment is scheduled for the first week of January.