Better Day

Dave was up more today. Eating better and more himself. I got a lot of cleaning and laundry done. Loni came over to help me clean out the car. Car office can get pretty messy. Thanks Loni! Tim and Joni brought over pizza and a movie. Dave stayed up for the whole thing. We have to get our dumpster filled tomorrow- cleaning out the garage. Then there's some packing to do.

I'm staying up to catch at least some of Betty White on Saturday Night Live. Plan to try to wake Dave up too. Vacation is great!

How many days?

Dave looks better today. Still so tired. I talked to the oncologist office this afternoon, well one of the nurses. His hemoglobin was 9.9 Wednesday, not too low. I really think they went ahead and gave him the 1 unit of blood to boost him before we leave next week. We talked about leaving Monday. She recommended we stay for the lab results Monday morning and get a copy of Dave's last visit note to take with us (just in case). "If this vacation is really important to you both....just GO!" If helped me feel that Dave will do just fine. So, I'm trying to let him get his rest today and tomorrow to get back some strength. I did get him to sit out side in the sun for a few minutes this afternoon. A quiet day is okay. I really can't believe May 10th is almost here. I'm so ready for some time away.

Infusion clinic.... again

I had an early morning inservice in Traverse City and started calling home when I was done around 11:15. I called in between a few other stops...no answer. I called every 20 minutes or so....no answer. Finally called my neighbor Kris to see if she was home, she wasn't yet, called home again....no answer. About 2 pm, Dave calls me. They drew his blood this morning. Platelets were down to 13,000. Hemoglobin must have been on the low side too. He had been at the infusion clinic from about 11 am for platelets and 1 unit of blood. When I called him last night from Traverse he sounded soooo tired. It usually takes a couple days and he should start feeling better again. Still planing on our Monday departure.

Tonight Tim and Joni brought us dinner. It was so nice to just sit down and eat with friends. Although we've done it often, every time is still so appreciated. Thanks to all who support us. Keep the positive vibes comin'

7 days...really....7

Dave had a platelet check today. His platelets are up to 25,000. We'll get another lab on Wednesday. I told the nurse... I hate to be a pest, but we're leaving on vacation next Monday and we ARE going... She said they understood. Dave's been tired, back to eating soup, but just small nose bleeds today.

I'm off to Traverse City for work tomorrow am. Get to spend the night (wish Dave could go). They're having another boys night while I'm gone. Bet they'll be a fire. I'm not really completey ready for NY, NY - although I did get a Flip camcorder today. We haven't had a movie camera in years. This one can fit in a pocket and works well with Macs. Now I hope to make some fun digital movies.... uh oh this could be good or bad.

The Nose Bleed wins! The garden still got planted.

Pictures: Dave supervising garden planing; Garden 1- beans and stuff; Garden 3 lettuce, cucumbers, egg plant and sage; Garden 2 peas (planted around the branches) and plan to tomatoes.

Dave got up around 9 am. We started getting ready for a work day with our friend Elliot Skjordal. About 11, Dave said he has to blow his nose gently. There was still trickling of blood and it started to increase. Call to oncologist..."to the ER". In the mean time, I went inside and noticed Nikki had gotten into a container of peanut butter cups and someone ate about 12 small ones. I feared the worst and gave both dogs hydrogen peroxide until they threw up. Unfortunately it then became obvious that Nikki had eaten all of them. Poor Ruthie- I couldn't take a chance. By the way, I know to do that from a story a long, long time ago that involved our first dog Sadie and super glue.

After knowing the dogs wouldn't get sick from chocolate, we headed for ER. It was so nice to see our friend Catherine Thomas there. The MD came in and put liquid cocaine on cotton up his nose (Dave said OK). The cocaine constricts the blood vessels. After about 15 minutes he checked and then put another packing on one side with Neo-synephrine nasal spray on it (kinda does the same thing). Then we found the culprit. Dave's platelet count was down to 9,000 from chemo (normal is 150,000 to 400,000). They discussed with the oncologist, gave him a unit of platelets and we were out of there in about 2 1/2 hours. YEAH! Thanks again Catherine for being an extra friendly face. What a Sunday afternoon. We'll call our oncologist tomorrow and see when they want to check his labs again. This will not interrupt our trip to NY, NY.... I said WILL NOT!!!

We did get 1 project from the list done today. The vegetable garden is mostly planted. Dave looks so much better tonight after we had a nap around 5 pm.

Relay for Life versus the nose bleed.

Pictures: Dave singing along to "You say it's your birthday"; Dave really getting down; Dave, me, Phil and Loni.

Dave continued to have nose bleeding when he got up today (about 11 am). We had to hold pressure twice. Finally it slowed down. It's really hard not to blow your nose.. but Dave's trying really hard. For awhile I thought we'd end up in the emergency room. Talking about a nose packing is really motivating and he was doing well enough for us to go tonight to the Relay for Life auction.

About 5:30 we went to the Mendel Center to the auction. The silent auction was amazing- they did an excellent job. We saw Dave's new oncologist there too. A short personal story ended with a call for cancer survivors to stand, I was so proud when Dave did. Dinner was very good, Dave loved the garlic mashed potatoes and I had to get him seconds. About 8 pm the live auction started. We stayed long enough to hear the first couple items, then it was time for us to head home.

Friday Inferno

Pictures: The fire is built; Dave, John and Loni sitting around the table; Elisa and John; Dave, Laurie, Loni, Phil, Elisa and Dave- around the camp fire.

The fire really started about 9 pm to Stravinsky's Fire Bird. The flames and music had a unison crescendo . I made a video and will link it as soon as I can figure that out. Phil and Loni got the honor of first to arrive. John Payne came from Kazoo. Laurie and Dave Carlock stop by with some extra drink materials. We had plenty of snacks and John brought pizzas from Papa Murphy's.... they were great. The gourmet vegetarian is hard to beat. Although the wind was a little too strong at times, the rain held off until a little after midnight and everyone headed home than (or close to that).

Dave was pretty dang tired when we got inside. Then he woke me up a couple hours later and had a nose bleed. Not sure where that is coming from. His nausea and stomach issues seem to be getting better.