A Message for our niece

Katie Maki graduates with her Masters degree from Vanderbilt University this Friday. After several attempts to get this video on facebook (I knew I could, I knew I could, I......), I decided to put it here. Kinda nice to see Dave "live". Congrats Katie! What great and wonderful nephews and nieces we have....love you all!

Deep breath, can feel the vibes

Picture: Chuck, Phil and Loni pose for a picture in their masks. Yes they are smiling.

Dave has been in neutropenia isolation since we got on the floor last evening. I think his WBC count was up a little today...but still too low. So we all have to wear a mask in the room. If Dave was to go out of the room, he would have to wear a mask. Here's a nice link that describes low blood counts with chemo and what they mean.

The MD came by about 6 pm. He doesn't feel it's pneumonia. They are now testing for C-diff. That means we all have to wear a gown and gloves when near him. If results come back negative...we go back to masks only. We'll get an pre-albumin level tomorrow and have Physical Therapy come by to help Dave work on his strength and methods to conserve energy.

Dave had several visitors today. Joni came by to sit with him while I went home to shower this afternoon. Because you never know when an MD is stopping by and then I'd miss them, it seems always having someone hear is a good idea. No PIC line yet. The platelets didn't get transfused in time. Dave's nurse today tried soooo hard to get all the blood and platelets in, but there wasn't time. Tomorrow am, PIC line.

We're feeling the positive vibes from you all. Keep them coming and we'll do our part to get home soon. As Dave would say..... Peace, Love, Groove.

What a Difference a Day Makes

Mr. Maki looks better today. Since Dave fell I've been walking with him to the boys room and he is definitely walking stronger. He ate some breakfast and lunch. More than he's been doing lately. I talked to the dietitian and asked them to get a pre-albumin level. Getting his second unit of blood (hemoglobin was less than 8 in ER yesterday), then 4 units of platelets (platelets were 32,000)....then they will start a PIC line . We're both catching naps as much as possible.

24 out of 48 hours

Well, we've spent 11 out of 25 hours in ERs, now Dave's on the oncology floor. Add in the Oncology office for lab and the infusion clinic...what a way to start a vacation. We're just getting settled in. Unfortunately, I left for a few minutes to change my clothes and Dave got up by himself and fell... he just has an abrasion, but he pulled out his IV. He got 2 antibiotics in the ER. They think he may have pneumonia. We may know more tomorrow. He's been a little weak and tired all day. Hopefully we'll get some sleep. nite-nite

DAMN

Well, we gave it our best try. About 9:00 I went to wake Dave up, for his meds and he felt hot. Temperature time.....101 degrees. Trip to the ER..... WBCs down from this am, 1.5 to 1.1. MD says 2 choices= admit here and see infectious disease in the am or Vancomycin and cefoxitin (or something like that) here and go home to continue at home. Sadly, no NY,NY. We decided we should go home. Dave's okay with it. I'm disappointed for him, but they'll be another time for Chick. Hope to get a few hours sleep.

The first leg

Pictures: Dave ready to go; Erik taking the back seat first; Erik driving in Ohio.

Dave and I got to the clinic for lab about 9 am. Dave coughed up blood a few more times and by 8 am had a bloody nose again. Hemoglobin is 9.7, platelets 13,000. MD decided to give him another unit of platelets since we were heading out today. Infusion clinic here we come. Got there by 10:00 am and left about 11:50. Dave was pretty weak this morning. BP still 90's / 60's. Erik and Al were there when we got home. Mom was getting settled in to watch the dogs and cat while we're gone. I finished packing, wrote a quick note on the blog and we were on the road about 1 pm. Stopped by Best Buy to get a cable for the iPod and off we go. The cable was messed up, stopped at Battle Creek Best Buy to exchange it and now we have CDs and iPods to listen to. I drove to about 50 miles before Cleveland and then Erik finished up the first leg. Dave's in bed...exhausted. Tomorrow we go to Secaucus, NJ. Stay tuned.

Let's revisit Sunday

Pictures: Mother's day 2010 at Fitzgerald's in Sawyer; Dave, Mark, Phil, Al, Jean, Loni, Bob, Ev, Elisa, Lee.

Sunday started out pretty rough. Dave coughed up blood several times during the night. Small amounts with clots. In the morning we talked about cancelling out of the Mother's day lunch, but we were in charge of getting Ev and Elisa there. Okay it really wasn't early "morning", it was more like 10:45 and we didn't decide until 11:00 and it would have been too late to call anyone. Dave got in the shower about 10:50.....that wasn't good. It just took too much out of him. Back to bed and his BP was 98/60...low for him. It took us until 11:35 to get out the door. I couldn't leave him home alone. We'd take the moms and if he felt really bad we'd just leave. By the time we got there he was have a second wind. He came in and ate some soup, visited, and went back in the car until we left. No bleeding all day though. Late afternoon he came out to the garage to boss Tim, Joni and me around. We filled the dumpster so they could pick it up Monday morning. Yeah!