Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Week 9 of chemo...

Hi everyone!

Just a quick update from today before I put 2 tired children and 1 exhausted Mommy to bed!

Mike had week 9 of chemo today. The Drs. wanted to give him both meds again, which I expected them to do. We have discussed things and have decided that we should keep these last 2 weeks of the induction phase the way they were planned and then talk about possibly changing the dose of the one drug and/or it's schedule after his scans and spinal tap on 1/13/08. His blood levels were not too hot, WBCs were 3.8, HGB was 9.4, Platelets were good (knock on wood!) at 268 and the ANCs were down to 1.3. They said that I am cautious enough to not schedule an appt on Friday but if I think he is acting worse or doesn't feel good or look good to call them first thing in the AM and get him in for blood work. I am just hoping that he is feeling well enough to really enjoy Christmas on Thursday! He is really starting to get it and I would hate for him to not feel good for it.

One of my BFFs, C, met us at MSKCC today. She was all cute and preggo glowing. She is K's Godmother and she's been my BFF for close to 30 years so there's really not much we don't do together... I don't think we ever thought chemo day for my kid would be something we did but she is amazing and there for me every step of the way. Even though she doesn't think she knows what to say or do, she always manages to say something to make me feel a little better. Another very good friend of mine, J, met us there too! She was able to leave her little guy at home with her parents and took the train into Manhattan to spend some time with me and the kids. It was so nice of both of them to do that. There is so much to do at this time of year that I really appreciate that they both spent one of their few days off this week with us at MSKCC. My dad was great and took Katie for a walk and to hang out while I was talking to the girls. Katie loved her one-on-one Grandpa time and I was happy to catch up with 2 friends that I don't see often enough at all!! And when I got home I was talking to my other BFF, J (Mike's Godfather), and he was asking when he could come back to chemo day with us. Mike and I are so absolutely blessed by the support system we have.

On top of chemo day, it was the Christmas party at Sloan today! I hadn't known that when I switched chemo to Tuesday this week but I was glad I had switched it when I heard! It was great, the toy soldiers from FAO Schwartz were there to open the party and Santa himself came! I was so thrilled that Santa came b/c Mike has been neutropenic or borderline neutropenic since right after Thanksgiving so I hadn't been able to take him to meet Santa this year. Katie was so thrilled to get to tell the big guy that she wanted the Nintendo DS in person instead of in a letter! LOL Mike even got on his lap and talked to him! I was shocked! I expected him to scream but he was GREAT!! :) They got amazing gift bags too!! There was singing, laughing, eating, playing, presents, and just an unbelievable amout of joy for such a hard place to be. I swear, every time I walk into that place those kids amaze me. They are just so strong and so wonderful. They all deserve the best Christmas (or whatever holiday they celebrate) every year for many, many, many years to come.

Well, that's it for now. I am so exhausted after these past few days I can't even see straight. I am going to give Mike his anti-nausea meds and get him to bed, spend some one-on-one time with Katie for a little while and then head to bed myself. I hope that you are all doing well.

Thank you so much for your prayers and good thoughts! Please keep them coming!


Love to you all,

~~Chrissie

0 comments: