Blood test results

Ok...today is Wednesday. Monday Dave had his lab work done. (blood drawn to test everything) Tuesday we went to see Dr. Kahn (the cancer doc "coach"). Got results of all the blood work. Creatinine level is hanging on at 1.5....."coach" wants it lower. White cell - low, red cell - low and plattlets (sp?) low. All are starting to drop. All what "coach" was expecting. Still not critically low, but within the next three weeks it will be dipping even lower. Must say here that Dave is still feeling good....played another 9 holes of golf today since temperature was close to 50. He is now getting more tired than usual. Will tutor about 3 students tonight and when he gets home he will be tired and ready for bed right away. All of this is expected as the white counts drop.
Coach said he could not "feel" any lymph nodes. Guess that is good...but most of them you cannot feel anyway....just the the neck and under the arms that he is sure there is nothing there. He said now we have to watch for Fever, bleeding and/or bruising on the skin for no apparant reason. Scary some of the stuff he said about bleeding...so I won't even write it down, but needlesstosay, we will be watching closely for any problems in that area. Next appointment will be next week for more lab work...but won't see "coach" as long as all is going well for the next three weeks.
Next stop was to see Dr. Meyer (we really love this guy!! He is sooooooooooo laid back and fun). Dr. Meyer had just gotten back from Boyne Mountain in Michigan where he had his two children (little ones...one in first grade) on the mountain getting ski lessons! So cool. Dave really teases him and talks to him a lot about his life...not Daves!! They have a great rapport. His report was that Dave had to stay on the lung meds (even though Dave told him he wanted to getoff them!) -- Doc said, "good try" but probably will be on them for a few more months and he would know more in a month or so, after the ct scan that the "coach" will be ordering at that time.
Says it takes longer to kill this Myobacterium Xenopia while on cancer treatments...as the body isn't trying to kill the infection because the immune system is not working properly. So..may be a few more months on these meds. He said the blood work says the liver is doing okay. Said he might want to go have his eyes checked again to see if they are holding steady. End of that visit! He did say that the heart beat seemed to be pretty normal. So the irregular heart beat seems to be getting better! hurrah for that! Dr. Kahn's nurse said the same thing. The Rituxan must have been the culprit! Damn stuff.
So..... This is the critical time coming up by next Tuesday. Scares me to death, but I just try to stay in the moment and be grateful when I look at him and he is still near me. He and Scruffy cleaned up all the branches in the yard today...they had a great time and ended up sitting on the swing that Stacey bought for us for one of our anniversaries, (great gift Stacey..thanks again!) for a nice long "quiet conversation" time together. Scruffy is a dear little lovable, loyal companion. We both tell Scruffy a lot about how we feel and ask him not to "talk"..and so far he hasn't said a word! Can't think of a safer companion to share my feelings with!

So..another day...another blessing and another day of loving each other. Oh yes, on March 4th...Dave will turn 67! We will celebrate! God is good.

Enjoy each day as it comes

It has been months since I have taken the time to try to write something in my blog or even enjoy others blogs. I have wanted to, but just haven't been motivated or felt very creative. I still don't feel very creative, but have a thought I want to record.

Since Dave's relapse in November when the cancer came back, it seems time has just marched on even thought I want to try to slow it down and hang on to every day. I always thought that if I knew I was actually dying....I would live each day differently as if it were my last and I would do something special every day. Well, I have come to realize that in fact, I am actually getting closer to my death every day even though I have no terminal illness that I know of. Actually, we all are getting closer to our death every day because everyone is terminal....we all have an "expiration date" -- even if we don't know when it is. But going through this illness with Dave and watching him suffer through treatments, fatigue, worry of dying and days of just not feeling good has made me realize a few things.
There is nothing "special" that we have to do each day, we just have to be aware and ever so grateful for each and every day. The special thing we try to do is just to enjoy each day as it comes and enjoy our normal work, play and pray pattern. Try to be nice to everyone and have a happy outlook even when it is raining - inside or out. I wouldn't want to be galavanting all over the world anyway - we have enough to enjoy each day just as it comes.

Dave loves his tutoring and golfing and working on the computer. I am enjoying normal every day routine things that it takes to keep a home working, plus my golf and painting and scripture study. We are thankful that St.Joseph's College has a good basketball schedule and we have gone to many games there this year and just enjoy the game, the band, the hot dogs and being together (with Scruffy waiting in the car for his periodic walks!). That is a day to be thankful for.

Recently Dave decided (on Friday night!) that we should leave on Saturday for a trip to Myrtle Beach to visit our friends Sandy and Mike. They had planned on us coming in March, but the return of the cancer and more treatments in January those plans were cancelled. Not sure how he will be feeling in March....but knew he was feeling good for a few weeks...so OFF we went!! Called them and they were thrilled we were coming! It was a wonderful trip. Had fun with our picnic's in the car...walking Scruffy at every stop (whether we wanted to or not!) the fast food stops and a lovely evening in a hotel on the way. It was a great visit with Sandy and Mike..had several dinner guests with old friends we had met in Dayton Beach. Went to a couple of shows and just sat around visiting and walking our dogs. Dave got to play golf while Sandee and I went shopping and visited. We realized how may friends we have and how grateful we are for each and every one of them. We truly enjoyed...each day.

Since we were in South Carolina, we checked out the map and realized we could go see our daughter and her family in Georgia in about a 6 hour trip. Not exactly on our way home, but what the heck...we are retired and have time time and want to see them! Dave had to be home for tutoring, but we had the weekend to travel, so off we went to Georgia. Met up with the family at their home and then all went out to eat at a geat spot! Good food and a midway for the kids to go play games. It was so good to see them all. We were so grateful for the day ....just to be able to see Stacey, Justin, Jerra, (who is growing up WAY too fast and Joey - her friend), Joshua (getting really tall and who has extremely l-o-n-g hair!) and Jacob (a love). We enjoyed the trip there and enjoyed being with them all even for just a little while.
Next morning I got to go feed the goats! They are so cool....and pretty too. One goat is about to have a baby....won't that be something? The ducks were swimming in their "natural" God-made pond (thanks to all the rain!) and the dogs were running around having a good time. Except Scout and Bear...who have to be corraled due to their behavior! Bob has two little friends now that are darling and Sheila (the new little dog) is precious as can be. We surely enjoyed the short visit and are grateful we were able to stop by and see the possee and the farm! Hated to take Stacey and Justin's bedroom.....I don't like to do that...but it was a quick night and then after a yummy breakfast made by Stacey...we headed home. Just enjoying the moment. We felt blessed to see them all. And grateful for such a wonderful family.

This week has flown by. Dave is still feeling good. WE are praying the treatment of Zevalin is working and killing all the cancer tumors and any new cancer cells that might be in the area. We trust our creator to watch over us and bless us each day. Our "expiration" dates are unknown to us, but we are fully aware that they are a reality and so....we just are grateful every day and especially happy when we have the opportunity to feel good and visit dear friends and precious family. Life is good. We always kiss goodnight with gratitude.