Sat,
05 Jun 2004
Road
Trip
Howdy
everybody. This mass email is very delayed in being
sent since we just got back from a quick road trip
down south. I was hoping to send one before we left
but didn't get a chance and life was crazy once we
returned home.......so it's late and I'm sorry.
Jade had a CBC blood work done on Thursday the 27th
and again on Tuesday the 1st. His counts were low
on Thursday but not as "bottomed out" as
he was a year ago with chemo. By Tuesday they were
climbing up again which was encouraging. For example,
his white count on Thursday was like 2.2 and back
up to 3.5 where last year he would bottom out at 0.5
after chemo. Everything (red count, hermaticrit, white
count, platelettes, etc.....) was all similar: low
but not bottom of the barrel.
With this encouraging news, we decided to go on a
road trip for a couple days. We left our house on
Tuesday about noon and got back Thursday about noon.
We stayed in Boulder, outside of Bryce Natl Park the
first night then rode the Burr Trail to Lake Powell
and had lunch at the public school playground by Bullfrog.
We drove through Capitol Reef Natl Park to Torrey
and stayed there Weds night. Thursday we meandered
our way back home. It was nice to getaway and have
some time as a family out making memories.
We have some unscientific but encouraging news with
the chemo. The tumors had become so large and uncomfortable,
Jade has only been able to sleep on his back since
it's too painful to sleep on either side. If Jade
would try to "suck in" his stomach or "push
out" his stomach using his abdominal muscles,
he would attempt to do so until it hurt but looking
at his abdomen, there would be no change. (Hope that
explanation makes sense.......) The tumors were so
large and instrusive his abdominal muscles couldn't
move them or anything in his stomach area. This past
week he has been sleeping on his side without any
pain and he can "suck in" his gut and you
can really see his stomach lift up. It would certainly
seem the tumors responded to the chemo. Jade will
have a CT scan about the 21st of June after this next
round of chemo so we'll see what the film shows, but
we were encouraged with our unscientific tests. Tumors
can become chemo resistant but for now, I'm encouraged.
We thought Jade might keep some of his hair but Weds
and Thurs of this week it started to come out. Friday
he pulled some of it out by hand then got the clippers
and went to work on it. I came and finished buzzing
off what he missed then he got his head wet and we
lathered it up and I razor-shaved it. It's good to
have some positive hope with the tumors seemingly
smaller since it's rather demoralizing to see a tub
filled with hair. While Jade is bald & beardless
now he doesn't look "sick" since he still
has his eyebrows and eyelashes. That remaining facial
hair does a lot to add definition to your face and
features. We also realized last year how important
eyelashes, eyebrows and nose hairs are - - - - don't
know how much they help till they're gone.
We start back into chemo this week. We were going
to be able to do it from home but didn't get enough
of the "Powers That Be" to approve it in
time so that'll probably happen for Chemo Round #3
at the end of June/first of July. So, this time he'll
still be going into the clinic and we'll do the fluids/mesna
from home. We'll let you know how he does.
Thought I'd include a couple pics from our trip. The
first is Garrett and I at a park and the second is
Garrett and Jade in Torrey. It was a lot of fun. With
Memorial Day having just passed, I wanted to thank
all of you that served or serve in our military. Jade
and I have a lot of family, friends and neighbors
who are in the military and we are so grateful for
your devotion to our country. We enjoyed watching
the dedication of the WWII Memorial in DC and a couple
other programs and concerts on PBS this wknd. How
lucky we are to live in America and have such incredible
freedoms and liberties. Thank you to all of you who
help make this possible.
Have a great wknd and we'll keep you posted with how
next week goes. Take care...................
Love.......................Tanya and co.
