One More Day

Jeff started Round 2 of chemotherapy on Friday, and with the treatment being only 5 days this time, we're almost done. The "Day Hospital" was able to accommodate him, so we were lucky that he didn't have to be re-admitted. He seems to be feeling okay, and has thus far avoided the dreaded fever. His hair is starting to fall out, and he continues to show me the little chunks that he can't help but pull out of his head. We'll probably go ahead and shave the rest off tomorrow.

Incidentally, it's come to my attention that I have lots of new readers. I guess when I'm actually writing about something, as opposed to the usual minutiae that fills my pages, people are bound to be interested. Anyway, thanks for caring and feel free to leave me a comment, if only to let me know who you are and how you know Jeff. If you want to e-mail Jeff directly, he can be reached at jeckert@alltel.net.

More Chemo

Jeff's biopsy showed that he needs more chemo right away. They'll be switching the drugs and giving it over 5 days. We're still waiting to hear from the hospital about whether or not he'll need to be admitted. There is a possibility that this can be done at Day Hospital. In any case, things should start tomorrow sometime. The 5 days of chemo, of course, will be followed by 2-3 weeks recovery time. Hopefully, this time the chemo will do its job and empty the marrow of all the cancer. If it does, he'll be given growth factor to stimulate new cell growth. If things go right, the new blood that comes back will be leukemia-free. At that point, we would probably be able to come home for a few weeks, before the next round of treatment starts.

Apparently, there is no quick road to recovery when it comes to AML. The doctor estimates, that if things go okay, Jeff will need to be off work for 9 - 12 months.

Life is still feeling like a nightmare that we aren't waking up from, but I guess we get a little more used to things everyday. The help we're getting from our families, neighbors, friends and co-workers is actually a little overwhelming. I know that we are lucky to be surrounded by such a loving community.

Jeff is an amazing patient. He has kept his sense of humor, and yesterday, we laughed until we cried about how it feels to get tape ripped from a certain body part that I won't mention here. Let me tell you that the look on his face when they took off that tape was priceless. Because Hershey is a teaching hospital, he also has been paraded by countless interns, residents and attending physicians. Yesterday, his bone marrow was taken by a resident performing the procedure for the second time, and as the attending physician told the resident, "This isn't neurosurgery, it's more like woodshop." Basically, they shove (and I mean shove) a sharp needle into your hip bone and extract the marrow...although they numb the area quite well, you still feel the pressure and sometimes a sharp pain where the anesthesia hasn't reached.

The baby still has room to move and is proving to be a little bit feisty. There is nothing like a swift kick to the ribs to put a smile on your face when life is tough....

Discharged

Jeff was discharged yesterday afternoon. We'll be going to "Day Hospital" every other day for blood work and transfusions. Somewhere around the middle of this week, they will perform another bone marrow biopsy - this will help determine which treatment he receives next. We have been told that in all likelihood, he will need to have a bone marrow transplant.

I am 28 weeks pregnant and the baby moves around all the time, although it's really hard to be excited about the baby right now.

Chemo Day 7

Jeff will start his 7th day of treatment this evening and finish up sometime tomorrow. As long as he as has no sign of infection, he'll be discharged on Thursday. We'll be staying at Jill's for a while, as Jeff needs to be close to the hospital. He'll be getting more transfusions and lots of tests for the next couple of weeks. For the next 3 weeks, Jeff will be extremely immuno-suppressed and it's more likely than not, that he will need to be re-admitted to the hospital because of infection.

Jeff

Instead of starting in October, I’m going to start our story a couple of months back. I suppose getting all this out will help me deal, and I think that it’s a good idea to have everything written before it becomes fuzzy in my mind. Right now, my memory is very fresh and feelings are still strong and painful, so if I sound emotional, it’s because I am.

The first week in August, Jeff told me that he thought his testicle was a bit swollen…he said to me, “What if it’s cancer??” I said, “Oh, Jeff, it’s not cancer…there’s probably fifty reasons why your testicle could be swollen, and besides, you don’t get your wife pregnant in April and then get testicular cancer in August.” However, I did suggest that he go to the doctor the next day, which he did. Dr. Sorg diagnosed him with epididymitis and gave him some antibiotics. The meds seemed to work, as most of the pain and swelling went away. A second visit to the doctor confirmed that the testicle was still a bit swollen, so he was put on another round of the same antibiotic. Because the swelling with this particular infection sometimes takes a while to subside, nobody was too concerned.

After almost two months, the testicle was still a bit hard and enlarged. Dr. Sorg sent Jeff for an ultrasound and made him an appointment with Dr. Rudick, the urologist in St. Marys. The first week in October, Jeff had the ultrasound and went to his appointment. I got out of a meeting on October 5^th and called Jeff to make sure that everything turned out okay. As soon as Jeff answered the phone, I knew something was wrong. Dr. Rudick had told him that his ultrasound was not normal and that there were masses on both of his testicles. He also told him that Jeff and I should come back to see him the next day, so that he could go over our options. I went immediately home, courtesy of a ride from one of my co-workers. Jeff and I stayed cuddled together on the couch worrying for a couple of hours and then tried to calm down about things. I cannot ever remember feeling so completely helpless and anxious (even when Mom was dying).

It was around now that Jeff started getting some stomach aches, which I attributed to nerves. We know a little better now, but the timing of this whole story is really unbelievable…but we’ll get to that. Anyway, the next day, Dr. Rudick told us that Jeff probably had testicular cancer, and that he would need to remove one or both of his testicles. He went on about how this type of cancer is very curable, and that with the help of hormones, Jeff would eventually feel completely normal. He also suggested sperm banking and told us he didn’t mind if we got a second opinion (like we would care if he minded!).

Thanks to Jeff’s sister, we immediately arranged an appointment (October 8) with a urologist in Hershey that specializes in oncology. Dr. Reese examined Jeff, took a look at the ultrasound and came to the same conclusion that Dr. Rudick had. He scheduled Jeff’s surgery for the next day. We went back to Jill’s and worried some more. Jeff’s belly continued to hurt and he spent the night vomiting. I again, attributed it to nerves, but like I said…we now know it was something else.

Before Tuesday’s surgery, we got news that a CT scan showed that the cancer had spread to Jeff’s abdominal lymph nodes and that there was an early mass in his bowels. However, there was still no connection made between Jeff’s nausea/diarrhea and the tumor.

Dr. Reese operated on Jeff, taking a biopsy of Jeff’s left testicle and removing it because it was overtaken by tumor. Because initial reports were inconclusive, he left the other testicle alone. So, instead of having all the answers after surgery, we just had more questions. Dr. Reese thought we were probably looking at some sort of lymphoma. This of course, worried us more and we spent the next few days recovering at Jill’s. Jeff’s stomachache seemed to subside, but he was highly medicated and not eating much. By Friday the 12th, we still didn’t have the pathology report and were ready to head home for the weekend.

It felt so good to be in our own house with Hallie and Chance. I think they were pretty happy to see us, too. I spent Saturday running errands around town, and I even got into work for a few hours. Our very helpful neighbors cooked us dinner and Jeff was finally hungry enough to eat. We watched a few movies and I went to bed around 10. Sometime in the early morning, Jeff came back to the bedroom complaining of stomach pains. He had the diarrhea again, and around 6 am he started with the vomiting again. I was beginning to wonder if the tumor was causing some sort of blockage. I called Jill, and she agreed that we should take him to the hospital.

We got to the hospital around 8:30 am, and they managed to give Jeff enough drugs to help him sleep for a while. Because I warned them of the mass in his bowel, they did another CT scan. Dr. Patel confirmed my suspicions about the obstruction, and decided that Jeff needed to be transferred back to Hershey Medical Center, where he could be attended to by specialists.

The ride to Hershey in an ambulance was a nightmare that I won’t discuss. I just hope that nobody reading this has to ever go through something like it.

We arrived in Hershey and by about 3 am Monday morning, Jeff was finally feeling better. His system was free of food, and they continued to hydrate him through his IV. Early Tuesday evening, after more blood tests and a bone marrow aspiration, we finally had the answer we’d been waiting for…Jeff does not have testicular cancer or a lymphoma. He has acute myelogenous leukemia. Dr. Claxton, a hematological oncologist, decided that Jeff would start treatments on Wednesday evening.

On Wednesday morning, Jeff was given a tunnel catheter, which is a central line that feeds his vena cava (a big vein down the right side of the body). This allows him to be fed and hydrated, medicated, and gives the medical personnel access to his blood. Chemotherapy treatments started around 11 PM on Wednesday night. For the first day or so, Jeff felt pretty well, but on Friday he started to feel nauseous and had more stomach pain. According to the doc, when a tumor melts, it often causes the patient some pain. They’ve now given Jeff a morphine drip that has a convenient button…this way, he can control when he receives the medication.

Today is Saturday, October 20, 2007, and as I write this, I’m watching Jeff sleep away some of the day. Luckily, the combination of morphine and nausea meds gives him the ability to sleep. Tonight, Jeff will have his 4^th treatment. After the initial 7 days are over, we may or may not have a couple more days in the hospital. In either case, we’re going to be in Hershey for quite a while, as Jeff will most likely need to see the doctors several times a week for follow-up tests, chemo, and other treatments. We’ll have to be very careful to avoid infection, as Jeff’s immune system will be severely suppressed.

I’m sure I’ve left out tons of details, but I’ll get to them eventually. There are still lots of unknowns that will depend on how things go from here. Hopefully, our luck will start to turn around and we’ll get some good news soon.

Las Vegas

Go, go, go, and then slow, slow, slow. Mark coined a new word on our trip to Vegas, and I think it's the most perfectly fitting word in the English language. Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but if you know my Dad, I think you'll understand. So, everyone's heard of the word, "lollygag." Well, Walter takes lollygagging to a whole new level. So, what's our new word? "Wallygag", of course. We experienced a ton of Wallygagging while in Vegas, but it was all worth it. As I've said before, Dad stops to smell the roses (and the buffets). Anyway, back to the trip....

The first day involved lots of travel, but it was only about 10 am when we got to Vegas. We were checked into the Hilton and eating their buffet by 11:15...which was a good thing, because the baby was hungry! We spent the next couple of hours at the Hilton, and then made our way to the South end of the Strip where we hung out at the new Hooter's Casino until it was time to see the comedy club at the Tropicana. The baby got hungry again at Hooter's, so Jeff and I had some wings and fries. Nobody else was even a little bit hungry, so I guess I'm in the 'hungry as a horse' stage of pregnancy. The comedy show was hilarious, and I about peed my pants laughing. But, by time the show was over I was very tired and got pretty cranky. Luckily, everyone just made of fun of me, and then took me home. Being up for 24 hours straight while you are pregnant is NOT a good thing.

Day 2 was spent exploring more casinos, shopping, lounging at the pool and eating. I got some clearance items at Gap Maternity, which were an excellent buy. I LOVE the jeans. We also got a good deal at Ellis Island, where we all had a steak dinner for $4.95. They don't call my Dad frugal for nothing. [I just think that's a sentence that requires using a double negative.]

We decided to rent a car (a very cool Dodge Caravan) on Monday and traveled the outskirts of Vegas visiting Mount Charleston and Red Rock Canyon. The boys brought their cooler along, and I drove. We saw some interesting landscapes and cooled down a bit while up on the mountain. Did I mention it was about 105 degrees Fahrenheit every day we were there? That's about 10 degrees hotter than normal. Anyway, we finished off Day 3 with an awesome Cirque Du Solei show at the Mirage. It was called "Love," and based on the Beatles lives and music.

Our last full day in Vegas was my favorite. Nicole and I spoiled ourselves at the Spa. We both had 50 minute massages accompanied by a body treatment. Nicole had the seaweed mud treatment, while I had the body scrub. My massage was performed by a sexy European named Stoyan. I'm a lucky girl! After the massage we cleaned up and met the boys on the strip. All of us then ventured over to Planet Hollywood for an excellent buffet, which includes crab legs split down the middle. There is nothing better than crab meat that you don't have to work for! After dinner we made our way down to Fremont Street so Mark and Tony could see old Vegas. As usual, I got really tired before everyone else, so Jeff took me back to the Hilton, where we got one more good night of sleep before coming home.

Trips are fun, but I love coming back home to Hallie and Chance. Did I mention I cried for about two hours after dropping them off at the kennel before we left? I don't know if I'll ever do that again....

August

It's pretty sad when I have to write about a whole month all at once, but I'll give it a try.

Pregnancy first...I had my 20 week ultrasound at the hospital today, and the technician spent about 45 minutes taking pictures and measurements of all sorts of things. We looked at the head, eyes, nose, heart, bladder, stomach, legs, arms, feet, hands....you get the picture. To summarize the findings, all things are measuring up just fine, the baby weighs about 13 ounces, the heart was beating at 154 beats/minute and they've moved my due date to January 11th. This means that by Friday, I'll be 21 weeks pregnant. At my last regular doctor's appointment, we listened to the heartbeat, which was very cool. Oh - and I've gained about 6 pounds, but my belly has popped and I've been hungry as a horse (Clay - I think) for the past week.

On a lighter note, it seems that the baby is a bit sassy (who would've thought?). The whole time the technician was working, the baby was busy kicking the probe. I could feel this, and so could the technician, who kept giggling about it. I was just thinking, "Oh great, this baby is not going to be the content napper that Jeffy was." Enough about Baby Einstein...

The Booger has gone back to school and just like her boss told her she would at the beginning of her PennDot job, she has switched her major to Civil Engineering. Go Danielle!! She also has moved into a great apartment with two very nice and pretty roommates. What a great combination that makes!

Walter is busy enjoying his retirement. He built a car port/boat port/woodshed for less than $8.00. Yes, folks, that's eight bucks. That's my Dad. He also fishes almost every day, but never fails to call both Rich and me to tell us about his day, his investments, Oz, Brady, and a multitude of other things.

Summer is coming to an end, but as I have mentioned, we're leaving for Las Vegas on Saturday. I'm so excited to lounge by the pool, read some good books and eat yummy food. These buffets are going to come at the perfect time. I may actually get my money's worth!

More later...