Hello family and friends. Tonight's update is pretty uneventful, and we are so very happy about that! Jim had a peaceful night of sleep, and a busy day to follow. He went to Troy Beaumont for his chemo this morning. His platelets were low, so he needed to be transfused, we expected that to be the case today. Jim and Kevin spent approx. 6 hours at Beaumont waiting for the chemo and platelets. His blood counts are basically where they were yesterday, slight changes here and there. He is still at a neutropenic level, so we have to be careful about his food and visitors. When they finally returned home, Jim spent the rest of the day just hanging out at home with the family. He enjoyed a wonderful pork chop dinner with all the fixings thanks to Darcy Mackenzie, great job!
The next blood sample is scheduled to arrive at U of M tomorrow for further testing for the bone marrow match. We pray to the Lord above that this sample, or one very soon, matches our dear Jim. We will not know any results until some time next week. For now, we are so thankful that Jim is home. He is actually feeling pretty good, and for that we are so grateful! Let's just keep praying for the match, and for Jim's complete return to health in the near future. Thank you Lord, and all of you!
Tuesday, August 13th
Dear Family and Friends,
Jim had another restful night, and busy day to follow. He arrived at Troy Beaumont for his scheduled chemo at 9:00 am., he had no idea he would be there until 4:00 pm! Every day that Jim goes for chemo, he also gets his blood drawn to check his counts. Today they had to wait to start the chemo until one particular count, his fibrinogen, came back. If that number falls below 100, the chemo needs to be stopped until the fibrinogen level comes back up. Of course, it was below 100 today. This often happens with the chemo that Jim is currently on. Due to the drop in his fibrinogen, Jim was given a transfusion of a blood product to bring the level back up. Hopefully tomorrow Jim will then be able to receive the chemo again if his fibrinogen is ok. We are headed back to Royal Oak Beaumont tomorrow for an appointment with Jim's oncologist, and hopefully the chemo. It will most likely be another long day of waiting.
Once Jim finally returned home, he spent time with Debbie, Tyler, and Jan. He took a much needed nap, and awoke to a fabulous meal. Jim's sister-in-law Debbie prepared a wonderful dinner of ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, tossed salad, and rolls. She topped the meal off with a scrumptious chocolate, butterscotch, Butterfinger cake! Great job, Debbie, thank you so much! Jim enjoyed the rest of the evening visiting with the family, and watching Tyler play with his cousin Ryan. We pray Jim has a good night of sleep, and that the Lord bless him with His healing touch, thank you.
Sincerely,
The Family
Wednesday, August 14th
Dear Family and Friends,
Another long day for Jim! Just as we expected...he spent the majority of his day at the Royal Oak Beaumont Cancer Center. Thankfully, his fibrinogen did go up, so he was able to receive today's dose of chemo. Unfortunately, some of his other blood counts, such as his liver enzymes, are climbing. Therefore he may not receive his chemo tomorrow. We will have to wait and see once his blood work comes back tomorrow at Troy Beaumont. He has not been feeling the greatest today, most likely because of these counts being abnormal.
Once he got home with Debbie from the treatment, he spent the remainder of the day relaxing. He had a quiet evening with Don, Jan, Debbie, and Tyler. We were once again blessed with wonderful food delivered to us, not only once today, but twice! Debbie's teaching partner Christine Dawson dropped off stuffed green peppers and potatoes. They look REALLY good, and we will enjoy them tomorrow. Dr. Joel Buchanan also brought us over dinner from his wife Carrie. It was an absolutely delicious chicken casserole, we all loved it! Thank you so much to both of you. We truly appreciate your thoughtfulness, and your great cooking!
We spoke to the Bone Marrow Center at U of M today. The sample that was scheduled to arrive yesterday did indeed arrive, thank you Lord! Another sample was supposed to arrive today. We can confirm that tomorrow. Both of these samples will be tested further on an "urgent" basis. We should know something in approx. a week. As always, we need prayers. Please pray that this cancer stays in remission until we can move forward with the transplant. Ultimately, we pray for Jim's complete return to health. Thank you so much to all of you!!!!!
Thursday, August 15th
Dear Family and Friends,
Jim spent the majority of his day at Troy Beaumont, again. He arrived there at 9:00, and did not finish up until close to 5:00. As we expected, he did not receive the chemo today. Most of the time was spent waiting for all of his blood counts to come back from the lab. Once they did come back, the decision was made to hold the chemo. Some of his counts are way too high, while others are way too low. He needed transfusions again today as well, and all of this takes a LONG time to unfold.
Due to the fact that Jim's counts are abnormal, he has not felt the greatest today. But, on the way home from the hospital, he actually wanted to stop for a bite to eat! At this point he is technically not neutropenic, so Jim thought it would be nice to eat out for a change. It has been a very long time since he has been able to do that! He decided on Outback Steakhouse, one of his favorites. Debbie and Jim were joined by Jan, Don, and Tyler. They also ran into two very special friends, Darcy and Mike Mackenzie, who were celebrating their fourth wedding anniversary. These two wonderful people surprised Jim and the gang by covering their dinner bill. Wow! Thank you both so much for this very kind and generous gesture.
Tomorrow we are headed to U of M for an appointment with Dr. Erba. Jim is scheduled to receive chemo, but most likely will not. Please continue to keep Jim in your prayers. May the Lord bless him with a complete return to health. God bless Jim, and all of you wonderful people!