Talked to Dad

I talked to Dad the other day and he said that he is feeling much better. We talked for a good 28 minutes, according to the phone timer. That is a big deal for him. He said that he is working on getting more food down but not much tastes good right now, mostly because of the chemicals. But he said that he is feeling better. While we were talking the big guy needed to use the little boys room and realized for the first time in around a month that he was not tethered to any machines or tubes. He was truly free of the medical end of things and he is trying to rebound using the antibiotics and diet. He is still moving slow and we discussed that it may take him an hour or so to get his room packed up if he were to leave today, but he is not.

I would like to alert the staff of the hospital that he seems to be in possesion of about ten pair of hospital pants and I think he is planning on stealing them, of course after our talk I don't think that they want them anymore, use your imagination. All in all things appear to be swinging upward and if you wanted to call this might be one of the better times to do so. Thanks for reading and keep the comments coming, I read them to him when I call.

Not sure how to post a comment?

Just go below the text portion of the entry and click on the button that says how many comments have been posted i.e. (4 comments). Then scroll to the bottom of the comments and type away. You will have to pick some choices and authenticate as well but hang in there you will get it. JT

Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead!

The tests have been run twice just to make sure and the results are in ... the Leukemia is GONE! That's right folks, Dad has squeaked through in that 30-50% range Dr. Chris initially talked about and the first round of chemo did the trick.

He now gets to spend his remaining two weeks in the hospital getting pumped up with the good stuff (antibiotics) for a change in order to rebuild his immune system so he can be released from his bubble into the rest of the world.

This is the absolute BEST CASE SCENARIO, so it looks like the Polish Gods were smiling down on us all this weekend despite Ohio State and Notre Dame losing in the last seconds of their respective games!

Of course, cancer is cancer, so it looks like he may be coming back for another hospital stay in a month for another round of chemo ... but that will just be to pound it into submission, because this Pollack is in remission!

Dad sounded great on the phone (as you can imagine), but he's still pretty tired. He thanked everyone for all their well-wishes and is looking forward to reentering society as just a Walendrome's patient!

Guest Book

When you guys want to get a message to Dad leave him a new guest book signature and comment. When I talk to him I usually try and log in and read them to him so he knows. Tried to call yesterday and left voice-mail, but the last time that we talked I read them to him and he was surprised to hear how many wrote in and are following. Nice job guys! John

Day 14

It's Jim again ... looks like this blog thing is going to be driven by ghost writers versus the Big Guy himself until he's feeling a bit better. Anyway, here's the most recent update:

Dad had his Day 14 bone marrow biopsy done yesterday at about 2 PM. Everything went well this time and he said he felt "50% better coming out than I did going in." This is just a test, so we'll get the results back (hopefully) by Monday ... remember, this will let us know to what extent the chemo will be capable of wiping out the AML, so keep your fingers crossed.

After several phone calls, I was finally able to speak with Dad's nurse and P.A. about getting a better schedule for his pain meds. They agreed to have someone ask him if he needs them every four hours versus having him initiate the request (otherwise known as begging for his drugs). The degenerative problem they found in his back from the MRI on Sunday will be addressed after the chemotherapy, so no cortisone shot will be administered as earlier reported.

That's it for now ... keep the comments going in this forum. Phone calls into the hospital are subject to Dad's sleeping patterns, which have returned to their pre-AML levels. After taking a brief walk and reading a chapter in his Louis L'amour book, he said he was ready to "do what I do best: sleep."

And yes, you read it right ... he's reading the same Louis L'amour books as good ol' Grandpa Lemon used to dig through. History has a funny way of repeating itself, huh?!

I am not a blogger, nor an IM'er...but I do have a good PA related story to share...about golf.

A few years back I was golfing in a yearly organized outing with work and clients. When golfing, golf stories are told, and I shared one from when I was about 20 years old golfing with My Dad (PA).

We were playing behind a slow foursome, on a short par 4 about 300 yards long, PA had had enough. He couldn't wait any longer for these guys to get off the green, looked at me and said, "watch this, I'm going to put it right between his legs!" Then laid into his drive, ball rolled between a set of legs (know so because one guy lifted his leg as it rolled thru), when they turned to see who was chipping up on them, my Dad yelled, "FOUR!!!!" Had to be there, but it was all in the timing of yelling four after they turned around...what makes this story better?

After I was done telling the story, I walked up to hit my ball. I duffed one a good 20 feet, and sent a hunk of grass and dirt farther than the ball. When I looked down at the hole in the earths crust, there was a ball. The ball had a familiar logo staring up at me...Foseco.

True story, have witness, ball still in my car wedged (no pun) in gear shifter.

See you the 18th PA!

Love, Mike

The Latest

Hey everyone, Jim here again. I just talked to Dad and he's doing okay. He wasn't up to hunting and pecking on his scaled-down keyboard (those sausage links don't move as quick as they used to), so he asked me to sum up our conversation for y'all.

The chemo has started to take its toll a bit more I'm afraid. Of course, we all know he's WH ("without hair") now, but the treatments have caused his mouth and tongue to crack and split, so there's some discomfort there. He also seems a bit more tired than when I visited.

He had an MRI on Sunday for the pain in his right leg. Dr. Chris suspected it wasn't due to the bone marrow biopsy, as we thought, since there was pain coming from several different areas. He's the doctor, and he was right. The pain seems to be generating from yet another disc problem in his back, so it looks like they are going to try a cortisone shot to get the pain under control. No word on that getting done yet.

The timetable for the "Day 14" BMB seems to have been pushed back for unknown reasons. Dad seems to think it's because they want his numbers to stabilize a bit, so we need to get that straightened out.

Last, there is a bit of an issue with the meds he's on. He has requested a meeting with Dr. Chris and his day-time nurse so he can get on a better schedule between the narcotics and non-narcotics, so hopefully this too will get straightened out. There needs to be more regularity with the delivery of the drugs and less asking (from him) to get them. Apparently the "myth" about everything moving slower in the south isn't so far off ...

That's all for now ... please keep the well wishes coming and give him a call when you get a chance.

Another milestone- tadaa! This morning about 3am I was disconnected from all Chemo fluids, I'm free as a bird, in a trapped gilded cage!! My numbers have reached the zero mark, which is their benchmark for acceptability. Now we wait 3 days totally unhooked for my next bone marrow tap. At that time, they determine if in fact my true numbers are at zero, then we start the second half of the series, trying to get my numbers back up to an acceptable range, where I can go out in the world and not catch infections (Priscilla says "and kick ass" ..not "kiss ass," as Amanda mistakenly typed!). I'm feeling very normal, better than I did when I came in. You can tell from the inserted photo that I have a new "do" and it happened exactly when they said it would. Keep you posted, hang on! TFL

Pa's version

Thanks to Priscilla , for getting me my own netbook , and of course to Zimmy, for showing me what the hell to do with it! My intent is to keep y'all updated on the latest day by day (and mostly boring stat's) whilst I'm here at Shands. Today my big thrill was getting a FULL BODY maqssage. Have been having some problems with my right rear tigh and leg, following a bone marrow tap in that area. So far so good hope that it lasts.

Getting Things Started

Ok, so I'll officially check in as Dad's first "ghost writer" ... this is Jim, his youngest son (and favorite - sorry John and Mike, but the truth has to come out sometime). But I digress ...

Dad checked into Shands Hospital at the University of Florida on Friday, August 28th after being diagnosed with AML. You can check out all the websites on the right for the specifics, but it's basically a form of Leukemia which requires intensive chemotherapy for an extended amount of time. Initially, they say he'll be here for at least a month.

Here's what Dr. Cogle (AKA "Dr. Chris") relayed to us when I got here on Wednesday (9/1):

• Dad will be getting a round-the-clock, 7-day chemo treatment to treat the disease. For the first three days, he was "treated" to a double bag of goodies, but for now he's only hooked up to one IV bag of rat poison.
• Dr. Chris said he's got about a 30-50% chance of the first round of chemo wiping out the AML.
• At the 14-day mark from his original Bone Marrow Biopsy (which was taken on Wed, 8/26), they will conduct another BMB. This, combined with a different test taken two weeks after the start of the chemo (which started when he checked in), will let us know if the Leukemia will respond to the chemo or not.
• Based on the gene abnormailities that present themselves in the above tests, he may need additional chemo treatments. If the "bad" type of gene abnormailites are detected, then the chemo wouldn't be capable of doing the trick. In that case, he could be sent shopping for a Bone Marrow Transplant (AKA Stem Cell Transplant).

Despite this most recent set-back, Dad's spirits are pretty good. I have to hand to the Big Fella, he has handled this like a champ so far. Of course, all the nurses and doctors have already told him the worse is yet to come! But, for now, he still has a full head of hair and is able to get around pretty good. A slip-up during the BMB last week has left his butt and right leg in a great deal of pain, but he'll manage .... somehow!

Calls are great, but as the treatment wears on, I suspect he's going to need his rest more and more. With all the poking and proding they do in here, sleep is a valuable commodity. I set this up so he can let us all know what's going on. Please check in and leave comments for him to read ... there isn't much to do in sunny FLA when you're trapped in a 10x10 hospital room.

If you can manage a visit, please do. Priscilla could use a break from the hospital setting and Dad really enjoys the company. Don't forget to bring some sort of OSU paraphernailia, since everywhere we turn there is yet another reminder of those hated Florida Gators!