Blood Transfusion Today

Today George is here at UCLA for day 1 of Chemo cycle #3. We just found out his Red Blood Cell count is low so in order to get the Chemo he must first receive a Blood transfusion. This is just a bump in the road,however, one George was hoping to avoid.
He has been very tired this past week,so now we know why. He will still receive Chemo so we can stay on track with treatments.
Hoping that after they give him the pre-medications he will be able to nap a bit during the infusion.
I'll keep you posted on how it all goes.
~Donna

Better Week

George has now completed four cycles of the new Chemo regiment. This last Monday he just barely made counts to get the chemo, so we are grateful that he received the Neulasta injection last Tuesday. I don't think I had shared that the original plan to take daily Neupogen injections was put on hold due to the very large co-payment the injections would cost. Neupogen is one of the those drugs that when given inpatient it's covered 100%, but given at home it is very costly. The Neulasta is given in the infusion center so it is covered, but it can only be given when you have at least 14 days before the next dose of Chemo and it takes about three days before it "kicks in".  It is basically like a long acting Neupogen that increases the Neutrophil (white blood cell) counts.

Having two weeks of back-to-back chemo has been hard, but these past few days George is feeling a little stronger and now looks forward to this "off week", with NO chemo!  Additionally, he's now taking natural products, Green Smoothie's, and other supplements.  Thank you to Hazel, who has been bringing smoothie's to our door every morning, as well as, coconut's, and other healthful "alternatives."
A special thanks to Pastor Dan Fetters, for arranging a meeting with all of the Elders at our church, who prayed over us this past Wednesday evening...

We celebrate our 14th Wedding Anniversary this coming Tuesday. This year, we look at our marriage, our family, and our friendships, through a whole different perspective of love, appreciation, and gratitude.
~Donna

A Rough Week

So the Stent placement didn't go as smoothly as we had hoped. Last Monday was the longest day. We were one of the first patients to arrive at the procedure unit at UCLA, and the very last to be discharged Monday night. We even heard one of the nurses say to another "Are they still here?" Believe me, we were glad to get back on the 405 and get back home. The procedue was more painful going through the Liver route, with a needle, then the surgeon had led on it would be. George was awake for the entire 45 minute procedure and one of the nurses forgot to give him a second dose of a pain med. George had discomfort for several days and is still sore at the site. On Wednesday, he started having symptoms that were indicating the Stent may have been plugged. We rushed off to our local urgent care to get labs, and then waited for the decision from the UCLA Doctors. It was decided to go ahead and plan to have the procedure re-done to open up the Stent, if needed. Friday we headed back, after all the approvals were obtained, and had the blood work repeated. George's symptoms had gone away and we very prayerful that the Lab's would show that the procedure was not needed. Finally, at 2:30, it was confirmed that everything looked good, and the Stent was working. George was on a gurney, wearing a gown, IV's in his arm and ready for surgery when they said we could go home. What a roller coast we were on...

we have been taking it easy this weekend, and George is resting and eating as much as he can.


Monday will be cycle 3 of the new Chemo. George is glad to be moving on getting a full dose of the Chemo, but it wasn't much of a "week off" for him.



Our prayer is that his blood counts stay high so he will have no delays in the Chemo cycle's.

~Donna

Friday Update

We are down at UCLA again today to have lab work done, and see the Doctor that placed the Stent. We won't get the Lab results back until about 1:30 PM so I'll update then.

~Donna