Bye Bye, Marie!

We found out this week, that Marie Callender's has just closed their restaurant on South Broadway near us. Big disappointment. Huge. :-( Their tasty hot comfort food has sustained us through many a cold winter evening.

Company!

Our good friend Sher arrived today for a short visit!

Home at last

Welcome home, Kristan! The garage stairs were easily navigated this first time: I carried her up, piggy-back! :-) Probably can't do that every time, but it worked fine, once.

Coming home

Kristan's coming home today! I get to pick her up after dialysis tonight, and bring her home.

Snow snow snow

The snow's really coming down, forecast is maybe eight inches tonight. Silly me: I quickly shoveled the two inches of accumulating snow off the driveway and Mandy's spot on the grass. Took Mandy out for a quick pee. Gathered up the mail. Jumped in the car to go visit K at Cherrelyn. And just remembered this is her dialysis night. She's probably snoozing away, over across town at DaVita right now. So I decided to stop here (Romanos), for a nice hot Italian dinner at our favorite local place. :-)

Home Eval

I picked up Kristan and the two Physical Therapists at lunchtime, and took them to the house for a home evaluation. Good news: once inside, she can get around inside the house with her scooter, and use all the necessary facilities. Bad news: she can't navigate the stairs from the garage into the house on one foot. Good news: she can skooch up one stair at a time right now, so maybe she can come home sooner rather than later. Better news: I may be able to have a vertical lift installed, and then she would be able to ride up. I'm meeting with the Accessible Systems guy in a half hour, to find out if it's possible, the way our garage is laid out, and if so, when they can get it done. Best news: Mandy was ecstatic to have her home in the house, even if it was for only a few minutes.

PT

Mandy and I watched K doing physical therapy yesterday. Randy the PT worked her pretty hard. We're very disappointed that she has to go through at least two more weeks of this, before she'll be safe to come home.

Two more weeks?!

K said tonight that her Doc at Cherrelyn is thinking two more weeks, which is a huge disappointment, but not a big surprise. Maybe she'll be home by the New Year. John and Michelle are in town for a few days. We saw "Young Adult" last night; what an uncomfortable film! I think they went out of their way to make us squirm at every scene.

17th not likely

Well, it seems we officially have no idea when K will be coming home. The 17th was an artificial, though official, date from the beginning. The local Doc at Cherrelyn recently admitted that the 17th doesn't seem reasonable any more, given the various interruptions that are preventing her from making progress. On a more positive note, Mikele has been making tremendous strides on helping us with the insurance transition... I'll take the good with the bad!

Thanks Sher!

Thank you, Sher Bear! Now K has a gimpy stuffed bear buddy! Same leg!

SSA Interview

We had an informative interview with the SSA guy. He'll be submitting her Medicare application this week.

S still sick

Still feeling sick after four days. This sucks. Back to work anyway, though. And I need to run over to Cherrelyn later this morning, so I can participate with K in a phone interview with SSA.

Treat

Bummed that I missed our HOA Christmas party last night. Happy to find a care package on the doorstep today.

A bit better

Still a bit queasy, but making the effort to get out for the "breakfast and walk" routine... at Dekoevend Park.

Missed the sim

Bummed that I had to cancel today's session in the simulator. Maybe feeling a little better, but not enough.

S not well

Oops. Not feeling well today. At all. Even dry toast is too much. Think I'll skip the walk, and go back home to bed. Good thing today's Jury Duty was canceled.

Thanks Hickes!

Thanks to Jill, Jim, Sean, for the white dog-shaped flower arrangement!

Meeting

A very nice and helpful Social Worker from KP Special Services met us at Cherrelyn today. We exchanged some helpful information, and she helped us finally get a medical power of attorney on file. We've hated thinking about that, and have been putting it off for years.

Brrr

Wow. Minus 2 degrees tonight. So it had to be *this* evening, that I'm popping in and out of the car a half dozen times, running errands for K. Brrr. Next time I go out and about on a night like this, I'll wear a jacket. I visited K in dialysis tonight. It was nice to see that Cherrelyn had given her a dose of her pain med "for the road" to dialysis this time.

Ouch

Twas 7 degrees this morning. So shoveling this latest fluffy few inches of snow should've been easy, except... Ow. My back hurts. No more transferring K from bed to chair, by bending over her, and lifting and carrying her, like I did last night. I'm sure the bending over part got me. Next time I'll get her to use her arms around me, to take some of the weight off my upper back.

Wounded Dog

Mandy did pretty well today, walking in 18°F... right up until her back legs fell through a slotted rain grate that was hidden under a fluffy layer of snow. She climbed right out in the blink of an eye, and kept walking at first. Then pulled up short, a couple blocks later. Probably the cold and trauma together were just too much. So I carried her inside my coat the rest of the way back to the car. Nothing seems broken, and what I thought was a streak of blood down her leg turned out to be just a shadow. She seems ok now, cuddled up under a blanket on the sofa, watching the downhill race at Beaver Creek. Very peaceful moment for the both of us.

Dropped the ball again

I sat with K at dialysis for a few hours tonight. She was very tired after staying awake all last night. Cherrelyn dropped the ball on pain management again. Gave her a dose before she left, but didn't do anything about the one that would obviously be needed while she was in dialysis for four hours.

Disaster

Well, last night was a disaster. The System dropped Kristan through the crack, as they transitioned her from hospital to rehab. The hospital was so focused on getting her out, they didn't notify the rehab facility in time, that she was transferring. So Cherrelyn didn't know she was coming, and didn't have her meds ready. She went for 12 hours without getting the pain med she normally gets every three hours. She was in overwhelming pain for hours, before they finally got their act together, and started giving her the tiny dose she's supposed to have. I left at 4am, after it looked like things were finally settling down.

Moving!

Kristan just texted me that she's enroute to the Cherrelyn rehab facility!

No move

Kristan reported that she won't be moving to Rehab today. Maybe tomorrow. Guess I'll learn more when I see her tonight. It's looking like a few days of snowflakes ahead... Good thing my "flying" appointment on Friday is in the simulator!

Boot in progress

Kristan says that Don from Hangar Orthotics is at the hospital now. If he succeeds in setting her up with a protective boot for her left foot, she may be enroute to the Cherrelyn rehab center this evening!

Mary Pat

They had a really nice funeral service for our neighbor Mary Pat Hamrick today. She was a really sweet lady. Mandy thought she was cool, too.

Dog visits

Mandy was very happy to be with her pal K again, fourth evening in a row last night. Now I'm scarfing down a plate of turkey hash and other goodies, so we can rush off and meet with K for another evening.

MSL Launched!

We launched AV-028 this morning, an Atlas V carrying the MSL (Mars Science Laboratory) payload, from Cape Canaveral! See SpaceFlightNow for the story!

Busy Day

Mandy and I walked to meet Freddie at Blueberry's for breakfast and coffee. Raced off to the Airport, so I could poke holes in the clouds with a really broken airplane (on purpose, in the simulator! :-). Raced home, to get Jen's help putting up the Christmas lights in front. Cooked up some turkey hash for dinner. Now hurrying to get to bed early, so I can sleep awhile, before I race into work at midnight, and try to get MSL launched! K says they're still trying to figure out how to get her discharged to rehab as soon as possible. She's apparently not eating enough, hence is having repeated low blood glucose episodes. So far, they're catching them before they get serious.

More alert

She seems more alert lately, than she's been in awhile, and the pain seems more under control. I helped her transfer from chair to bed again tonight. Lifted and carried her, really.

Stuck in hospital

They've been trying to get Kristan out of St Joseph hospital, and over to the Cherrelyn rehab facility today, but the non-weight-bearing status of her left foot has them all stymied. Her old "crow" boot is completely the wrong shape inside, for the current state of her left foot, and would damage it. With the holiday coming on, there's nobody available to refit it before Monday. So, she may be stuck waiting in the hospital, until Monday or Tuesday. Now she's worrying that there won't be any beds available at the rehab facility by then. Heavy sigh. It looks like Mandy and I'll be visiting her at the hospital again tonight.

BG stabilizing

K appears to have recovered from the insulin overdose she got on Monday night. They didn't watch her blood glucose (BG) level as closely as I asked them to, so she did have a low BG that night, and it's been rebounding up and down for the past day, as they try to get it back under control. They were doing so well, too, way better than we've achieved at home.

Cherrelyn?

Ken and Freddie are our Secret Angels. They went to visit Cherrelyn Healthcare Center yesterday, only a couple miles from our house, to evaluate it as a possible rehab facility for Kristan. They said it looked, felt, and even smelled, like a good place. Today I got a call from them, saying the hospital had contacted them about transferring Kristan there. We talked a little, and they're going to try to resolve any possible complications, such as them not having dialysis available there. Until K can self-transfer between chairs, her usual dialysis place won't take her back.

Ready to go... where?

She seemed to be having less pain, or maybe just handling it better, tonight. She has the medical OK to be discharged from hospital. One doc said earlier, that she'll "be home for Thanksgiving" which of course was a scary thought, considering that she can't get around yet. They're looking for a space at a rehab facility that also has dialysis, which is far more rare. And KP-Ortho wants her remaining foot evaluated with her special "CROW" boot I brought in tonight from home, before anyone tries to move her. The basic problem is her remaining foot hasn't healed from the previous surgery, and it already has new wounds on it, from favoring the right foot the past month. Yet the PT folks want her putting her full weight on it, when getting around. Imagine hopping around on an ulcerated foot. Makes me queasy, just thinking about it.

A little better

They removed the PCA (on demand) pain med IV today. She's back to the occasional pain pill and other meds. I think this is a sign that she's doing better. They let us bring in a special guest tonight! I escorted Mandy in from the car, and she cuddled with K the whole time I was there.

Nice

Simple pleasure: Not having 1/8 inch of road grit on the car, when trying to close the hatch.

Maybe a little better?

K is still in a lot of pain, but they're working with her to try to manage it. She was out of bed, sitting on one chair, with her legs on another, when we got there to visit this afternoon. She seemed to be doing a little better overall, in between the off-the-chart shooting pains.

Climbing back on the horse

Or, how to get back into flying, after four years away:

FAA Class II Medical - Done!
Familiarization flight with instructor - Done!
General Currency (3 takeoffs and landings in 90 days) - Done!
Night currency (3 night landings in 90 days) - Done!
Biennial Flight Review (BFR - Every 24 months) - Done!
Flying Club checkout (Every 12 months) - Done!
... now I'm good to go flying VFR with passengers!
Instrument Proficiency Check (IPC - Every 6 months)
... and here I'll be able to punch holes in the clouds!
Taildragger currency (3 T/O & full stop ldg in taildragger)
... and here I'll be able to take the Citabria for a spin!

Restless & Pain

The nurse says K has been restless (can't find a comfortable position), and is still using the pain med pump, but otherwise had an ok night.

The Pits

Our neighbor Ken took K to her Ortho appointment yesterday, and it quickly turned into a hospital admission. Her right foot looked really bad, with multiple deep ulcers threatening the leg, and no practical surgical approach. This afternoon, after we agonized all day about options that weren't really there, they amputated her foot and leg to just below the knee. She's back in her hospital room, miserable, in a lot of pain, can't get comfortable, emotionally at bottom. She said her remaining leg misses her other leg, somewhere out there. I think my value tonight will be pushing the pain med dispenser button every 8 minutes, when it lights up to show that another tiny dose is available.

It's 11/11/11 and Veteran's Day!

Thanks to Dad, Mom, Uncle Bill, all our veteran friends, and all other vets out there, for everything you've done to help keep this country safe, free, and something to be proud of.

Woo Hoo!

I'm now the proud holder of a fresh new Class II FAA medical!!! Next step is to contact Aspen Flying Club, and start scheduling refresher flights, the goal being to get all my currency requirements in order. Let's see, we're talking about the Biennial Flight Review, Club Annual Checkout, Instrument Proficiency Check, then the necessary takeoffs and landings to satisfy the Day, Night, and Taildragger currency requirements. Sounds like fun to me!

Facebook Safety

Here's an interesting page about Facebook Safety, if anyone is interested. I see it's an HTTPS protocol which is secure-encrypted. That might mean you have to login to see it. Since I was already logged in, I can't tell. Let me know if you have troubles reading it, and maybe I can copy/paste some of it here.

Snow

Another wave of snow just hit the Denver area. I think we got more down here. Looks like about six inches of really heavy wet stuff, that I just had to shovel off the driveway.

Halloween

K had to spend most of Halloween Eve in her regular dialysis slot this afternoon. Ken picked her up, while I tended the door. Can't let those trick-or-treaters go without candy! Ken got her home from dialysis just in time for her to hear the last Halloweeners ring our doorbell.

Geocache!

Victory! Ken and Mandy and I found our first Geocache! We're walking the dog in the town of Morrison, near Red Rocks amphitheater, after having breakfast at the Blue Cow restaurant.

Porter Dialysis

K's temporarily at a nice dialysis facility, across the street from Harvard Gulch Park. I'm walking Mandy around the park now. K's going here, while they're remodeling the Littleton DaVita facility.

Walking

Had a great breakfast at Original Pancake House, now walking the dog at DeKoevend Park nearby. Pretty Fall colors all around...

Walking

Ahhhh, the lovely sounds of a cold clear Fall morning, after the first snow: the "scrape, scrape, scrape" of people getting their cars ready to go to work.

Snow. Hah!

Hardly any snow out there this morning. Roads are wet but fine. So much for the "BLIZZARD OF 2011!!!" hype in the news last night. Happy Birthday, Mikele!

Snow coming

Wuh, ohh... Forecast for a low of 17°F and six inches of snow here on Wednesday.

Pancake Breakfast!

Stopped at Original Pancake House for breakfast before work! Woo Hoo! This is a really cool thing, about moving our offices to the other side of town! All I have to do, is pull an all-nighter, so I can leave early enough to squeeze it in. :-/

Cold

It's 29°F out there. So now I don't feel so silly about shutting off and draining our drip system on Monday. Whew. Saved myself fifty bucks and some angst.

IOS-5

I chickened out, and decided to shut off the drip system, even though the forecast is only for a measly low of 32. Got brave, and decided to update the iphone to IOS 5 tonight.

Rain

Surprise. BIG drops coming down this morning!

Struggling along

K's legs were swollen again on Friday. Now her right foot is looking poorly. We saw her Ortho doc on Friday and she did a lot of cleanup. We're keeping a low profile over the weekend. Seems to be helping, as her legs look better today. Ken and I had a delightful walk through City Park and around the lake, after having a delicious breakfast at Racines. Love their french toast with a banana on it!

Visitor

Our friend Claudia stopped by to visit, on her way to San Diego this weekend. We had some fun - had breakfast at Original Pancake House (her first time in 19 years), visited the Red Rocks amphitheater, Sunday breakfast at Blue Cow, and walked up and down along Bear Creek in the town of Morrison. We almost got it together to hunt down a GeoCache, at Claudia's urging. Sounds like fun!

Dialysis moved

K resumed her usual dialysis schedule last night. Except that they're remodeling the Littleton DaVita center, so for the next few months she'll be going a lot farther away, up near Porter Hospital. And they moved her time slot almost an hour sooner. Not so usual, I guess...

Checking out

Checking out of this place! Would be nice, if everyone had a clearer sense of why she was here in the first place. Still, it'll be great to get her home.

Here til Monday

They're keeping K at St Jo until Monday at least. They'll do another Ultrasound then. Her left leg has gone down to the same size as the right, very good news. She's been fighting a continuing battle over pain meds with the docs here, and she claims she had a big win this morning.

No resolution

No resolution yet, on K's swollen leg. She had a monster low BG this morning, but she's ok now. Her room has a great view of Denver to the West, and I can even see our car with Mandy in it, down there in the Humboldt Garage.

Back at St Jo

So we show up at St Joseph ER, at the direction of K's primary care doctor. "So why are you here?" they ask. Sigh. Where's the coordination? They're checking her in on the 4th floor. They don't see much of a clot on their ultrasound, either. So they'll be making sure her leg stays up, and that she gets dialysis in the morning, and maybe do another ultrasound to see if they can spot the cause of the edema.

Back to hospital

K saw her doctor today. He is pissed at the ER for sending her home last night. He thinks the clot is more serious than the ER indicated. It sounds like I will be meeting her at home after work, and taking her to St Joseph hospital this afternoon.

Sent Home

Sonogram says... She does have a blood clot. But it's fairly small, and not interfering with flow. So, I ask, why is her leg swollen and hot? [shrug]The ER doc said the clot isn't significant, and sent us home. We're supposed to come running back to ER if she shows signs of swelling, redness, or fever. And be sure to get her to her scheduled doc appointment tomorrow...I would think she needs a makeup dialysis session, but I don't think she'll get one. She's got 5 doc or nurse appointments in the next two days, so we'll be lucky to get her to her scheduled session on Friday evening.

Deja Vu

Oh nuts. K just texted me, that they're taking her off dialysis, and sending her to ER with a swollen and hot left leg. This is the same leg that's had trouble all month with the foot wound and infection.

Home again

They finally discharged her on Friday afternoon, on daily antibiotics to try to keep the osteomyelitis at bay. Life is slowly returning to the more usual routine.

Another Surgery

Kristan went into surgery again this morning, a planned cleanup effort after Tuesday's surgery. She's in recovery now. Doc Melberg says it went well, and looks like it should heal up over the next few days. They'll keep her at least overnight, while the cultures grow, so they can target with the right antibiotics. Labs and blood counts, and any complications, will determine if she has to stay longer.

Awake

They left the wound open, packed with antibiotics, so they can watch the progress and make sure it's starting to heal properly. Then they'll close it up on Thursday or Friday. They stopped several meds that may be contributing to the confusion and disorientation problem. K says she hasn't felt this awake and alert in a long time.

Recovering

She's out of surgery and recovering. The surgeon reported that he amputated the 2nd toe, and took some more of the 3rd toe bone.

More Surgery

Kristan says they saw Osteomyelitis in her foot, in the recent X-Ray and MRI scans. They'll probably take her into surgery today. What they do, will depend on what they find, once they're into the foot.

Busted

...and this is why we get spares, and why it was so cool that K got me two more for my Birthday this year!

Back at ER

Sorry to say, we're back at the St Joseph ER. Not even sure why. She's been really dopey all day, starting with falling out of bed this morning. My biggest concern is that we haven't been able to get her BG down since last night. The Oncology Doc and Kaiser Nurse both thought we should come here.

Unbelievable

The unforeseen expense: Last night someone cut and stole the copper pipe from our HOA's sprinkler valve, leaving the uncapped pipe gushing water for eight hours. The loss isn't covered by insurance, and the water company's not inclined to make an adjustment in the bill for the water usage. Replacing the valve alone will be around $1,000.

Hello, Geese

Nice day for a bit longer walk...

Headed home

Finally got K processed out, and got someone to transport her down to the car, around midnight Wednesday.

Not out yet

They're trying to get K out today, but one thing after another is slowing things down.

Coming home soon

K says she's coming home today! I'll believe it, when I see it.

No idea

Hanging out at St Jo. We've given up on guessing when they'll discharge her.

Mini Outing

I was allowed to kidnap Kristan for a little while tonight, so I took her down to the car to see Mandy. They're concerned about fluid buildup and a high white cell count. They'll deal with the fluid by dialyzing her again tomorrow. The WBC could be more infection, or the Leukemia rebounding because she's been off the meds for two months.

New Apple IOS 5

After (belatedly) watching the 2 hr Apple keynote video from the developer's conference, I'm pretty excited about trying out the new iPhone's IOS 5. And the new Mac OS "Lion" upgrades sound pretty awesome too, for that matter. Maybe I should get a Mac, sooner rather than later! See http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/11piubpwiqubf06/event/

Sleeping

Kristan got some decent sleep last night, which is a big deal in our lives. She's not coming home from hospital today... long story, she says... tell you later, she says...

Settling down

It looks like things have stabilized. K won't have any transfusions, or any more surgeries, during this hospital visit. Dialysis tomorrow morning, then maybe she'll be discharged to home.

Bleeding less

Trying to relax a little, watching "Royal Pains". K's foot appears to be bleeding less now. So maybe she won't need a transfusion after all. Hoping...

Good blood flow

K's getting dialysis at St Jo this morning. Her foot was bleeding like crazy last night. They had to change the huge bandage twice, in the three hours I was there.

New room

They put her in a different room after surgery. 10th floor with a commanding view.

Out of Surgery

Kristan had surgery today. Got out a couple of hours ago. Dr Nauts says there were areas of infected tissue that weren't getting blood flow, and some infection in the 3rd metatarsal. She "cleaned it all up". Probably will need antibiotics for awhile. If K heals up well, she may be home as soon as Saturday, but as they say, time will tell...

Weird evening

Weird evening. Wheeled Kristan out to the car to see the dog, then went for a little outing around the block. Mandy was walking in the grass, then yelped and obviously had major pain, limping on her left front paw. We couldn't see anything, no matter how hard we looked, or how bright a light we brought to bear, but Mandy was in terrible pain, shaking and panting, which she never does. Took her to VRCC, the Vet ER on the way home, and they found the tiniest thorn you can imagine, barely visible to the eye. It was so small, it just about fell through the holes in the gauze she carried it out on. She's better today. I hate it when my girls are in trouble, especially at the same time.

Update 8/31

Heading up to St Jo for an evening visit. K says her leg is looking better, but the foot not so much. Ortho is paying a visit tomorrow. Dum, da dum dum...

Still here

Dinner with K. She's still at St Jo. They're still interrupting her sleep every chance they get, but she's managed to catch a few hours. She finally got dialysis this evening.

Xfer to St Jo

Kaiser had her transferred to Exempla St Joseph hospital. Her left leg is swollen and hot, and the MRI suggests she has pneumonia.

K at Littleton ER

She got to Dialysis over an hour late, then was unresponsive after she got into the chair. Not completely surprising to me, since she didn't sleep last night or today. But she might also have a foot infection, so I'm glad they sent her. I just hurried over from work to meet them, and curiously, they took a long time to get here.

Neuropathy.

Interesting. The Neurology doc says my numb toes could be caused by a copper deficiency. Which could be caused by taking a Zinc supplement for the past few years, when I didn't really need it. Today's lab draw will reveal more...

K Foot Update

Hanging out at Kaiser Ortho. Her feet are better in places and worse in others. Sigh.

A short respite

We saw K's oncologist at his new location on Ogden St. Her WBC is down from abnormally high a few weeks ago, to subnormal. So he told her to lay off the Tasigna for a couple of weeks, wait and see what's up.

Lost weekend

K and I have been fighting cold symptoms since last week. The virus hit with full force yesterday, and we pretty much lost today to coughing and dozing and using up tissue boxes, while watching TV marathons. Neither one of us felt much like getting out of bed to fix anything for the other. This is another one of those many moments where we really miss our Moms.

We got caught by surprise this evening, by a phone call from the Dialysis Center. K had missed her Monday afternoon appointment. We were both feeling so miserable, we completely forgot about it. I hit a new lifetime low while driving her over there - I had to pull over to use a sick bag. Ugh. Gross.

Oh yeah. While driving to pick her up from dialysis just now, I was reminded, by the firework shows all around, that our lost day had special significance. So here's a belated "Happy Independence Day!" to all...

Trending better

K saw the Ortho folks today about her recently developed foot wounds. They cut away a bunch of bad tissue and left a foot that's ready to begin healing.

Foot issue

She says her foot looks bad. She's got an appointment with Wound Care tomorrow.

Red Spot

This red spot (click here for photos) showed up on the front of my bicep recently. Sis says it looks like ringworm. Thoughts?

Ducks at Clement Park

Ken and Freddie and I enjoyed watching the ducklings playing, while walking Mandy around Clement Park.

New CML Med

K's Oncologist finally came through. Kaiser just sent the first batch of the alternate CML med Nilotinib. The Doc says moving to this med "isn't settling" for something less than the Imatinib she was using, since it has stats as good or better.

Softball Win

I felt slightly crazy, playing a double header at 8 and 9pm tonight, but it *was* hugely satisfying, if a little surprising, to win 'em both!

Happy Memorial Day

This cheerily waving flag encountered on our morning walk just reminded me... I wanted to say, Thanks Mom and Dad, Uncles and Aunts, relatives and friends, and yes, even all the total strangers, for your service.

Edema / Redness

K's legs have been swollen the past few days. The left one was red and hot, when coming out of dialysis on Monday. They've put her on IV antibiotics to fight whatever bacteria must be causing it. And she's using compression stockings, to deal more directly with the edema.

Take the good with the bad

K has been having such awful side effects (frequent nausea, vomiting, edema, etc. - generally feeling like she's dying) from the Gleevec, that she decided to stop it a few weeks ago. She said she would rather have the CML run its course (and kill her in 2-3 years), than try to live with those symptoms, along with all the others. I'm not sure if she'll be sticking to that philosophy, or if she'll be willing to try something else. Her Oncologist said he would ask Kaiser if they're willing to let him try some alternatives, both of which have seen good results in the short term, but don't have any long term data yet. In the meantime, she's starting to feel better instead of worse, and regaining some control. And her foot wounds are healing.

Bad week

K's had a hard time with nausea this week too. She skipped dialysis today, didn't feel it would be practical to be stuck in the chair with everything else going on. They found her a spot tomorrow morning. I'll be supporting the countdown, so our neighbors will take her and pick her up.

Something new

We saw Endocrinology today, and they put K on a Dexcom continuous BG sensor for a week. See: https://www.dexcom.com/

Then off to Oncology who said her WBC count is normal. It's a good first step. Look up hematologic (versus cytogenetic) remission. Basically the first thing you look for, is the WBC to be back to normal. After a few months of that, then you resample the bone marrow to see if the cancer cell population is reduced or hopefully eliminated.

A good day

Today turned out to be an amazingly good BG day. A whole bunch of readings in a row, all in the good range. Small victory.

Lows

We're doing something wrong, not sure how to fix it. K's been having a series of low morning blood glucose readings, and they really wipe her out. We try to never let her BG get below 90, but the past week we've seen 55, 41, 38, and now 48 this morning. The rest of the day usually consists of wild swings into the frighteningly high range, sometimes pinning the meter at its highest possible reading of 600. This lack of BG control is very disheartening.

Up and down

K was feeling much better yesterday. But today's a new day. She's struggling back from a low (37) BG now, while still hoping to make it out today, to order new glasses for 2011. Not likely.

Ugh cramps

K had a miserable day yesterday, all muscles cramping badly all day and night. She started worrying about her heart, with all the other muscles cramping so badly. She said it's somewhat better today. Suspecting dehydration.

Busy day

Busy day. K had three appointments. She told the oncologist she's having a pretty good week. The endocrinology lady told her to listen to her husband. ;-) The orthotics guy worked on her CROW boots so they will help instead of hurt her feet. Then we took M&B to the Hollywood theater to watch True Grit, while having dinner up in their elegant Skybox seating.

Day lost

Boo. I just lost a day to something particularly nasty, probably a Flu. I'd forgotten just how awful that feels.

Healing

Good visit at the Ortho Dept. yesterday. K's toe surgery is healing well. She has wounds on her other foot that need to be watched.

Mikele and Bob have been here for a week now. They've been fighting colds, so we've been taking things slowly. Bob and I got out for a short walk today along the Platte river, followed by a late lunch at Panera Bread. Mandy liked the new enclosed patio there. Then we checked out Verizon's new Galaxy Tab, pretty cool. The new Apple MacBook Air is also pretty awesome. Hmmm...