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...

Home at Last

All dressed and ready to go HOME! D'ya like the outfit I picked out for her? :-) 'cept the shoes and socks, which were courtesy of St Joseph Hospital. It took them awhile to process her out of the hospital. Not entirely unexpected. We stopped by Abe's Cafe in downtown Littleton on the way home, so I could pick up some of their tasty chicken lemon soup for her, in case she gets hungry later.

Bringing her home

I'm heading home now, then to hospital to get her.

New room

Kristan's definitely staying in hospital tonight. Probably most of tomorrow. And they moved her to 474. She seems pretty chipper, the foot seems to be healing and the swelling is going down. They're keeping her to try to get her glucose level down, which will help with the healing.