I was Chris' wife/caregiver & this is the medical blog I wrote during his treatment. Short history: dx in July 2010, no initial bone marrow involvement, did 5 rounds hyper-cvad protocol. Found out he is in relapse/refractory status with involvement in his chest, spleen, inguinal & throat lymph nodes, bone marrow, spine & brain in January 2011 when we went to MD Anderson for treatment. The two different rounds of chemo Chris got at MDA could not put him in remission; he died of leukemia/lymphoma on March 18th, 2011, an astonishing and horrific 8 months after his diagnosis.
There is a donation page for organizations here: http://chriscranecancer.blogspot.com

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

first Dr.'s appt went well!

First off the South Austin Cancer Center is a much newer facility than the one we went to in Kansas.  We waited a mere 10 minutes before we saw his Dr. and there was also a sign at the front desk that read "please let us know if you have been waiting 15 minutes past your scheduled time".  The office we saw the Dr. in was very spacious and displayed his many medical certificates and degrees.  
This is compared to waiting up to 2 hours to see his previous Dr. and the office being about a third of the size of the one we were in today.
His new Dr., Dr. Kampe, talked to us for at least an hour - he's great!  He went over all the previous information and had extensive notes from reading Chris' medical file that had been faxed over.  He answered all of our questions and was extremely personable and helpful.  
The plan is for Chris to consult with a surgeon on Monday to get a portacath put in, which is how they give him chemo.  He previously had a Hickman but that was taken out nearly a month ago because they thought it might be a source of infection.  He will probably start his 4th round of chemo by Monday the 22nd.
We've had a long break from chemo treatments and it will be rough getting back in the groove so to speak. His facial and head hair has grown back and that will all fall out again.  
It has been so wonderful to spend this time with Magnus and we will probably stay with his parents until he has to go into the hospital for his next round so we can spend as much time with him as possible. 
Chris' maternal grandmother has been having some increased health problems and it is crucial for his mom to travel to El Paso to take care of things.  I'm even more glad that we are down here now so she doesn't have the added stress of being the exclusive caregiver for Magnus during this time with her mother.  
There's probably more I'm leaving out but it has been nice to have a bit of a break from using the internet lately!  

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