Chris started eating actual meals of food on Friday and has continued to have an appetite since then. He has lost about 25 lbs since he has been in the hospital. He doesn't seem disoriented at all today either!
I left the hospital around 6 Friday night and went out to eat with the family I am staying with. I ordered a special that had seafood and ended up vomiting every two hours or so starting at midnight that night. I rested all day Saturday in bed and didn't develop a fever at all so I'm chalking it up to food poisoning. I stayed away from the hospital until this morning to be safe, I didn't want to expose Chris to anything.
I posted his counts at the bottom (click to make image larger) and as you can see his counts have dipped down but are recovering already from the Neupogen injections he started getting on a daily basis yesterday.
He is set to be discharged tomorrow and we will be back for appointments on Tuesday for chemo administered via IV (Vinicristine) and a lumbar puncture with chemo. He is also scheduled for blood tests and an appointment with his main doctor, Dr. Thomas. We met her the first day we came to MD Anderson and she is the best ALL doctor in the world.
I am using the term ALL which stands for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Chris was originally diagnosed with lymphoblastic lymphoma but it is treated exactly like ALL. The distinction between the two is based upon the percentage of "blasts" or immature blood cells.
Chris is now considered to have ALL. He has not developed a new cancer. It is just that the percentage of blasts in his blood has increased so he now technically has ALL instead of lymphoblastic lymphoma. Again he does not have a new cancer. I know this can be a bit confusing so feel free to ask questions if I'm not explaining it very well.
Before he gets discharged tomorrow they will give me a complete schedule of all his appointments in the next 2 weeks. He will have appointments nearly everyday.
I had two friends (thank you Kierstin & Heather!) calling different housing options last week. Since we don't know how long we will be here I decided to reserve a room at a hotel that is just 4 blocks from here for the next two weeks. If I pay for a whole month up front and we leave early we won't get a refund on our money so for now we'll just play it by ear. In the meantime my same friends are going to help me contact the charity housing places, many run by churches, that offer longer term housing for free or at a very reduced rate. They have waiting lists but this way we can go ahead and get on the waiting list now so that if we find out in a few weeks that we have to stay longer we will be closer to have a free or reduced-rate place to stay.
I have had offers to stay at friends of friends places but Chris can't risk being around other people, he is at such a high risk of infection. Something that would seem like a minor tickle in our throats would put him in the hospital for a week or more. So I more than appreciate the offers, we just have to keep him isolated as much as possible. Whenever we are in public he will have to wear a mask.
I also got in contact with a new charity called "Friday Harbour". Actually the founder of the organization called me after someone left a comment on Chris' donation blog about them. It's a new charity that Brian Hall founded to help people like us out, who fall thru the cracks of the system designed to help people in need. He recently started working with an apartment complex who may be offering up some free units for people like us.
It's all starting to seem more manageable. Getting more sleep lately has helped a lot too, of course.
I want to thank you all again for all of your support and kindness during this time.
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