Veterens Day & Wednesday.. biopsy coming tomorrow!

Tuesday morning... wake up at the hospital...hang out here with Chris...

The doctors come in and out... Dr Harrison feels Chris is 48 hours from a bed sore and tells him he needs Physical Therapy to come get him moving... and should sit in a chair when he can

Chris woke up with a temp... again.. ugh...

My dad comes to visit for a few hours... and Chris is resting.. think he is sleeping and then he chimes into conversation.. His nurse is Nancy again... turns out her friend is friends with my cousin Laura.. small world

After my dad's visit, i go home with him... do my thing at home and then shower... dad brings me back here...

The opium is working... I come back to hospital to see Chris in a recliner... physical therapy had come.. got him moving.. and into recliner.. it wiped him out but he was happy to be out of bed and in chair .. comfy.. and in a hawaiian shirt... getting red blood... he had gotten platelets earlier
Check out pic from today

Nancy leaves... and we have a floater nurse.. chris doesnt know her...
My brother came to visit... so did Christine Rapach...
Chris thought he could just take oxy for the pain.. but when he needs dilaudid, he gets very upset that he isnt interactive for company... We tell Chris its okay... We dont want him to sit there in pain....
We hang out for a while after they left...
I moved chris over to the other side of the bed, closer to the tv before i left.. i was here til 11:30pm or so... he wanted to sleep in the recliner... he had pillows all over...
I talked to Chris when I got home... and then I fell asleep
I missed his text shortly after.. and he called me at 415am... the power surged at the hospital and he wanted to know if we lost power.. i didnt hear my phone ring.. called him back at 445am...
we went back to sleep...

I got to the hospital Wednesday morning to see Chris before work... he was very emotional :( he didnt want me to go to work... well, he wanted me to work from the hospital... It broke my heart... He is getting to that point, just not wanting to be here... he misses bed at home.. misses home... getting frustrated
I am reassured when his nurse Tatiana seems very compassionate when she came in...
I reassured Chris to call me whenever and that i would be coming after work and sleeping here

While I am at work, Chris was told by Dr Harrison that he would not be the doctor for the next week.. Chris is upset
I talked to Chris around noon and he was sleepy..
After work i found out that Chris had freaked out... they came in to do bone marrow biopsy and no one ever told him it would be happening.. he wasnt emotionally ready for this... no one told him... so i guess he freaked, told them he needed to speak with his doctor (Strair) and between that and the physical therapy, he needed meds...
My brother came and helped Chris shave..
Then I got here and was ready to watch the country music awards with chris... but he slept...
Something about his combo of drugs made him really messed up...
He was super disoriented whenever he woke.. but he kept falling back asleep
His night nurse is Tanya.. woohoo... she notices chris is saying weird things in his state and looks lost and/or scared... apparently he got morphine in the afternoon.. for pain when he was in between drugs.. she checks with pharmacy... they feel that
POSSIBLY, the opium is making the effects of his other drugs worse....
eventually he wakes and is back to normal...
His temp is down to 98.6.. his white blood cells are going up (.5)
He says his bowels feel better

Dr Strair had come to see him at the end of the day.. he said he will be back tomorrow to talk to him
I am sleeping here...
It seems he will have the bone marrow biopsy Thursday (tomorrow) ahhhhh
This will tell us if the chemo worked or not... if it reduced the leukemia in his bone marrow.. remember, that was the goal of the chemo so we can go to transplant....

So, please pray... Chris needs some strength to get through these trying times... and pray for good biopsy results

good night Jenn

Monday- back to work

I woke up this morning and stopped at the hospital to see Chris on my way to work

Nancy is his nurse today-- we love Nancy

I am told he spiked a fever... ugh
They do more cultures
Chris is emotional and scared.. he hates dealing with these ups and downs... cant blame him.. its gotta suck

I go to work and then after work I go back to hang out with him.. I am off tomorrow (Tuesday - its Veterens Day)
There is a bacteria they found in his line... Its common from what i am told.. so they added another antibiotic... He is in better spirits...
They also added another anti-diareaha medicine to his meds... His night nurse is Tanya again :)
She gave him his anti-diareaha cocktail.. its opium... go figure... it smells like licorice... but chris says it tastes nasty

I am sleeping here tonight... off tomorrow ;) goodnight

Sunday- Day of Rest.. and football

Photo on the left of Chris and the lemur.

Not too much to report today...

I spoke with Chris in the morning when I woke up.. He was just resting...

Fever from last night hung around a bit around 100- 100.5 but he was doing better

I came to see him late morning with my mom...

He said the doctors were happy with his bloodwork... I guess whatever they see is telling them that the antibiotics are working... all the doctors were here before i got here... I can never figure them out... when I slept here sometimes they didnt get here til noon.. when I sleep home, they come at 7am ... oh well...

Me and mom hang out with him for a few hours.. he is sleeping on and off.. but he needs it... he has to rest... and he had a long weekend with all his family... time to recover ;)

Lew is en route to Floriday already...

He got vitamin K today as well as platelets and some albuim (totally spelling it wrong) it was to help his swelling go down... i think he retained a lot of water... I think he got some potassium too.. and magnesium...

I think the vitamin K was to help prevent bleeding cus his platelets are low...

I might have some of this mixed up.. I got my items correct, i just might have the drugs mixed up with the reasons...

Platelets make him sleepy too...

Chris is getting a little overwhelmed with his frequent need to go to the bathroom especially since it involves a bedpan and calling a nurse or tech...

PT (physical therapy) is coming tomorrow... they are gonna help him get moving

The white blood cell count was .1 yesterday.. and today they are up to .2 Sounds like not much, but in the world of chemo recovery, that is great.. he is on his way up...

Once the White blood count gets higher, along with the antibiotics, he should get rid of this infection and have more energy

The infection, chemo, and diareaha, and meds and whatnot have made the fatigue so bad

Once the bowels get better (he is still getting food through IV, and eating ice chips) he can start eating and that will also make him stronger

I examined his legs myself today and those bumps he had are sooo much smaller.. that is good news... they were leukemic, so the chemo seems to be shrinking those too...

Chris was upset about how sick he got from the chemo saying "oh yea, you are gonna get a lil sick from the chemo.. some diareaha, some nausia... blah blah blah... but this is ridiculous" and all i could do was remind him that its helping him in the long run... and to hang in there.. after a brief bit of frustration/emotions, chris is back in the game.. he is hanging better than most...

We watched the Jets game... Favre is really doing well... 40-0 at halftime...

My dad brought me lunch and picked up my mom ...

We both napped a bit here... and now we have the night game (Giants) on... His night nurse is Tanya again... she is from Connecticut and went to Georgetown... we like her

Chris is loving his lemur (lemar? lemure?) no idea how its spelled...

and he still is thinking of a name...

Aunt Cathy mailed him a hawaiian shirt yesterday so i brought it to him today... he is excited

I am going to go home eventually just not sure if its during the game or after it ends.. and i will stop and see him in the morning before i go to work...

Nick, the CCT was helping out on this side of the floor tonight...

He lovesss Nick... he bonded with him when he crashed in June and came to this floor then...

Unfortunately, when he saw Nick tonight, i was giving chris a hand with the bedpan when he walked in.. but i know Chris feels comfortable around him...

Well, thats about all for now...

love jenn

Friday Nov 7 to Sat Nov 8

I slept pretty decent... I got to the hospital in the morning and he was pretty out of it... His ICU nurse Jen is really nice... Apparently Chris was up all night every hour going to the bathroom... (except, he isnt allowed to go to the bathROOM so he had a very annoying night)
He is apologizing to the nurse and she tells him she is so immune to that... she can eat a sandwich while watching someone go to the bathroom
Anyways, the constant diareaha is apparently from all the antibiotics they have him on...
He will be drinking a contrast later for his bowel catscan...
He had a frustrating night and a nurse had come in and said she was praying for him... awww.. she left a prayer card for him
I told Chris I was going to work and he was a lil confused... he clearly needed rest... So I told him to rest because he would be getting visits from lew and the crew
Lew was texting me during the day telling me he seemed better.. and they were talking about sending Chris back up to the 4th floor
I worked and called Chris after work... He said he was done drinking the contrast and he was going to catscan at the moment... soooo since it was 530... he said he would be an hour... I was in limbo... if i went to the hospital as planned, i wouldnt see him til 630 and then from 7 to 8 you cannot be in ICU... so Christine Rapach met up with me for a drink and a bite...
Of course, the catscan went faster than planned.. but regardless I needed to eat... So I went back to see him at 8pm...
The new nurse, Eva, was sooo sweet... She told us that they were waiting for a room but didnt have it yet
So, I hung out with him, dosed off.. etc...
She got the attending doc to look at the catscan... it appeared there was no puncture in his colon but we still have to wait for final reading
By midnight, they had a room and we transferred him to 4North
The nurses up there are happy to see him...
So, once he was settled I left to go home...

Saturday morning, Chris called me around 7am... I called him back when I realized I missed his call... he was pretty alert, so he told me he was feeling good... and I told him I would see him soon
Lew let me know that he would be heading up around 10am...
I got up there after the Waxmonskys were already there...
They brought him a camo hat and a lil stuffed animal monkey/lemar thing... when you squeeze him he goes "Boooyyying" He loves it
I know Chris is so happy that his dad and brothers spent so much time coming up to see him this week
It came time for them to leave. It was pretty emotional.... Chris was very upset to see Lew go.. all 4 Waxmonskys left at once.. it was overwhelming for Chris...
Lew is flying back to Florida tomorrow ... that stinks for us... but good for his fiance Jen
Tommy is gonna try to get down here more... and Matt will be coming more too (or like he said, i will be showing up at his front door to bring him here myself)

So, now its just me and Chris... My brother just came to bring me some lunch/dinner... and to hang out with us...
Chris is not able to eat anything except ice chips and small sips of water until his bowels recover.
The catscan basically shows that his small intestine got all bound up and are irritated...
So they want him to rest them
He is not hungry because he is getting nutrients through the IV....

Oh, and the priest... Fr. Desmond... came to see him today after the family left.. He is so nice

Christine Rapach comes to visit too...
Chris basically has a Dr Phil session with her.. poor Christine...
We are all crying at one point... Chris is talking about how God dumped him in my life for a reason. and that he was meant to be part of all our lives... and he isnt going anywhere cus my friends need him. blah blah... we are crying.. awww

So, basically, as of now, we are waiting for the infection to clear up, for the bowels to rest... because they want him to start eating again, which will make him stronger, which will help him overall..
I am not sure exactly when they would do bone marrow biopsy, but its happening after he recovers... (1-2 weeks from now i think)
And, then hopefully transplant....

Keep sending your prayers...
Thanks Lew for bringing Dad, Danny, and Tommy this week... I really think that having everyone back in his life is helping Chris fight...
Its too bad Lew is 1200 miles away normally.. but we will see him soon
Matt will be coming weekly ;)

Thanks Dana, Chris, and Sean for sending the hawaiian shirs, starbucks gift cards, and coffee mug... Chris was so excited when I brought them here for him to see.. He said "oooh my own coffee mug!!" made him so happy

signing off for now...
love jenn

Wed into Thursday )November 5-6

Well, I stayed at the hospital during half of Wednesday to stay with Chris...

Lew brought Tommy... Did I already tell you all this? I cannot rememeber, but Chris is happy to see Tommy and Lew even though he is sleeping on and off.. we watched the blood pressure go up and down this whole time...

I went to work for the afternoon... Lew and Tommy were still there... so he wasnt alone... By the time i went home after work, Chris told me they were gonna most likely move him to ICU

I go to the hospital.... They are moving him to ICU because they arent able to get his blood pressure up with fluids... Down in ICU, they can regulate all the meds better.. there is closer watch from nurses... There is indeed an infection in his blood.. so they started antibiotics... on top of other ones they began earlier

I packed up his clothes, the bag of snacks we had there (for when he was eating), his laptop, his blankets, my work bag and they finally get a room in ICU after midnight. by the time paperwork is done it is 1am or later...

When we get down to ICU (with his cart of stuff) its almost 2am.. I stuck around to make sure he was settled.. but had to go home to sleep to get up for a job fair early this morning (Thursday)... The ICU nurses quickly had me leave and wait in the waiting area while they got him situated...

Ugh... I just wanted to go home.. i hadnt slept last night

Here is Jenn (me)getting extra sensitive and cranky -- I was sooo tired

They took over an hour... and finally another nurse from the old floor saw me and went in and came to get me... Chris had been wondering where I was :( then i am told he cant wear clothes in there and i can take all that stuff home (this is my breaking point cus i am not carrying a cart full of stuff home at 230am... so i mentioned that i was not able to carry all that and she was nice (i guess..lol) and told me i could leave stuff too

anyways, chris is super sleepy so i said goodbye and went home...got 3 hours of sleep

Thursday morning I was so sleepy driving to my college job fair... then Lew brought Dad, Tommy, and Danny to the hospital.. Chris was sooo happy to see them

Basically, chemo round 2 is on hold because of this infection (woulda started today, but no way now)

They are gonna do a catscan of bowels...

He got blood and platelets today...

Catscan is to make sure there is no puncture or hole in the colon or organs..

The bacteria that went into blood is very sensitive to antibiotics, so over the next bunch of days it should slowly clear up... with his counts all so low, its harder to fight the infection. but there are tons of antibiotics they can "play" with if these dont work.. and hope the catscan is ok...

he clearly shouldnt have surgery now, so a hole or puncture would be bad

I came to see him by 230pm... his fam had just left

I rested next to his bed.. he is tired

Doctors came in and out... His oncologist (Dr Harrison) of this month stopped by...

He told Chris to rest and told me they arent doing the 2nd round of chemo... he said 10 days of recovery instead of 17 (cus they arent doing the 2nd round)... feels this chemo did the trick... he is hopeful that they gave him a "hell of a lot of chemo" and his bone marrow biopsy should hopefully come back good after what he just went through.. now we just have to get him through the infection... and move forward...

this is not going to be easy, he told me everyone loves chris and put his arm around me.. i asked him if he could run into similar bowel issues with the bone marrow chemo he will get before transplant and he said yes.... but we are doing everything we can to make it happen

he is a great doctor... i asked him if he believes in medical miracles... and he looked at me and said that "i have seen them plenty of times... but its not our doing... we do what we can.. and they happen" he winked... and i felt better... i know its just his opinion and best prognosis for now... but as long as i feel better, its comforting...

They all tell me that this infection from chemo is quite common... but poor chris is soooo icky and tired

anyways... they kick you out of ICU everyday for one hour during nurse change over... (7a-8a and 7p -8p) so since i havent slept in 2 days, we decide he needs rest as do i...

I go home... Jeanie and i just drove around and got coffee.. and now i am in a bed at home by 10pm.... sweet...

Lew will be back tomorrow and i am glad its friday! i will get rest tonight..

I will see chris on my way to work tomorrow morning... and then after work

Praying more... Hoping catscan is ok

love you all

God bless you all ... God Bless Chris... and everyone around him.. and the doctors and nurses...

Love you all