Wow Rob had a major jump in his white blood cells today, they went from .2 to 3.2. His stomach still hurts and the doctor is saying to keep an eye on it cause it is really inflammed. I have had this post up all day trying to think of stuff to say and I can't, lol I guess no news is good news

Rob is still at the hospital and will probably be here till Thursday. His fever went up to 40 yesterday and they did find 2 different infections in his line so he is on 2 different antibiotics. His stomach still hurts a lot but is getting better, he doesn't need anything for pain now just as long as he doesn't move. I was asked today why his stomach hurts. It is because the last chemo treatment he had which was Melphalan hurts the lining and mucous of your mouth, throat, stomach and gestational track, and he doesn't have an immune system to repair it. He is getting the shots that will bring up his white blood cells (immune system) and then his lining in his stomach will start to repair itself.

Today was the first day I was asked when I was due. I was so happy that means I have gone from just looking fat to actually looking pregnant.

Last night Robs fever went up to 38.2 and there seemed to be some puss coming from his line. I called the unit he goes to and the charge nurse suggested we come in. It was an exact repeat of what happened last time, he had no fever when we got here but the next day it shot up. It seems today he has a fever of 38.2. The doctor came in and saw him and his white blood counts are at .2 so that is up from 2 days ago of .1 and his platelets are at 23, which is down from 53. They want to keep the line in until his counts go up and then the doctor said they could probably take it out. They can't get one of the stitches out it is too tight and they can't get the scissors under it. His stomach sill hurts really bad, so bad that morphine doesn't even help for 5 minutes. They asked him on a scale of 1-10 how is the pain he says 8 or 9, that is pretty bad for Rob he can tolerate a lot. We know that this pain is normal but it still sucks and doesn't make it any better. We didn't come in last night because of the pain we came in because of the fever and the pussing line. The doctor said that tomorrow his counts should go up and he will start feeling better and he can probably go home tomorrow. The upside is Rob has done really well, they find that most patients are in the hospital on day 4 of the stem cell transplant Rob made it to day 10.

Rob has not been doing well these last few days, he says his gut hurts, like he has major cramps. Tylenol seems redundant at this point because it is the lining of his stomach that is damaged why make it worse.
I am not sure who is lucky, me or the teenager, lol!! I don't want to name him but most of you know. We went to court on Friday to deal with the two tickets he had for a total of $175.00. We got there and they looked up the ticket numbers and neither of them were there, the policemen that gave him the tickets didn't hand them into the courts. What are the odds of that 2 tickets?? He is lucky, but unfortunately didn't learn any lessons, and I am lucky I didn't have to pay for them.
check out thentherescake.blogspot.com. I just did some cake pops for my first paying client that wasn't my mom.

I didn't post yesterday because I tried to be a hero and not take my diclectin (helps nausea in pregnancy). I didn't take it for 2 days and then yesterday, I threw up just out of the blue. So back to the diclectin I go. I am back on track now.
Rob is still not in the hospital, it is truly amazing, they said 90% of people need a blood transfusion and that if he was going to have a bad week this would have been it. We were prepared for a bad week and nothing has happened, we are so thank full for the break. Rob has to go to the hospital every morning at 8 for blood work and then he is out and home by noon. Yesterday Rob's counts were all low. Today he starts the neupogen shots (that will bring all his counts up but mostly his white blood cells), he will get one tomorrow as well and then I will do the one for Saturday and he will go back to the hospital Monday for blood work.

Surprisingly today I post from home. Rob went into the hospital all packed and we expected a week long hospital stay. His counts were still ok, White blood cells were 1.24 (normal is 4-11) so he still has an immune system. Red blood cells carry oxygen are 135, I think normal is 150-something, sorry I forgot. And finally his platelets are 108 again I forget what the normal is but I know he is ok until below 80 to be careful and below 10 they give a platelet transfusion. His CVC line is not doing well though, the doctor is saying to put him on antibiotics because it is pussing, I just wish they would take it out there is no need for it. I hope they learn from last time and take it out as soon as he has reached his day + 14 which is next Thursday for discharge. By the sounds of it Rob will be staying at the hospital tomorrow and they will put him back on antibiotics. They were surprised that his counts weren't all really low, they call it neutropenic.

I wanted to say thank you to all the people who commented on the last post. It is nice to know there is support out there, I didn't know who all read the blog, it was nice.

I also want to comment on my pregnancy here, I feel the need to defend myself a little. When people find out that I am pregnant of course the normal response is wow that is great, a child is such a blessing. I really feel that way too and there are other factors in this pregnancy that I want to tell you about so if you ever hear my response to your joy you will know why. I am terrified, I know it is a normal thing to question is my child going to be normal, however most people know that Rob went through chemo a year ago and they ask me is the baby going to be ok, so now I have the normal mother feeling doubled, no actually tripled. I also know the hostile environment the baby is growing in. I am stressed out, it is easy to say think happy thoughts when you created your own stress but I didn't create this, and I can't just let the stress in my life go. In the beginning when I found out the issue to me was I had let go of having another baby the moment we found out about the cancer, so for 2 months I never thought about it and I was completely over it, so to find out after 2 months was shock. The first thing I did was call my mom sobbing asking her to tell me God had a plan, would he give me a child, just to take it away, I couldn't go through that. She reassured me God did and everything would be ok. So if you hear my lack of joy that is why I am terrified.
So for the record the chemo Rob had a year ago the doctor said wait one year before trying the success rate of getting pregnant is low. The last chemo treatment that Rob had which was Melphalan on Tuesday of last week is the one that will make him sterile. He has never received Melphalan before last week.

Today is our 6th Anniversary, I have been waiting for this day for the last month. I was expecting something big and amazing to happen and then realized the most amazing thing already happened, we are here together celebrating 6 years.
We went to Milestones for dinner tonight. They had a table set up different than all the other tables. We were by ourselves until the last 5 minutes of dinner. I had called ahead a few days earlier and spoke with the Chef about Robs restrictions and asked if they could accommodate us. The chef at Milestones on Stephen Avenue said absolutely and then we went through each item, we were ordering. The meal we had was off of the seasonal menu, so they made everything just for us. They brought the food out with lids on it to make sure it was good for Rob. They served us expensive imported from Italy bottled water, because Rob can't drink tap water, wont touch wine and I am pregnant so no wine for me. The food was perfect, I really don't know how else to say it. They didn't just say they were going to do accommodate Rob, you could actually tell they did it. There was a vase of flowers in the middle of the table and at the end when we were leaving our waitress brought a box out for the flowers so we could take them home. I know I know I shouldn't have them in the house, I will have to send them to my moms tomorrow, so she can enjoy them. The reason Rob can't have them in the house is they are usually imported and who knows what bugs they have on them. I think the biggest thing that impacted me about our special dinner was at the end the Manager came over to us and asked if he could pay for our dinner. They gave us a card with the words, You are an inspiration to all of us, the Manager took time to get the flowers ordered and set up a special table and then pay for our dinner and be involved in our service as well. Thank you Milestones you made this a memorable milestone for us.

Wow it smells nasty here!! like raspberry, cream corn, garlic and mint. The preservative that was in the stem cells is the garlic and cream corn, the raspberry is the air freshener I am bent over while typing this, and the mint smell is the candy in mine and Robs mouth. The stem cell transplant is complete and Rob did not have any reactions, one that they told us to watch for was he might feel like getting up and leaving, if he did they would sedate him. He did not get up and leave, and there was no other reaction to the preservative in the stem cells. His vitals remained good through out the whole thing. Rob will be able to go home tonight around 6 and can stay out on a pass till Tuesday. I am guessing I will never eat cream corn again, lol!! it is not a nice smell in here. Rob will smell like cream corn for a week, and it is so funny he can't smell a thing. See the saying is true a skunk can't smell itself.
On another note Tyler wanted to talk to me this morning so I called and he said I got a hurt, I asked him if he fell down and he said "No I got shot" lol!!

The parking at the Foothills Hospital is so crazy today, I had to park in the far parking lot and walk over it took me 10 minutes to walk here, so I was so late but they waited for me to give Rob his last Chemo treatment. It took about 20 minutes and they just pushed it in by hand over 20 minutes. Now he is on LOTS of fluid and a drug that makes him pee lots to flush it out of his system and another drug that binds all the dead toxins that the chemo destroyed and flushes them out as well. Rob has to keep his mouth really cold with ice chips, popsicles and whatever else he can find that is cold, to prevent mouth sores. We had the doctor, the physiotherapist, and the dietitian come by today. The dietitian said that the immuno suppressed diet starts tomorrow and will only last for 2 weeks not the 3 months that we were told, she said that it has changed and they are working on printing new pamphlets. So it looks like I do not have to be as worried as I thought for the Funtastic in July. I asked the dietitian about us going out for dinner on Saturday for our anniversary and she said to call ahead and see if they can accommodate our request.

Here we are back at the hospital for the last round of treatment. We have a wonderful view of the parking lot and an older community that looks like a forest with over grown trees.
Rob got another CVC line put in, the freezing has worn off and it is not as pain full as last time. He didn't get the local anesthetic like he did last time, he is so brave lol!
While I was waiting for Rob there was this lady with her two children, one was about 3 and the other was about 6 months, she was here with her dad. I thought I was awesome for being here all the time, I changed my mind she is awesome, I couldn't do it with the kids they would be to full of energy and I couldn't keep them entertained.
They will put Rob on an IV of fluid later tonight that will run all night and then he will start the Chemo tomorrow around 10. It is pushed in by hand into his CVC line over 20 minutes. He has to keep his mouth frozen for a minimum of 4 hours they prefer 6. This chemo really damages the lining of the mouth lungs and stomach. The doctor said that before they did the ice 70% of patients got the mouth sores, by doing the ice that reduces drastically to 20% of patients get mouth sores. The mouth sores is the reason patients do not eat and lose weight, and that they are really pain full.

Over the last school year I have gotten to know the students I drive and their families. One students mom came out of the house today with dinner in her hand. It was a cheesy noodle casserole, with ceasar salad and bread. It was really good and I didn't have to cook and clean up was a breeze. I feel like lately I have been really crabby because I am physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. It seems that people are not understanding that being crabby is a result of all of those, I DON'T enjoy snapping and being cranky. I know that peoples reaction is to snap back cause they don't understand but this is me begging you to try and understanding. So today is a great day if you want to talk I am not cranky, lol!
We went to the hospital today for RN teaching, basically she was telling us what to expect in the next half of the treatment, which starts Tuesday. Rob will get a new line in the same side he had the other one they will just move it over a bit, the reason is everything comes out of the left of your heart so there is lots of stuff in the way and that's why the line needs to go in on the right. Some interesting stuff was Rob will be on one antibiotic once a day for 2 years. It seems like such a long time, it is the one that prevents chicken pox, shingles measles and mumps. That vaccine is given when a child is 2 because then you have a mature and strong immune system. It is a live vaccine as well so you really have to be able to handle it. She said the first weekend after will be ok but the week following the transplant may be hard. So most likely Rob will be out of the hospital for our anniversary. Wow! 6 years already and all I am hoping for this year for our anniversary is that we don't have to spend it in the hospital. It wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen at least we are together.
We asked about being in the sun and basically he has the same risks we have of burning just his is a little quicker, because of the antibiotic he is on. So as long as he is careful with food and sunscreen we should be ok to go to Vernon for the Funtastic.

When we were at the hospital on Monday we forgot and they forgot to take Robs stitches out. I called the hospital and asked them if I could take it out and they said I could, lol oh my!! EWWWW!! EWWW!! that is all I have to say, after my moment I sucked it up and did it. I didn't hurt him at all. We both survived. lol!

we got the results back today from the CT Scan Rob did last week. All of the spots where the lymphoma was they were over 2cm everything now is under 1cm. They will shrink more as well. The most important part is the spots are not active for cancer. The entire process will be delayed by 2 weeks because of the infection that happened. They want him on antibiotics for a week and then another week to recover just to make sure. He was supposed to go in this week but now he is going in on May 19th. They will put in a new CVC at that time.
There is this one antibiotic that makes Rob nauseas when he takes it, we remembered the other day that the nurse told him to take something with acid like orange juice in it and that will help digest the pill. It is hard to digest and they told him not to have milk with it, because that keeps the acid down. So now with the orange juice he isn't as sick.