A new Day Zero

It was a long day Yesterday at Md Anderson. Our routine on Tuesdays has been to start with Blood work. Her numbers are continuing to get better with each day. Her Platelets were still under “50” so another transfusion was on the way. If you recall, they raised the normal threshold for her after her fall. It has been a tremendous help getting the healing process moving along faster.

Radiation

8/2/2022 was the final day of radiation. If you have not seen the video, you can find it on Facebook at this link https://www.facebook.com/1542915096/videos/1190256648490142/

Twelve days of radiation. Towards the end, she did start having some irritation with her esophagus. Fortunately, they have a mouth rinse for that!

The days leading up to this event were very emotional for me. I found myself several times in tears thinking about how far we have come and that this was truly an end to this phase of treatment. I really don’t think Michele saw me, but even yesterday it was hard to contain.

We know that there are so many people that go through the regimen of daily radiation treatments. Sitting in the lobby, you see the variety of patients coming through. There are children with part of their heads shaved. A lot of people that have sizeable scars and people that are brought in on Ambulance stretchers.

The staff and doctors are all over the top phenomenal. I don’t know how many times people ring that bell daily, but they treat it as special as if it were their first time. I even like the fact that they have a special light shining down on the bell.

The PICC Line

One of the earliest procedures in her treatment was to insert the PICC Line. This is a catheter inserted into an artery that drops the medicine closer to the heart for distribution. We have learned that the chemicals used in the major treatment are too strong to be placed in a normal vain.

Tomorrow 8/4/2022, we are scheduled to remove the line. What a glorious bookend to the period.

We will have monthly chemo treatments, but they are less impacting and can be done through a regular IV.

The Doctor Visit

We asked to see our doctor yesterday. Dr. Issa has been such a calming and confident voice in this treatment. To hear him say, “You’re done!” was angelic. Michele did breakdown a bit telling him Thank You and how incredible the team has been.

We will leave Saturday for a family gathering and he said “Go and have fun. We will see you again in two weeks”. We will do blood work again tomorrow, but then it should be in line with the monthly visits.

The Transfusion

In a strange twist of fate for the nurses, Michele had the same pair of nurses as she did the previous week. One was new to MD Anderson and was being watched and taught by the more experienced Nurse. This same pair were also prepared for Michele. As soon as she sat down, she had her headset on and was talking to clients. Each time they came for vitals, she would tell the client to hold on while they “Take my temperature”.

it took about 2 hours to complete. In that time Michele had completed a few reviews and written at least one new application.

Our amazing staff

We have praised them over and over during this treatment cycle. Yesterday was a tough day for Madison and Morgan. Their father had recently passed away and they had the service yesterday. We did our best to make it out for the service, but MD Anderson stands for Make it a DAY! We hope there was peace in the service and the good times were remembered. We appreciate you both more than we could have imagined.

Maintenance

We are not completely sure all that this will bring for us, but we look forward to coming back in a couple of weeks to Dr. Issa to find out. Tomorrow is another full day for us. We look forward to continuing to share our journey. Thank you all for the support.

Day ZERO of the rest of our lives begins today…

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