March 31, 2011

It's amazing how quickly things are turning around.  Casey is doing great.  His blood counts are better than they have been in years.  He is back at work and was at Virginia Tech this past weekend coaching sectionals.  On Monday he has an appointment with his opthamologist (Dr. Neely) and on Wednesday he sees his oncologist.  During his hospital stay, his eyes were pools of blood again, but Casey kept assuring the hospital staff that Dr. Neely will take care of it (this was happening while he was hallucinating). I think he thought she was in the room with him, along with a bunch of kids who kept making a lot of noise, swimmers, Aunt Debbie's little friends and a helicopter.  His room was quite full.  Last time we went to see Dr. Neely, Casey got out of there without having any procedures done and his eyes looked better than they had in years. He didn't have to go back for 6 months.  (Casey has had a vitrectomy and surgery for a detached retina, along with several laser treatments.)  I am going into the appointment very optimistic.
Next week we have 2 great check-ups to look forward to.  I will keep you posted.
Peggy

March 22, 2011

Things have really changed in a week.  Casey is doing great.  He went to High School states on Saturday afternoon and back to work on Monday.  High school states was a really fast meet, we saw state and national records broken.  Congratulations to everyone who participated, you showed all the other states PA is a powerhouse. We were in the lobby talking to somebody, when the people running the meet came up to me and gave me instructions about entering with the handicapped people.  I was standing with bald and skinny Casey the cancer patient, and Gary, and they singled me out as disabled.  I had to explain to these people twice that I am perfectly able to enter with everyone else.  These last couple of weeks must have been a lot rougher on me than I realized.  Gary and Casey did not let that one go.  Thank you Betty and Erik for getting us the tickets.
Casey is headed down to Virginia Tech (Gary's alma mater) this weekend.  He is getting a ride with the parents of his swimmers. I think Gary is a little disappointed that he doesn't have to take him down.
Tomorrow Casey has an appointment with Dr. Ehmann.  Hopefully his diabetes and liver are getting better. The improvement has been so great this past week that I should be satisfied, but there is always hope.
Peggy

March 15, 2011

Dr. Ehmann called Casey this morning to tell him the results of his bone marrow biopsy.  All Clear, no leukemia blasts in there!!  I can't even begin to try to put into words how happy I am!!  Hope your day is going as good as mine.
Peggy

March 14, 2011

Casey came home on Saturday evening.  He is feeling good, but real tired.  We went to Hershey for his check-up today.  His blood counts came back good.  He had a recordable ANC count, and they did another bone marrow biopsy.  On Wednesday he has an appointment with Dr. Ehmann,  For now he is resting and looking forward to watching the basketball tournament and high school state swimming.
Peggy

March 11, 2011

Casey got the word.  He can come home tomorrow.  The plan is to do another bone marrow biopsy on Monday.  I sure hope all of this graft vs. host has killed off all of the leukemia.  Things are pretty much under control.  His liver took a real hard hit and he is getting insulin injections, so he won't be drinking any beer for a while.  Hopefully all of that comes around once he is at home eating decent food, getting out of bed and moving around.  The past two days Casey has improved in leaps and bounds.  I am looking forward to having him at home.
Peggy

March 10, 2011

Today is a really good day.  Casey is feeling much better, is able to stay awake, talk and eat. They are even talking about letting him go home sometime soon.  Today is Annie and Bowie's 2nd birthday.  We will celebrate when Casey comes home.  I saw a neighbor (Chris) down in the cafeteria who was taking a dinner break while waiting for his wife to give birth to their first child.  Actually his parents are our neighbors, and he grew up with Casey.  It is so nice to see someone in here for a nice occasion.  Tomorrow is Chris's birthday, I think he is hoping his wife is in labor for another 4 1/2 hours.  I think it would be nice for the baby to share the puppies birthday.
It's time to get ready to take a walk, which includes having Casey put on a mask, unplugging his IV and making sure his hospital gown is tied shut in the back.
Peggy

March 8, 2011

The hallucinations have stopped, but they have left Casey feeling wiped out.  They have removed his TPN (which is his food through an IV) and are trying to get him to eat on his own.  That is not going too well.  Nothing tastes right.  Yesterday he got a pack of cards made by his swimmers.  We enjoyed reading them.  The knock knock jokes were pretty lame, but they really made me laugh.  We also heard from turd bird, poop stain, and diarrhea.  I noticed a trend (I think his swimmers are full of something!).
Each day is getting a little better.
Peggy

March 5, 2011

I have not posted for a couple of days because Casey wanted his swimmers to focus on themselves and not him. Great job to all of the LAC swimmers at districts.  Casey has been paying attention, but we have taken his phone away from him.  The fever has finally gone away, but one of the medications he was on caused him to hallucinate.  He was responding to text messages with some pretty bizarre comments.  He was coaching people on their swimming techniques as they came into his room.  My sister stopped in yesterday and he told her she needs to do a flat start instead of a track start.  He had patient sitters with him around the clock.  When the new on arrived this morning, he told her to stay to the right and don't false start.  So Casey was with you guys in his own little world.  The hallucinations have stopped now and his sitters have been released.  The doctors feel his problems are due to graft vs. host disease.  They took him off of his anti rejection medications prior to his last dose of chemo.  Between the chemo and no meds, there is a fight between the donated cells and the leukemic cells going on.  He has had 2 bone marrow biopsies.  The results of the first one showed the leukemia is still in there, but the numbers were greatly reduced.  The results of the second on were pretty much the same as the first one.  They are encouraged by the graft vs. host, thinking it will kill off all of the bad cells and they will not have to do the mini transplant.  Things are starting to look up.
Thank you for all of your prayers and support.
Peggy