Tuesday, September 17, 2013
September 17, 2013
Casey and Gary are in Houston. Casey was in the hospital from Thursday to Sunday evening. He has his handy chemo backpack on again. This starts round 4 of 5. Homeward stretch is in sight!! Now we are waiting to hear about the transplant. They do like to keep us guessing. Gary is coming home tonight, and Casey will go back to Charlie's house. Charlie and Melissa got a new puppy since he left. I am sure Casey is anxious to meet the baby!
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
September 4, 2013
Casey got home last week. We went up to our cabin in Sullivan County for Labor Day weekend. The weather was beautiful, great friends joined us, and the dogs got to swim, hike and run around in the mountains. We had a really good weekend. Unfortunately, Gary's Aunt Betty passed away on Saturday. I will really miss her and our phone chats that sometimes lasted over an hour. You always got the truth from Aunt Betty, she was never malicious or mean, just called it like she saw it. That is what I will miss most of all.
Casey met with the transplant team last week. They are talking about doing another transplant, but do not know what type they will do. Stevie is being tested again to see if she could be a donor. Since he has had a couple of transplants already, they are worried about the stress it would put on his organs to put him through another one. At this point, Casey has been transplanted with cord blood from France and from Duke, which did not take. Then he was transplanted with a young man who was an 8 out of 10 match. That one did not take, so they started the process for another transplant. During the preparation, something kicked in and he had a bad case of graft vs host disease, which actually allowed his body to accept the donor's cells. At this point, Casey has more DNA than CSI has in their labs. He went through having all of his baby vaccinations all over again. The doctors in Houston feel his sister would be a better match than an 8 out of 10. Stevie gladly got all of her blood work done. Now, we just wait to find out what happens next. The doctors in Houston are consulting his doctor from Hershey to come up with a plan. I love the fact that there are no egos involved and they work together.
Gary and Casey will head back to Houston on September 11th. Meanwhile, we will try to spend as much time with Casey as we can.
Casey met with the transplant team last week. They are talking about doing another transplant, but do not know what type they will do. Stevie is being tested again to see if she could be a donor. Since he has had a couple of transplants already, they are worried about the stress it would put on his organs to put him through another one. At this point, Casey has been transplanted with cord blood from France and from Duke, which did not take. Then he was transplanted with a young man who was an 8 out of 10 match. That one did not take, so they started the process for another transplant. During the preparation, something kicked in and he had a bad case of graft vs host disease, which actually allowed his body to accept the donor's cells. At this point, Casey has more DNA than CSI has in their labs. He went through having all of his baby vaccinations all over again. The doctors in Houston feel his sister would be a better match than an 8 out of 10. Stevie gladly got all of her blood work done. Now, we just wait to find out what happens next. The doctors in Houston are consulting his doctor from Hershey to come up with a plan. I love the fact that there are no egos involved and they work together.
Gary and Casey will head back to Houston on September 11th. Meanwhile, we will try to spend as much time with Casey as we can.
Monday, August 19, 2013
August 19, 2013
Casey continues to be doing well with his treatments. We are on our annual family vacation without him. Caroline is with us. She is having a good time playing in the ocean. I know Casey would like to be here playing tennis ball with her. Casey's friend, Lauren is spending a few days with him in Houston. I know he is enjoying having her there with him.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
August 14, 2013
Today marks the half way point of Casey's treatment. It is all downhill from here on out. Coming into the home stretch!!
Sunday, August 11, 2013
August 11, 2013
Casey was released from the hospital on Friday, August 2nd. We enjoyed a nice evening with Connor and Melissa on Saturday (Charlie was out of town at a swim meet) , and on Sunday I flew home. Connor had signs on the door welcoming Casey and Charlie home on Sunday. What a cute kid.
Yesterday 3 of Casey's friends had a golf outing to raise money to help Casey. It was a beautiful day and a huge success. Casey was not able to be there, but Stevie face timed him, so he was able to say hi to everyone who was there. Tyler (one of the guys who hosted the event) was a wrestler growing up, commented about the amount of support from the swimming community. A lot of the hole sponsors were swimming related. There was a foursome of University of Georgia swimmers who made the trip to Lancaster. We are so lucky to be part of such a great sport. Thank you to all the players, sponsors, and a big thank you to Kyle Salyards, Tyler Gorman and Derek Templeton for a job well done.
Yesterday 3 of Casey's friends had a golf outing to raise money to help Casey. It was a beautiful day and a huge success. Casey was not able to be there, but Stevie face timed him, so he was able to say hi to everyone who was there. Tyler (one of the guys who hosted the event) was a wrestler growing up, commented about the amount of support from the swimming community. A lot of the hole sponsors were swimming related. There was a foursome of University of Georgia swimmers who made the trip to Lancaster. We are so lucky to be part of such a great sport. Thank you to all the players, sponsors, and a big thank you to Kyle Salyards, Tyler Gorman and Derek Templeton for a job well done.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
August 1, 2013
My hotel is right by Reliant Field where the Texans play football. They have had training camp all week for fans to watch and perhaps meet their favorite player. The traffic getting by the field has been crazy. The event is usually over by 11:00 am. I suppose you have to get an early start to beat the heat.
Casey continues to be doing well. Our walks have been indoors, this hospital is big enough to get a long walk inside. Yesterday we found a Fuzion frozen yogurt stand, a restaurant with a lounge and live band. We had to hurry back for his scheduled blood draw, but will time things differently today. I have my day planned, first stop waterfall cafe for a strawbrry salad, then to Fuzion for dessert, and then listen to some live entertainment and perhaps some shopping. This hospital is like a small city, complete with a hotel, several cafes, laundry, hair salon (for patients only), gift shops, libraries, and of course all of those annoying labs for MRI's, doctor visits, bone marrow biopsy, and chemo infusion. This doctor stuff can get in the way. I never would plan an MD Anderson vacation, but may a well make the best of the situatuion. Fortunately, Casey is feeling well enough for our excursions.
I went for a swim this morning at the hotel. A little girl who was by the pool yesterday was there again today. I estimate she is around 8 years old. She told me that she was quite impressed by my moves in the pool. Well it has been many years since I have been able to impress anyone with my moves. She quickly became my new best friend. We were racing in the pool, touching the bottom of the deep end, jumping in off the side. I asked her name, and she said "Debra". I felt like I was 7 again and playing with my sister who's name is also Debra.
Casey continues to be doing well. Our walks have been indoors, this hospital is big enough to get a long walk inside. Yesterday we found a Fuzion frozen yogurt stand, a restaurant with a lounge and live band. We had to hurry back for his scheduled blood draw, but will time things differently today. I have my day planned, first stop waterfall cafe for a strawbrry salad, then to Fuzion for dessert, and then listen to some live entertainment and perhaps some shopping. This hospital is like a small city, complete with a hotel, several cafes, laundry, hair salon (for patients only), gift shops, libraries, and of course all of those annoying labs for MRI's, doctor visits, bone marrow biopsy, and chemo infusion. This doctor stuff can get in the way. I never would plan an MD Anderson vacation, but may a well make the best of the situatuion. Fortunately, Casey is feeling well enough for our excursions.
I went for a swim this morning at the hotel. A little girl who was by the pool yesterday was there again today. I estimate she is around 8 years old. She told me that she was quite impressed by my moves in the pool. Well it has been many years since I have been able to impress anyone with my moves. She quickly became my new best friend. We were racing in the pool, touching the bottom of the deep end, jumping in off the side. I asked her name, and she said "Debra". I felt like I was 7 again and playing with my sister who's name is also Debra.
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