December 5, 2013

Today we have good news and bad news. Casey's white blood count went up to .3 (baby steps). The bad news is he found out his doctor is a Dookie. I said "don't tell him you are a tar heel, you need to get good care". He said "too late", they were talking about last night's basketball game and Casey told him he is a UNC alum. He told Casey is a Duke alum. Casey said "uh-oh". Hopefully this doesn't lead to another colonoscopy.

December 4, 2013

Gary got home last night, so Casey is in the hospital alone right now. I will be going out to him on Tuesday. I will get the apartment and have it all ready for when he is discharged from the hospital. You never know exactly what day that will be and when you are 1500 miles away you need to plan in advance for the what ifs. Stevie is at home and doing well. She is a bit tired from all of the stuff they took from her and her back is healing. Most of the swelling has gone down. Gary and Casey had a nice Thanksgiving dinner in the hospital. Casey's counts are at 0.0 and he is having stomach issues, so he is very tired. He still has the blood clot, which they are trying to dissolve with medication. He will have to take it easy and take medicine for the next 6 months. He has very low platelet count and no immune system, so medication is the only option. At least with the port pulled out, the amount of pain has eased a bit. He does still have some pain, but it is manageable. Gary says all he does is works and sleeps. It really is hard to imagine how hard a swim coach works when they are not on deck unless you live with one (or sit with one in a hospital daily). The doctors want him to walk at least 3 times a day. So Casey, this is your mother, "you need to step away from the computer and go for a walk".
The doctor's tell him to expect his counts to start rebounding around day 21. We are at day 12. This is his 3rd transplant, but each one has been different. We really don't know what to expect, so we just keep praying.

Stevie says hi.

Gary's Thanksgiving Dinner

Casey's Thanksgiving Dinner

Casey and Caroline face timing on Stevie's phone. Gary says I need an I Phone. This is the happiest he has seen Casey all week. Caroline definitely recognizes him.

November 23, 2013

The transplant took place yesterday without a hitch. Stevie spent the night in a hospital room on the 12th floor and Casey is on the 18th. Stevie was discharged today. She is going to spend the night in a hotel with Gary. I imagine it will be nice to get out of the hospital. Gary had a rough time getting to Houston. His flight was delayed a couple of times and then cancelled. He was rebooked on another airline and finally landed in Houston 13 hours after leaving home this morning. Our neighbors are driving to Texas today and he jokingly said "I'll race you". It was a lot closer race than we imagined. He has still not arrived at the hospital. Stevie is sore today, but feeling ok. Casey's counts are falling quickly. Now we wait for engraftment. His first transplant never engrafted, his second one didn't engraft until they started prepping him for a 3rd transplant. The next few weeks will be tedious.
Stevie gave Casey a present today. I have attached the photo. She gave him a coffee cup and a tee shirt with the same saying. Do you think she is enjoying this?

Update....Gary has finally arrived at the hospital

November 19, 2013

Casey's pain in his port is not due to a damaged muscle, but due to a blood clot. They gave him medicine to try to dissolve the clot, but it did not do the trick. Today they are going to remove his port and put another one in his arm. They traditionally do not do a transplant through a line in the arm, but they feel as though they can pull it off. His pain has subsided a bit as long as he doesn't try to use his arm (and they keep giving him pain medicine). Casey is not allowed out of his area, so his walks are confined to up and down the hall. He is feeling pretty tired. Stevie will be arriving in Houston tomorrow, that should perk him up. She got a real nice send off from her swimmers. This is a photo from last week. I wonder what the faces will look like this week.

Caroline sends them both a kiss.

Stevie's Send off

November 16, 2013

Casey got into his room last night. He is not feeling great. He thinks they tore his pectoral muscle when putting his port in. This is the 4th or 5th port he has had in his chest, so he has a lot of scar tissue to work around. I have not talked to him yet today because he has not been able to sleep the last couple of nights, so hopefully with the help of drugs, he is catching up.
His mailing address is:
Paul Casey Coble
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Room #G1876
1515 Holcombe Boulevard
Houston,Tx. 77030

November 14, 2013

Stevie is home for a few days and Casey gets admitted into the hospital tomorrow. They had all of their pre-testing and counseling done this week. They took several pints of blood from Stevie and Casey had dental, vision, heart and lung tests. He also got a shot of chemo in his spine. I will post Casey's mailing address tomorrow. Someone asked me why they are transplanting his bone marrow. The simple answer is Leukemia is cancer in your blood. Your blood is produced from your bone marrow. Casey's bone marrow is making bad blood. It does get a lot more complicated from there with B cells vs T cells, Philadelphia positive or negative, etc. Prior to the transplant they will kill all of Casey's cells to make room for Stevie's cells to take over. This will leave him with no immune system, so he will be locked in his hospital room for a while. The intense amount of chemo leave him with no desire to leave his bed. They did say he might not get as sick this time since he has no cancer in his system at this time. Since leukemia is in your blood, it travels throughout your whole body and can hide in places like your brain, gums, eyes, etc. We are not sure why none of the other transplants worked, but feel confident he is getting the best treatment available and they are being very thorough.
Casey and Stevie thought they were funny by sending me this photo. Well we will see who gets the last laugh. I am posting it here for everyone to see. What a couple of geeks.

November 11, 2013

Stevie is in Houston to start her process. She and Casey have a busy week full of tests and appointments. Stevie's first stop in Texas was to buy a pair of cowboy boots. Poor Charlie tried to move 1500 miles away, but she found him. Casey's main objective was to get in a round of golf while he had his port removed. He and Charlie went out yesterday morning.They will put a new port in for the transplant tomorrow. This one will be in his chest instead of his arm. Stevie will coming home for a swim meet on Thursday and then back out there on Wednesday, November 20th.
Gary and I went to Baltimore on Saturday and had dinner with Stevie and Erik at a French Bistro owned by one of their swimmer's parents. It was a fabulous evening. The place is called Crepe Du Jour. If you are ever in the Mt. Washington area of Baltimore, you should check it out. We also had a birthday party for Stevie's dog, Kona and Casey's dog, Caroline. They were 2 years old on November 6th.
Gary is going to Houston on Saturday, November 23rd through December 3rd and Stevie will be coming home on November 25th. Gary will be with Casey on Thanksgiving. Casey will have full body radiation and some intense chemo. I am not sure if he will be able to eat any turkey this year, but I am sure he will try. Thanksgiving dinner is his favorite meal. We can always have Christmas and Thanksgiving in March. We will worry about that later, just taking this one step at a time.