February 2, 2014

It is official. The groundhog has predicted 6 more weeks of winter. I am looking forward to spring.
Casey's skin biopsy came back clear of graft vs host, so the dates for the mini transplant are February 10 & 11th. Stevie's birthday is February 9th, so it is fitting that he gets her cells on Monday the 10th. I will be in Houston with Casey at that time. Last week when my sister, Debbie was with Casey, they went over all of his instructions for when he gets home to Pennsylvania, along with a packet of information for Dr. Ehmann, his oncologist at Hershey. Good to have Aunt Debbie with Casey for that because she speaks nerd. All of those years spent in the microbiology lab have made her fluent. We are all getting prepared to bring Casey home. I took his dog to the vet and got her annual shots. They assured me they are not live vaccines, but I still feel the need to be extra cautious and have them done before he gets home. We do not have an exact date, but March 2nd is day 100, so we are planning on that week. We have Casey sitters all lined up to that date. Two of Casey's college friends and team mates are each taking a turn. Eric Mohr will be coming from Atlanta and Griff Helfrich will be coming from San Francisco. That will be a special treat for Casey, not only to have them there to chauffeur him around, but to get to spend time with them. Stevie's husband, Erik will also His friend Kyle Salyards is with him now. They usually get together for the Super Bowl, so tonight will somewhat be like a typical Super Bowl Sunday for Casey. It is so very nice of you all to do this for all of us. Casey has a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks.

January 23, 2014

I am at home in Pennsylvania in the cold weather, while my sister Debbie is with Casey is in Houston. Stevie spent some time with Casey after Lauren left. Debbie is taking good care of him. They are going to do what they call a boost or mini transplant. They saved some of Stevie's cells, which they are infusing with the targeted chemo and will turn Stevie's cells into killer cells. Theoretically, they will attack any leukemia blasts when they start to form. Stevie's cells are busy at work kicking butt, but knowing Stevie, I wouldn't expect anything less. Yesterday Casey had pulmonary tests, ekg, and chest xrays to make sure he is deserving of Stevie's cells. Casey does have a rash, so today they did a skin biopsy to make sure it is not graft vs. host disease. They are looking at the first week of February to do the boost. Casey continues to hook up his IV daily and give himself shots for the blood clots between hospital visits.
Stevie and Casey went to Austin and watched the Grand Prix swim meet. They saw some people they know. Some of the swimmers from Stevie's swim team were there. Kyle will be going out next. I am sure Casey will enjoy having him there to watch the Super Bowl. Casey's college friend, Griff with be going out in February too. We are getting closer to day 100 and bringing Casey home.

January 12, 2014

Today ends my stay in Houston. Casey's friend Lauren is here to take over. Our past week has continued to bring promising improvements to Casey's health. His counts are rebounding and he is feeling good. We took a metro ride through the city on Saturday. Wednesday we went across the street to the Reliant Center to the boat show. Friday, we took a drive to College Station to watch Emily and her Georgia bulldogs take on Texas A&M. The facility was real nice and the meet was exciting (the final score was 150 UGA and 150 A&M, tie), and it was great to see Emily. Yesterday we went to watch Connor (Charlie & Melissa's son) swim in an age group meet. Unfortunately, we left after the first event. Casey should not be around kids and in closed areas. You would think we would know better, but a least we got to see Connor swim one event.
We filled in time with trips to the hospital, where the doctors are impressed with Casey's recovery. They do not know how stong willed Stevie and her cells are. I saw Betty Lou asked if this means there will be two Stevies, all I can say to that is could there ever be two Jenns?
The weather is sunny and 70 and so is the outlook!
Thank you for your continued support.

January 2, 2014

Happy New Year everyone! 2014 is starting out to be a fabulous year. The results from Casey's bone marrow aspiration and biopsy showed he is fully engrafted, 100% Stevie, with no leukemia or any disease. His blood counts are climbing without the help of neupogen and he is feeling good. He gets daily IV infusions of magnesium and anti fungal medicines and daily shots for his blood clot, which we can do at home. We go into the hospital on Mondays and Thursdays for check ups. Yesterday we had our traditional pork and saurkraut and then we walked the whole way around Reliant Stadium (Bill O'Brien's new home)which is right across the street from the apartment.
Gary will be going home tomorrow to snow, cold weather and crazy puppies. I get to enjoy another week of 60 degree weather.

December 27, 2013

I hope you all had a Very Merry Christmas. We did miss the rest of the family, but Gary, Casey and I had a nice little Christmas celebration in Houston. We grilled on Christmas Eve and had a turkey dinner on Christmas day. Houston is a very diverse city. The grocery store has huge hispanic, asian, and indian sections. No PA dutch section, so I was a little lost until I found the huge wine section. Santa was able to find us and Casey was able to face time his dog (and sister). I do enjoy the 60 degree days and do not miss the snow. Casey did not have to go to the hospital on Christmas. We hook him up to an IV everyday that he does not have to go into the hospital. He gets anti fungal medicine and magnesium through the IV. We go for walks through the apartment complex and watch a lot of television. Things are going smooth. Casey had a bone marrow aspiration last week and the results should be here next week. Meanwhile there is a lot of football to watch.
Thank you for all of the cards and gifts. You have all been wonderful!

December 21, 2013

To catch up on what has happened since my last post. I left Houston on Sunday and Gary arrived. We were able to have lunch together with Casey in his hospital room before I came home. Monday Casey was discharged from the hospital. Gary and he are in the apartment and making daily trips to the hospital. Casey has to give himself shots every day for the next 6 months because of the blood clot. They did another ultra sound, but it has not changed. Casey's counts continued to climb with the help of neupogen. They stopped the neupogen and his counts are falling off a little, but that is to be expected. He got another dose of neupogen yesterday and some platelets. All of this has been hard on his liver, but with all things considered, we are all very happy with the way things are progressing. I arrived in Houston on Tuesday night, our walk on Wednesday was a bit laborious, by Sunday I was sprinting to keep up with him. I pray the improvement continues.
Casey received a nice "care package" from Tam Wilson that will keep is fed for the next couple of weeks. Thank you Tam. He has also received many cards from friends and members of our church. Thank you to everyone. I am heading back on tonight. Gary, Casey and I will spend the holidays together. Annie & Bowie get to spend to holidays with my parents and Caroline will spend them with Stevie and Erik. Caroline and Casey will be able to face time each other. Caroline gets so excited when she is able to do that. I am sure Gary will have all of the banana trees in Houston mapped out until I get there. We have a banana tree at home that Gary is obsessed with. The thing is about 14 feet tall. Good thing we have high ceilings.
On another note, I have to brag about my son in law Erik. Erik is in Scotland, he was chosen as an assistant coach for Team USA in the Duel in the Pool.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

December 12, 2013

My last post I said Casey's white blood count was .3. I got excited only to have his counts come in at 0.0 again for the next several days. On Monday his count was up to .2, Tuesday it maintained at .2, Wednesday .5 (I was starting to breath) and today it is at .9. Good things are starting to happen. After his first 2 transplants failed to engraft, I am still cautious to not get too excited, but things sure do feel promising. I arrived in Houston on Tuesday night. Air travel is never easy, but winter snow storms make things more difficult. But I did get here. I got into the apartment and moved all of Casey's stuff in, went to Target and Costco and got everything they will need for several weeks. I even got our turkey for Christmas dinner. Casey is looking forward to PA Dutch style filling. I will go home on Sunday and Gary will come down. I will return on December 21st and stay into the middle of January. We will be racking up the frequent flyer miles over the next 3 months.
Casey and I went for 2 walks yesterday, which is a great improvement over last week when it was a huge effort for him to get out of bed to go to the bathroom. His stomach continues to give him problems, his bones ache and his hair is just about all gone, but I think he is doing really well. It is a lot easier to be here with him, than to be 1500 miles away. 60 degree temperatures aren't too hard to take either.

Casey's apartment address is:

Casey Coble
8181 Fannin Street
Apartment #2213
Houston, TX 77054-2989