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How the hell r u Randy? And, most importantly, how is your good lady? Always thinking of u 2 mate
How the hell r u Randy? And, most importantly, how is your good lady? Always thinking of u 2 mate
Az Rusty
- Thread starter Anders
- Start date
HI Anders and the rest of my friends here
HI Anders and the rest of my friends here
Well....
The short answer is that we are doing very well. But it has been a very long haul.
For those of you who don't know me or know what we have been through.... Kathy, my wife, was diagnosed with AML last November 17th.
Since then she has been in the hospital four months. A month at a time. A month each for three chemos.. The first chemo (induction) put her into complete remission. The subsequent two consolidation chemos were standard protocol for treatment of the type of leukemia that she has (or had).
In May she was admitted to City of Hope's satellite ward at Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix where she underwent a bone marrow transplant. It was an autologous transplant (done using her own stem cells) which is the most common type. Tried to get a match with her two sisters. They matched each other but not
Kathy tolderated the bone marrow transplant very well and was home from the hospital around the first of June. She continues to stay home convalescing. Other than hives (widely scattered itchy places that come and go leaving no trace) and fatigue she is doing just great. Her hair is finally starting to grow back. For months I could see my reflection in her pointy little head.
Each day she gets stronger and stronger. They say that it will be a year before she is fully back to normal. She is starting to be able to get out at times now although she still prefers to stay close to home.
Her dietary restrictions were completely removed about six weeks ago. Until then she was on a restricted low bacteria diet. No salads, no fresh fruits or berries and no raw fish! Since kathy is Japanese this no sashimi rule was a real bummer for her. But now she is unrestricted. To celebrate her freedome we went to a very nice sushi bar to let her indulge.
Now if someone told me that I could never eat raw fish again.. somehow I think I would survive!
We feel very lucky that Kathy has pulled through this. This has been a real nightmare and the scariest experience of my entire life.
I am going to try to cut and paste a number of messages that Kathy has sent out during her recovery. This may go rather long. If it is not 'your cup of tea" please just skip over it.
I have wanted to let everyone know how we have been doing for quite some time but to tell you the truth I just HATE talking about all this shit... is kind of like what combat veterans experience after returning home. Hell...it may even be similar to PTSD...post traumatic stress disorder.
Thanks for asking
We are haning in there and doing very well.
Here goes with Kathy's stuff.....
Hope you are all well and dealing with the summer as well as can be expected. With all the radiation I've had, I'd be the last one to be out in the sun. I'm already a crispy critter. For the out of towners... The weather here is supposed to be 105-107 for about a week now. 30% chance of showers tonight. HAH!!! Not a drop. I thought it was the monsoon season.
August 22, 2002 is going to be my "100th Day" since my stem cell transplant!!! 'Posed to be some sort of milestone. I'm technically supposed to be wearing my mask and on the low bacteria diet until this time. Since I came through the transplant with flying colors, they've been pretty lenient on me and let me out of the mask and diet about a month ago, but I still have to be careful. They told me 3 things you can't eat are berries, salads (raw vegs.) and SASHIMI. Waaahhh... One can live without berries and salads, but NO SASHIMI???!!! I've been behaving myself, but I can't wait to hit the all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants. <drool>
I'm still battling the hives. Drs. can't tell me how long I'll have 'em. They say the hives are from my overactive immune system, but Internists and Dermotologists don't know for sure. I'm taking all kinds of different medications and ointments for the itch. Thank goodness I only have them on my back, neck and face. I've not been all that much fun lately. If I'm not sleeping from the antihistamines, I'm all cranked up from the prednisone, and greasy from all the ointment. ICK! One of the antihistamines I'm taking is Atarax. It's also an anti-anxiety medication that mellows me out (and puts me to sleep). When I'm taking prednisone my eyes bug out and the hair on the back of my neck sticks out. Up... Down... Up... Down... I can see why they say "Doctor is practicing medicine..." They don't know exactly what they are doing so they are practicing... and on me. YIKES! LOL!!!
Randy says my short term memory is getting much better. He said it was really noticable when I was discharged from the hospital. I didn't notice any sort of problem at all. I'm sure if I did, I forgot. LOL!!! Just think if I still have my short term memory loss, I can hide my own Easter Eggs!!! Now... when is Easter? ROFLMAO!
Dear Everyone,
We've been having a real nice weekend so far, hope you have too.
Went in Thursday for my bone marrow biopsy. It's sent to the City of Hope in CA so we won't get the results back until the middle of the week. Had my routine blood tests run and everything is fine. They gave me morphine and atavan for the biopsy and it crashed me all day Thursday and all day Friday. Felt like a whipped puppy, but feeling great now. The hives are still an issue, but currently at bay because I'm taking prednisone. The Dr. wants to talk about "things" on Tuesday. We'll see what he's decided to do this time.
After we worked a half day Saturday, we went to Todai with Alex and Dee. They are a very enjoyable couple to be around. Alex is very entertaining. LOL!!! Dinner was great. They had a nice plate of maguro and I think I ate about half of it, plus two bowls of rice, one b-b-qed sparerib, and a few green things. I hit the dessert bar really good. EVERYTHING on the dessert bar was yummy! I haven't lost my appetite. Alex and Randy hogged out on the snow crab legs and lobster. Todai went in the hole on them. Dee picks like a bird. LOLOLOL!!!
Today we went to the Hilcrest Country Club for lunch. We sponsored a hole on a charity golf tourney so they invited us to lunch. Lunch at a facility like that is almost edible. ;-) Since we got there a bit early, I bought a few raffle tickets. There were 7 main prizes for the raffle that I bought the tickets for. Main prizes were not major-major prizes, but a digital camera, DVD player, fancy sports sun glasses, a Phoenix Suns Jersey. We happened to win 3 of the "biggie prizes". It was so embarrasing that on the third one, which were the $200.00 pair of sun glasses, Randy donated it back to be raffled off again. We kept the signed Dan Marjerle basketball and a Marjerle trading card and the other prize was two signed pictures from Bo Outlaw and Stephon Marbury. I wish the sun glasses came up first. LOL!!! We don't even keep up with the Suns.
Tomorrow, Monday Alex has the whole afternoon and evening planned out for us. I'll take over potato salad, and a fruit salad and he's having what he calls MANICOTS... Manicotti that he makes from scratch. He's also made italian sausage, hot and sweet from scratch too. He says, we'll eat all day long. I can do that... LOL!!! They have a pool and will probably go dipping and kick back and relax. I'm already a crispy critter and have been warned to stay out of the sun. I've been giving Alex computer lessons so that'll take up some time.
Had to cut and run for a bit this evening. We had a call from an emergency patient so we had to go to the office. Poor guy was in alot of pain. The muscle spasm was so strong, it was pulling him crooked. Nothing new to Randy.
Got my potato salad made, will make the fruit salad in the AM, just like Gloria does... Mmmmm!!!
Be safe...
Love,
Kathy
HI Anders and the rest of my friends here
Well....
The short answer is that we are doing very well. But it has been a very long haul.
For those of you who don't know me or know what we have been through.... Kathy, my wife, was diagnosed with AML last November 17th.
Since then she has been in the hospital four months. A month at a time. A month each for three chemos.. The first chemo (induction) put her into complete remission. The subsequent two consolidation chemos were standard protocol for treatment of the type of leukemia that she has (or had).
In May she was admitted to City of Hope's satellite ward at Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix where she underwent a bone marrow transplant. It was an autologous transplant (done using her own stem cells) which is the most common type. Tried to get a match with her two sisters. They matched each other but not
Kathy tolderated the bone marrow transplant very well and was home from the hospital around the first of June. She continues to stay home convalescing. Other than hives (widely scattered itchy places that come and go leaving no trace) and fatigue she is doing just great. Her hair is finally starting to grow back. For months I could see my reflection in her pointy little head.
Each day she gets stronger and stronger. They say that it will be a year before she is fully back to normal. She is starting to be able to get out at times now although she still prefers to stay close to home.
Her dietary restrictions were completely removed about six weeks ago. Until then she was on a restricted low bacteria diet. No salads, no fresh fruits or berries and no raw fish! Since kathy is Japanese this no sashimi rule was a real bummer for her. But now she is unrestricted. To celebrate her freedome we went to a very nice sushi bar to let her indulge.
Now if someone told me that I could never eat raw fish again.. somehow I think I would survive!
We feel very lucky that Kathy has pulled through this. This has been a real nightmare and the scariest experience of my entire life.
I am going to try to cut and paste a number of messages that Kathy has sent out during her recovery. This may go rather long. If it is not 'your cup of tea" please just skip over it.
I have wanted to let everyone know how we have been doing for quite some time but to tell you the truth I just HATE talking about all this shit... is kind of like what combat veterans experience after returning home. Hell...it may even be similar to PTSD...post traumatic stress disorder.
Thanks for asking
We are haning in there and doing very well.
Here goes with Kathy's stuff.....
Hope you are all well and dealing with the summer as well as can be expected. With all the radiation I've had, I'd be the last one to be out in the sun. I'm already a crispy critter. For the out of towners... The weather here is supposed to be 105-107 for about a week now. 30% chance of showers tonight. HAH!!! Not a drop. I thought it was the monsoon season.
August 22, 2002 is going to be my "100th Day" since my stem cell transplant!!! 'Posed to be some sort of milestone. I'm technically supposed to be wearing my mask and on the low bacteria diet until this time. Since I came through the transplant with flying colors, they've been pretty lenient on me and let me out of the mask and diet about a month ago, but I still have to be careful. They told me 3 things you can't eat are berries, salads (raw vegs.) and SASHIMI. Waaahhh... One can live without berries and salads, but NO SASHIMI???!!! I've been behaving myself, but I can't wait to hit the all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants. <drool>
I'm still battling the hives. Drs. can't tell me how long I'll have 'em. They say the hives are from my overactive immune system, but Internists and Dermotologists don't know for sure. I'm taking all kinds of different medications and ointments for the itch. Thank goodness I only have them on my back, neck and face. I've not been all that much fun lately. If I'm not sleeping from the antihistamines, I'm all cranked up from the prednisone, and greasy from all the ointment. ICK! One of the antihistamines I'm taking is Atarax. It's also an anti-anxiety medication that mellows me out (and puts me to sleep). When I'm taking prednisone my eyes bug out and the hair on the back of my neck sticks out. Up... Down... Up... Down... I can see why they say "Doctor is practicing medicine..." They don't know exactly what they are doing so they are practicing... and on me. YIKES! LOL!!!
Randy says my short term memory is getting much better. He said it was really noticable when I was discharged from the hospital. I didn't notice any sort of problem at all. I'm sure if I did, I forgot. LOL!!! Just think if I still have my short term memory loss, I can hide my own Easter Eggs!!! Now... when is Easter? ROFLMAO!
Dear Everyone,
We've been having a real nice weekend so far, hope you have too.
Went in Thursday for my bone marrow biopsy. It's sent to the City of Hope in CA so we won't get the results back until the middle of the week. Had my routine blood tests run and everything is fine. They gave me morphine and atavan for the biopsy and it crashed me all day Thursday and all day Friday. Felt like a whipped puppy, but feeling great now. The hives are still an issue, but currently at bay because I'm taking prednisone. The Dr. wants to talk about "things" on Tuesday. We'll see what he's decided to do this time.
After we worked a half day Saturday, we went to Todai with Alex and Dee. They are a very enjoyable couple to be around. Alex is very entertaining. LOL!!! Dinner was great. They had a nice plate of maguro and I think I ate about half of it, plus two bowls of rice, one b-b-qed sparerib, and a few green things. I hit the dessert bar really good. EVERYTHING on the dessert bar was yummy! I haven't lost my appetite. Alex and Randy hogged out on the snow crab legs and lobster. Todai went in the hole on them. Dee picks like a bird. LOLOLOL!!!
Today we went to the Hilcrest Country Club for lunch. We sponsored a hole on a charity golf tourney so they invited us to lunch. Lunch at a facility like that is almost edible. ;-) Since we got there a bit early, I bought a few raffle tickets. There were 7 main prizes for the raffle that I bought the tickets for. Main prizes were not major-major prizes, but a digital camera, DVD player, fancy sports sun glasses, a Phoenix Suns Jersey. We happened to win 3 of the "biggie prizes". It was so embarrasing that on the third one, which were the $200.00 pair of sun glasses, Randy donated it back to be raffled off again. We kept the signed Dan Marjerle basketball and a Marjerle trading card and the other prize was two signed pictures from Bo Outlaw and Stephon Marbury. I wish the sun glasses came up first. LOL!!! We don't even keep up with the Suns.
Tomorrow, Monday Alex has the whole afternoon and evening planned out for us. I'll take over potato salad, and a fruit salad and he's having what he calls MANICOTS... Manicotti that he makes from scratch. He's also made italian sausage, hot and sweet from scratch too. He says, we'll eat all day long. I can do that... LOL!!! They have a pool and will probably go dipping and kick back and relax. I'm already a crispy critter and have been warned to stay out of the sun. I've been giving Alex computer lessons so that'll take up some time.
Had to cut and run for a bit this evening. We had a call from an emergency patient so we had to go to the office. Poor guy was in alot of pain. The muscle spasm was so strong, it was pulling him crooked. Nothing new to Randy.
Got my potato salad made, will make the fruit salad in the AM, just like Gloria does... Mmmmm!!!
Be safe...
Love,
Kathy
that's wonderful! I truly hope she continues to improve each and every day. I'm a firm believer in the power of prayer, and I'll see to it that she will be added to my list.
She's probably already tried it, but in regards to her hives, might give a hot bath with a mixture of some Aveeno. It's really good stuff!
She's probably already tried it, but in regards to her hives, might give a hot bath with a mixture of some Aveeno. It's really good stuff!
Randy I missed your emails and updates. I was wondering why they stopped coming. I know you guys have had your hands full. It just keeps sounding so much better for Kathy. Glad to here you were strong and able to give her all your support. When you have a business to run and a deep family crises arrives. Sometimes folks forget how tough these crises are on everyone in the family. It takes everyones love and understanding to work through the real tough times. Pat sends her best wishes also. Pat said your Kathey is a very remarkable person. God Bless both Of You. Please stay in touch.
Dave
Dave
Az, I'm really happy to hear such good news Thanks for letting us know how you're doing with Kathy! We think about both of you!
Thanks for letting us know how you're doing with Kathy! We think about both of you! Why you haven't heard much from me
Why you haven't heard much from me
WEll.....
After awhile just trying to keep everyone up to date by emails and posting seemed to be too much for me. As I said in the above post just talking about all this stuff really does upset me.
You might say that I "hunkered down" to try to save my energy. That plus trying to keep my practice going was all that I could do.
I'm not really on the boards much anymore either. Everything just became too much.
Thank you for the warm thoughts.
We are doing quite well with all this I think and Kathy is doing very well.
Thanks
AzRusty
Why you haven't heard much from me
WEll.....
After awhile just trying to keep everyone up to date by emails and posting seemed to be too much for me. As I said in the above post just talking about all this stuff really does upset me.
You might say that I "hunkered down" to try to save my energy. That plus trying to keep my practice going was all that I could do.
I'm not really on the boards much anymore either. Everything just became too much.
Thank you for the warm thoughts.
We are doing quite well with all this I think and Kathy is doing very well.
Thanks
AzRusty
Simply great news AzRusty. I also was wondering for a while why the updates stopped, but glad to see that Kathy is progressing in the right direction. Best wishes to you and yours.
Wonderful news.
Wonderful news.
Az,
It sounds like your family is blessed. Please keep us posted of the progress. Prayer is extremely powerful.
I can relate to some of this. My 4 year old son has leukemia. I'm like you, it saddens me to write about it yet I should be extremely happy to tell everyone about the wonderful progress he's made. I'm the luckiest guy on this planet.
Good luck to you and all of your family,
JB
Wonderful news.
Az,
It sounds like your family is blessed. Please keep us posted of the progress. Prayer is extremely powerful.
I can relate to some of this. My 4 year old son has leukemia. I'm like you, it saddens me to write about it yet I should be extremely happy to tell everyone about the wonderful progress he's made. I'm the luckiest guy on this planet.
Good luck to you and all of your family,
JB
