Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Mood:  don't ask
OK I finally got around to reading the last blog entry that Rob compiled without supervision. Boring!!!!!! I told him he needed to complete the blog transactions so that all the well-wishers could stay up to date.
So here it is folks. I would personally like to thank all that have followed our journey. Your support and well wishes have really made the BMT tolerable. Rob has truly been blessed with all the good thoughts and prayers. Now he needs to buck up and get on that horse again. I am having a little trouble getting him interested in .......anything! So if anyone wants to call and harrass him please be my guest. The chemo has turned his little pea brain into mush; but it is starting to dry out now.
I am working on him to improve nutrition, strength and humor. Hopefully I will succeed.

Thanks again for all the well wishes.
Love to all
Anne and Rob

November 8, 2005
Mood:  chillin'
Anne and I are still in Abilene; we return to Dallas for recheck on Monday the 14th. I am "withdrawing" from Prednisone and am amazed at the temporary lack of energy; Anne assures me my stamina will come back. Otherwise I'm feeling pretty good. I hope the doctor will be able to begin reducing my Prograf (another immunosuppressant to control GVHD) and begin seeing me once a month- we will just have to wait and see. Since I am now in a convalescent stage, there is not much news to report (that's good!) so we may continue to blog about once a month.
Again we appreciate your prayers and support!
Rob and Anne

October 22, 2005
Mood:  bright
Laboratory values yesterday were the best they have been; the doctor is now beginning to reduce and/or discontinue medications- this is a good sign. I will reduce my Prednisone (cortisone) by 1/2 for a week, then by another half next week, then discontinue in time for my next appointment in 2 weeks. My face is an obvious puffy steroid face, and my weight gain is probably more fluid than muscle (still have very little strength, but that will come). The GVHD is still behaving; very little skin rash is present and the itching is much less. I will continue my antibiotics, but have put the anti-viral and anti-fungal medications on the shelf. The Prograf to regulate the GVHD will continue for a year; this medication is still immunosuppressive, but not as much as the Prednisone. Everyone seems pleased with my progress; in another 2 days I will be 2 months post transplant/engraftment. Seems much longer. Anne and I are in Abilene most of the time now; I am around a lot of folks but still watchful for sick people (contagious ones).
Thanks again for all the prayers and support; I am realizing how important those are.
God bless!
Anne and Rob

October 9, 2005
Mood:  bright
Good grades (laboratory values)from our visit last Thursday; only the total RBCs were slightly low. The FISH (Fluorescence in situ hybridization)test of the bone marrow aspirate showed 97% of my bone marrow cells are from my sister; the doctor said the remaining 3% (my original cells) will probably disappear soon due to the graft vs. host (also graft vs. leukemia) effect. I say good riddance to my original bone marrow; those cells got me into this fix in the first place. My GVHD is slowly beginning to settle down; we do not have another appointment until October 21st, so I guess the clinic feels I am recovering well. I am still taking immunosuppressive medications, and will for a long time to prevent chronic GVHD. Anne and I are at home in Abilene for the time being, so give us a call if you are in the area; would love to have visitors.

Thanks again to all for the prayers, cards, well wishes; I would not be doing this well without all your support!
Anne and Rob

Thursday, October 6, 2005
We are heading back to Dallas for another Doctors appointment. We seem to spend a lot of time on the road. Hopefully we will get a good report from the Doc and the final results of the bone marrow aspirate. The GVHD seems to be settling down, but every time we say that it seems to flare up. Everyone please hope that this does not become chronic.

So I promise to post tonight after the appointment. Have a great day!
Love to all
Rob & Anne

Tuesday, October 4, 2005
I am so sorry to my faithful readers but I have not had access to a computer. I finally have access and need to report in.

Rob had a bone marrow aspirate last Wednesday and we got some good news. Rob has no blast cells in his bone marrow! What great news. He is still not out of the woods yet; but we feel great about his progress. He is still fighting graft vs. host disease but we are sure that he will conquer that also. With that we still see the Doc 2 to 3 times a week, but he is doing so well. He nows goes through the day without a nap!!!

Today we are in Abilene, and we will go back to Dallas on Thursday. We are waiting for the final test of his bone marrow and possibly we will be able to only have to see the Doc once a week. It will really be a great help.

I am so sorry for not posting...but I promise to be more consistent.
Have a great Day!!
Love to all
Anne & Rob

Saturday, September 24, 2005
Mood:  hug me
I could not stand Dallas one more second, so I made Rob pack up and we high-tailed it to Arlington. Once we got out of Dallas the traffic calmed down and made more sense. It really is only a drive of about 20 miles, but it seems like you are on another planet when you get out of Dallas. A much better planet I might add.

So we are "holed-up" in our RV and happy as clams. Now I hope we don't have any tornados to contend with when the aftermath of "Rita" is over. Hmm. so sorry about the delay in getting to blog but I now have a very limited access to a computer. Things are going well, we added another medication to the myriad of drugs that Rob takes. So now he has the distinguished award for now taking more meds than his step-mother, "mo-mo". I did not think that anyone could possibly take more meds than Mo-Mo but Rob has now done it!

He is feeling OK, he is still weak but we are taking it one day at a time. We hope to get to Abilene on Sunday. Give us a call. We should make it in at about 6 pm.

Love to all
Anne & Rob

Thursday, September 22, 2005
Mood:  not sure
This is crazy!!!! I left the apartment at 07:30 in downtown Dallas to go to Lewisville (a drive of about 30 minutes). I got to Lewisville at 08:55.
The traffic here is nuts. Not only do we have the usual nut cases from Dallas but we added a couple hundred thousand more nuts from Houston. The hurricaine news is driving me crazy. {Aunt Edna: so glad that you got out.}

Rob is doing well. He has a rash again so we are looking at GVHD again. The doc increased his prednisone and we are going back in the AM. I am really on edge with this hurricaine. Dry Abilene is looking better and better to me. We may have tornados but at least with a tornado you can go underground.

Have a great day everyone. Pray for the people on the gulf coast.
Love to all
Rob & Anne

Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Mood:  a-ok
We tried blogging yesterday, but now that we are at the apartment we have very limited access to a computer. So I am currently in Lewisville taking a class through McKesson so I thought that I would blog now.
Rob is feeling OK. He is still very tired and fatigues easily. His appetite is great but he is still losing weight. He has now lost about 25 pounds since the transplant. And for those of you who know Rob, he did not have very much to lose. I am trying to get some weight on him with pound cake, ice cream etc. He is still losing and I think that I am gaining!!!! It is not fair.
Lab work is good. His Hct is 39 but he is a little dehydrated from the Lasix. So....no lasix, decrease the prednisone, no antiviral, and decrease the Prograff. Who can keep track?
Yesterday we had a great visit from Stephanie and Stephani. You guys are great! If anyone wants to visit just call and we will clear the dance card. Things are looking great. We cannot wait until we get home.
Take care
Love
Rob & Anne
PS happy bd to bl..thirty nine who are you kidding?

Monday, September 19, 2005
Mood:  sharp
What a great week-end. Rob and I were bored Friday evening and he did not have a Doc's appointment on Saturday.....so I spirited him off to Abilene. It did him a world of good. Just to sleep in his own bed and sit on his own couch and do the things you get to do in your own house. It was great!!!!!

Saw Dr. Fay today. More good news. Rob's blood counts continue to climb. He has reduced some of his medication but cautioned: "This is the time when the visits become a pain in the a**". "We do not want graft vs host disease". "So you need to pay special attention to all the changes in medications and I will be changing the meds often".
So we changed the meds and Rob will have more labs in the AM and on Wednesday. Hopefully we will have more good news on Wednesday.

Looking forward to the visit with Sephanie and Stephani. (not twins) Don't be shocked when you see the skinny guy.

See you all tomorrow
Love
Rob and Anne