11/26/2004

I had my first blood tests since the initial Mylotarg. The numbers may not mean much except to Christy, Kathy and Ann, but here they are:

Blood Results 11/26/2003
Component
Actual Reading
Norman Range
Comments
White Blood Count
1.6 L K/UL
(4.0-11.0)
Chemo takes to 0
Red Blood Count
3.46 L M/UL
(4.5-6.0)
Chemo takes to 0
Hemoglobin
10.9 L G/UL
L
(14.0-18.0)
I started at 4
Hematocrit
31.0 L %
(40-54)
?
Mean Corpuscular Volume
90 FL
(82-98)
?
Mean Corpuscular HGB
31.5 H PG
(27.0)-31.0)
?
Mean Corpuscular HGB Concentrate
35.2 G D/L
(31.0-36.0)
?
Red Cell Distribution Width
18.7 H %
(12.0-15.5)
?
Platelet Count
39 L K/UL
(140-440)
Chemo takes to 0
Mean Platelet Volume
7.3 FL
(4.0-10.4)
Chemo takes to 0
Sodium Serum
141 MEQ/L
(135-147
?
Potassium Serum
3.7 MEQ/L
(3.5-5.0)
?
Chloride Serum
106 MEQ/L
(98-108)
?
Carbon Dioxide
28 MEQ/L
(24-30)
?
Albumin Serum
4.4 GM/DL
(3.5-4.7)
?
Calcium Serum
9.3 MG/DL
(8.4-10.2)
?
Phosphorus Serum
4.2 MG/DL
(2.5-4.5)
?
Magnesium Serum
1.9 MG/DL
(1.8-2.9)
?
Glucose Fasting
123 H MG/DL
(
(70-110)
I wasn't fasting
Blood Urea Nitrogen
20 MG/DL
(8-20)
Creatinine Serum
1.4 MG/DL
(0.8-1.5)
Kidney function / lower is better
Uric Acid Serum
6.5 MG/DL
(2.6-7.1)
?
Bilirubin Total
0.3 MG/DL
(0.0-1.0)
Liver function
Alkaline Phosphate
64 IU/L
(6.0-8
(38-1260
?
Total Protein
7.7 G/DL
(6.0-8.2)
?
Alanine Aminotransferase
<12. IU/L
(7-560)
?
Aspartate Aminotransferase
35 IU/L
(15-46)
?
Lactic Dehydrogenase
768 H IU/L
(313-618)
?

I can't make heads or tails of some of the components, but since Cancer is attacked at the DNA level, I think it's tested that far.

More blood work Monday, results as I get them . Chemo should take the blood components to zero, which puts me nuetropenic; no flowers, fresh fruits or veggies, etc. Got to learn to live off steak. (Poor Me!)


Chris and Terri

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been two days since I've received mylotarg and although I'm starting to feel tired a little more quickly, but am otherwise doing fine.

We enjoyed a community Thanksgiving dinner this afternoon, everyone in the complex was invited to sign up, and some 45 people all enjoyed turkey, ham, mashed pototatoes, sweet potatoes, green beens, corn, and all the other goodies for dinner. Called Ryan, he was having everone over, and called Jeff; he and Brenna went to her folks in Destin, Florida for the holidays and to help with a little of the ongoing cleanup. Jeff dodged 8 inches of snow in KC, Ryan wasn't so lucky, they got an inch of that 4 letter word today, all the while he was frying the birds for their dinner.

We're in the "free" apartment, our new address and phone is:
Chris and Terri Morgan
7219 Cecil
Apt. 28
Houston, TX 77030
(713) 790-0379

We'll be here through February 12th, then we have to move out before we can move back in. Sort of a hassle, but since we're not paying anything but phone service, it's worth it.

It's far easier to check my new email, so use
morganjc50@yahoo.com
and I can check it faster. My old account through swbell is now 99% SPAM, and it's hard to wade through all the trash.

Blood tests and results tomorrow, will post all results, white counts are expected to fall fastest will be neutropenic in about 2 days, and I'm on a mask all the time now. Still feel good, and considering I was only a good bet to still be here today, I'm doing well! As Mark Twain so aptly put it, "The reports of my demise have been greatly exagerated."

More as I get them, we're keeping everyone in our thoughts and prayers,

Chris and Terri

11/23/04

Greetings,
I got my mylotarg, and went 2 hours before any reactions. I had chills for about 10 minutes, followed by fever at 101.5 That's not as high or bad as the first time I got mylotarg, I had chills for about 30 minutes, then fever of 105.something. I'm tolerating the drug more, and have an appointment in 2 weeks for another dose. The first effect is a drop in white blood cells, followed by a drop in the other blood components.
We're having another thunderstorm day here, winds expected at 60 mph, and flooding expected with possibly another 4-6 inches during the storm period. These poor people have had their time with storms, just heard that IAH airport just evacuated the tower because of winds. Towers are the last to evacuate, and really screws up traffic for hundreds of miles as planes must now divert and find their own way.
I should be going home tomorrow morning, we're moving into the free apartments. When I have the phone number there, I'll be sure to post it.

I'll post more as I find out, please keep the people here in your thoughts; they need it.

Chris and Terri

11/22/04

Greetings from Alkek Hospital, MDAnderson Cancer Center,
I'm admitted, the rooms here are awesome. I have cherry wood floor with honey oak inlay, awesome food, and floods raging throughout most of Southern Texas. Our section of Houston is not yet under water, but Wharton, TX, got 15 inches of rain in 24 hours, and is mostly under water. People here went through the warmest October, and now the wettest November on record.

I start chemo early tomorrow morning so the doctor can follow the infusion. She's pretty excited about it.

We're not supposed to use the cell phone in the room, so the number here is 713 745-8673. I'm in green 1237 on the 12th floor and should be out of here early Wednesday morning. Mylotarg is normally given on an outpatient basis, but because I've had one bad reaction, she wants me in patient.

Everything seems to be going very well, except that we miss so many people so much. We're afraid that Ryan and Christy will have T-Bone riding a bicycle before we get back there, if they're over their colds, that is. (T-Bone doesn't have a cold, so he MUST be the culprit.

More later as we learn it, send life-jacketes!

Chris and Terri

11/21/04

Greetings,
Meghan came by last Thursday and left from Hobby on Sunday, Danny arrived a hour before Meghan checked in and left for St. Louis. We had a great time with everyone, introduced Meghan to my doctors and a few of the really good restaraunts in the area. Amazingly, we introduced Dan to some of the same restaraunts.
We had Dan's blood checked, and there was a problem with the test results, so tomorrow I start chemotherapy with Mylotarg, the same chemo drug that dropped my blasts counts from 100% to <20% when I was given it at St. John's in St. Louis. After that, I start a search against an MUD file, matched unrelated donors, that has already produced 5 potential donors. Luckily, we change insurance companies 12/01 which will help with the $12K search. With the very real potential of remission, a bone marrow transplant has a far greater rate of success of totally curing the cancer.
We are on our 22nd day of rain in a row, and we just say the forecast for between 2 and 4 inches tomorrow. Yippee!
We also start living in our free apartment this coming week, our email will stay the same, and the cell phone number 314 265 6846 will still work. It will save us $4K for the three months we get to stay there. We have the option of renewing our "lease" so we may be able to have 4 or 5 months free rent. It's a nice 4 room apartment fully furnished, so we'll be fine, and there's a local free shuttle to the hospital, so we'll save parking fees at the commuter lot.

I'll post again as soon as we hear more, this blog spot has had its problems recently.

Chris and Terri

Gift from good friends

Sorry it has been a long time since the last post but I just wanted to share a great gift from our good friends, Calvin and Shannon. As you can see by the picture, this great inventions keeps things clean on the changing table. Yes it is a pee pee tee pee. A nice little hat is placed over Trevor's ummm.......... you get it. This washable "hat" keeps urine from spraying all over the room. I love it. It is a great invention. So you ask, where can I find this wonderful "hat"? Well you must travel to California and stop at a certain furniture store to purchase. Yes furniture store!!! Anyway just thought I would let all future parents know if this great invention. Enjoy



-rm

11/12/2004

We FINALLLY got approval from Blue Cross for my BMT procedure. It's not like it is any surprise, they've approved the HLA typing before, but it took them about a week to approve all the associated costs. (I understand this could cost nearly $300K) Glad I've got insurance.

Danny is due in Sunday about 4:40 at Hobby. We see the doctor Monday, and I start BMT procedures the following Monday. After that, I've got about a 70% chance of remission, and a 33% chance of totally curing the cancer. This is pretty exciting news. And to think; when I left St. John's, I wasn't expected to last until Christmas.

More as we here it.

PS Ryan and Christy and T-Bone
Love the video.

Dad and Terri and Meghan (is here and thinks the weather is far better than back home. She also really loved the Cold Stone, and we're off to Thai "Nit Noi" restaurant tonight.)

Day after shots

Wow what a day. Trevor and I had a rough day today. He seems to be a little under the weather and boy is he letting me know it. I bet secretly Christy really didnt mind working today. He is finally asleep now, and it is quiet once again. I found a pretty cool program today. It creates those mosaic pictures I know many of you have seen. Click the link below to check out some of the pictures I have done. Sorry dialup users but they are pretty big.

Mosaic 1
Mosaic 2

You can download the program for free

http://andreaplanet.com/andreamosaic/

Enjoy

-rm

Trevor Update

Had our 2-month check-up at the pediatrician today. Trevor is now weighing in at a whopping 11 lbs 5 3/4 oz (50th percentile up from 8 lb 3 oz at 1 month which was 20th percentile). He is 22 3/4 inches (still 50th percentile up from 21 1/2 inches) and head circumference is 15 5/8" (40th percentile up from 25th percentile a month ago). He got 5 vaccines in four shots (DTaP - diptheria,tetanus, pertussis; polio; Hib - haemophilus influenza; hep B; and pneumococcal) which he did not enjoy at all. In fact, he seemed to protest the shots more than the VCUG with the catheter up his weiner. As far as the hydronephrosis goes, we don't have to do anything other than have a follow-up ultrasound at 6 months and we are off antibiotics since the VCUG showed no anatomic problems with the urinary system. Chances are, he will just grow into his left kidney and it will resolve. That's all for now. Glad to hear all systems are go for the BMT (doesn't Subway have a sandwich called that?!?).

Updated Movie

I know some of you had problems seeing the movie of Trevor, so I re-encoded it. Click the link below to see the new version. It lost some quality, in conversion.

Click Here

11/08/04

Finally,
We had our appointment with the BMT doctor today, and the lucky winner is:
Danny

We left two messages, hopefully I can tell him before he reads this. The procedure is as follows:
If he can make it here quickly, like Thursday, he will have a blood test to rule out any odd possibilities, then given an injection a day for 4 days to build up his stem - cells. He then donates blood; no pick-axes, no pneumatic drills, just boood, and then he gets to go home. I then start a regimen of chemotherapy and then the blood is transfused. I then undergo blood tests for abot 100 days, then I go home, rest another month or so, then go to work.

As you can imagine, my smile goes ear to ear. When I left the hospital in St. Louis, I had 100% blasts in my bone marrow. I now have 24%, and the head of the department, my BMT doctor, says it's still a go.

Prettty good news, we're off to celebrate at Cold Stone Creamery, one of the best ice-cream places we've found.

More as I hear it,

Dad and Terri

The trip

Well so far so good. The trip to California has been great. The weather has been pretty cold, but it is great being in the home land again. We are eating at all our favorite spots, and seeing all of our good friends.

Trevor slept just about the entire flight, and has done great in the car. Almost too good because he is getting Christy up a lot more at night.

We are getting ready to enjoy some North Beach pizza here, so I need to get going. Trevor is smiling a lot more, and talking (baby talk) a lot as well. Everyday he becomes more fun.
Here is a video I took with my phone. I hope all of you can see it, and it works ok. Click the link below

Click Here to See it

You will need QuickTime to view this movie. If you can not see it then go to quicktime.com to download it.