The Other Stuff!

Tuesday April 15, 2003
Linda and the kids got in the mini van, and left for California this morning around 8:35. I called her around 10:30, and they were past Olympia and heading south, so I guess the traffic wasn't too bad. Linda got the stitches from the removal of her Hickman line out yesterday, so her skin is back to being intact.

Friday April 11, 2003
Linda got her Hickman Line out yesterday! Monday she will get the stitches out, and she will go back to a normal person. Today she is planning on taking the new van, the trailer, and the kids to California on Tuesday. I will be going to a convention in SanFrancisco on the 21st, and maybe we will get together for dinner.

Monday April 7, 2003
OK, OK, it's been a while. Last Thursday, we got the news that Linda's bone marrow biopsy was COMPLETELY CLEAR! This was wonderful news!
Right now, we are at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance to talk with the doctors from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center next door. Linda has been really nervous about this meeting for weeks. They are supposed to tell us everything they know about her cancer, and where we go from here. Here are some of the questions we want to ask, along with their answers.
What is the future role of Dr. Kraemer?
Should we begin work with the Hutch, Dr. Kraemer would be apprised of progress, and at the end of the treatment we would be referred back to him for follow up.
Are we done?
Likelihood of the leukemia coming back is in the vicinity of 40%+-20%. We can't actually know. There are a lot of ways to get to acceptable results. This version is less likely to come back than most types of AML.
Why is 8-21 translocation favorable?
It lacks some of the other bad things that cause cells to become leukemic. These seem to respond to chemo better. No single abnormality can cause AML. It could be that the order of changes in the cells results in leukemia. It is used as an indicator of leukemia. There is a FISH test which is more sensitive than the tests they have used, testing about 500 cells. There is another, called PCR which is even more sensitive. Dr. Martin will see if either of these tests is available to us. The cyto-genetic studies so far have only examined 20 cells.
Can we do some of the possible future work at Evergreen?
The Hutch isn't able to work with other centers. They like patients to live within 30 minutes. Dr. Kraemer would stop, and they would take over. If she needs to go into the hospital after transplant, she will go to the UW.
What is the difference between stem cell and marrow transplants?
They prefer to do peripheral blood stem cell transplants. They use GCSF with the donor to get the stem cells into the blood, then pull them out with aphoresis. They originally started using marrow, but eventually discovered that they could get the stem cells into the blood with GCSF. Recovery of blood counts was around 5 days faster with blood. peripheral blood has 10 times more antibodies than marrow. The down side is that it seems to result in more Chronic graft versus host disease by 10%.
What are the statistics for Linda's flavor of AML type 2?
He will find out. Unfortunately, he was given some incorrect info, and the notes he had prepared were not applicable for her case.
Where does autologous (self-donated) vs allogenic (donor) transplants?
They don't recommend autologous transplant.
Who would recommend against transplant?
At this point, most Everybody.
When does the hickman line come out?
The line could come out, because there is not much use for further chemo. Each chemo has 2 to 5% chance of fatal complications.
What are the current theories of cause of this leukemia?
Still no answer. Everybody asks, but there is no relationship except benzine. In order for a cell to be cancerous, it needs 4 or 5 changes. It is just bad luck. Mistakes in replication are a natural process.
Dr. Paul Martin. We have gone over the history, and got Dr. Martin on-line for what has happened so far. He has been doing this for 25 years. He isn't super conversant on AML. A lot of it depends on Linda. They don't try to push transplants. They started when there were no alternatives. Transplant data is based on two types of transplant. total body irradiation, and a drug based one. If the disease come back, it probably doesn't matter how we got here. Of 100 patients, 60 patients with no transplant are cured. 40 who didn't transplant where the disease comes back 10 cured after transplant. Transplant requires a year of life. Half of transplantees will have chronic GVHD. Quality of life is impaired. Once a month tests for the first year, every 3 months thereafter. Recurrence happens usually within two years. The hazard is low now, but will go up after 3 or 4 months, it will plateau for a while, then slowly goes down. if 80 cured, 5 survive transplant.
Finance: As our insurance changes this summer, which companies work well with FHRC? Primera, and Regence, Uniform Medical, Aetna, and they LIKE United Healthcare. Primera and Regence have waiting period before transplant. We are just out of range, so we should check housing benefits from the insurance. What does the insurance company on HLA typing and such? Does insurance have transplant max, some stop at $250,000? Estimated cost for transplant is $200,000. They would negotiate with insurance, and any shortfall, they will inform us before we show up for transplant.

Wednesday March 12, 2003
Saturdays party was a great time! We had around 90 people come visit over the course of the day, from about 1:30 till 11:00. We were pretty tired by the time bedtime came around. We didn't do much Sunday except a bit of cleaning, and went out for diner at Mazatlan. Linda is getting nervous about Nancy leaving tomorrow. Nancy has been a complete lifesaver, and I don't know what we would have done without her.

THANK YOU NANCY!

Tuesday, March 4, 2003
A lot has happened since I last updated this. A couple of weeks ago, Linda was feeling pretty poorly, and went to her regular appointment with Dr. Kraemer, who sent her directly to the hospital. She had a temp over 103, and they decided she had a couple of infections in her blood. This wa on a Thursday. One of the bacteria Dr. Kraemer hadn't heard of before, so we had to wait till Monday to find out that they had just changed the name of it to confuse everybody. By the time I brought her home Monday, she was feeling much better. She had to do IV antibiotics at home for all of last week, with yesterday morning being her last dose. Toward the end of last week she was feeling funky again, but there was no fever. She appeared to be feeling better today, as she didn't wake up with a headache for the first time in days. I'm starting to wonder if she didn't like that antibiotic. The pump goes back soon, and we will get back to some kind of normal. We are thinking of sending Nancy home, then we can adjust to some other kind of normal. It has been wonderful to have her, but her ankles are bothering her, and she needs more of a break than she will take here. She and Linda went to a movie with Linda's book group last night.

Sunday, February 9, 2003
Linda is very tired the last few days, I think she is getting depressed again. She slept through her appointment with Dr. Kraemer Friday morning. She did get up to go shopping for Alan and Angies wedding presents yesterday, and it took quite a while to pry her out of the reception, in fact I took the kids home to get bedtime started, and She and Nancy came home a bit later. She didn't seem happy about getting out of bed, but she did it without prying. Nancy's ankle is getting bad again She has it up, with ice at the moment. Richard decided he wanted his own computer in the last few days, so we spent a while looking on the web Friday night, and he and I went to a shop I know of to check things out. It took two trips, but he bought a 770MHz PIII with 10G hard drive, 128M memory, and 17" monitor for $370. As I type this, he is testing all the standard Microsoft games that came with Windows 2000. He and I are going on a bike ride with friends later today.
While Richard and I were out bike riding, Linda Lay Led the WUUC service, and seemed to be doing pretty good for the evening. She and Nancy stayed up to watch a movie, but I was tired and went to bed.

Tuesday, January 28, 2003
The Lab Tech woke Linda up around 5:00 so she could tell them she was "Nurse Draw Only". She called in her nurse to take the sample since she was awake anyway. The Tech said "We aren't supposed to bother you till you...wake...up!" I showed up around 8:00 with coffee, and she told me she had been unable to get back to sleep, because everyone seemed to be slamming doors and moving furniture. The explanation was it was just shift change, but her current room is next door to the staff lounge, and probably below the one on the third floor. At 8:30, I went to work, and the palm-pilot reminded I had to make a deposit at the bank. As soon as I got back from that, it reminded me I had 5 minutes to get back to the hospital for my yearly stress echocardiagram, so off I went again. I stopped by and woke Linda up again on my way out.

Monday January 27 2003
Linda was feeling a bit poorly this morning, and wasn't willing to wait for her 15:00 appointment with Dr. Kraemer, so she managed to get in around 11:30. Apparently the doctors nurse wasn't used to seeing counts that low in the office. They talked things back and forth, and the result is, at 14:50, that Linda is going to check into Evergreen overnight to get her Red Blood Cells, GCSF and to watch her. She feels she will be happier having difficulties breathing when she is in the hospital.
After hurrying home to take Robin to his Camp Fire Candy Sales event, and while we were getting ready, Richard's ride to Archery called, saying they wouldn't get him there today. I then took Richard and Robin on the way to their events. As we were nearing Robin's destination, we saw a family that Richard shoots with on their way, so he jumped out of my car, and into theirs at a light, and Robin and I made it exactly on time. Afterward, we checked back at the range to see if Richard had gotten a ride home, which he had, so we went home and had dinner, which for me was some salad, and a cookie. About 20 minutes I went off to watch a movie with Linda at the hospital. I arrived about 20:15, and we watched some broadcast interview with Robin Williams till 21:00. We then watched Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt", which took till 23:30 with all the interruptions.

Friday, January 24, 2003
Linda went to see Dr. Kramer this morning, and he sent her over to Evergreen to get some Platelets. There was a bit of slowness and confusion going, as she was told it would just take a short time. She arrived around 15:00 after an ugly traffic thing, and it took an hour to start the transfusion. She immediately got a severe headache, so they slowed it down. The doctor forgot to tell her that he wanted blood analysis one hour after the transfusion, and they kept her around for watching. I eventually went to get her around 20:00.

Wednesday January 22, 2003
Yesterday wasn't a great day for Linda. She was kind of out of sorts, and her being home, resulted in a bit of the too many cooks syndrome. With Nancy, Ryan, and Linda all home, there was a bit of confusion about who was supposed to be keeping track of what. When Richard was out to TeenZone at the Y, nobody knew how he was going to get home. It seemed everyone thought someone else knew. I got home at 17:30, and left at 17:40 to go run sound for the Woodinville Family Preschool Parent meeting. Linda had reminded me, but didn't let Nancy know, nor did I, so Nancy was a bit upset that she had nothing for me to eat when I got home. I just grabbed a sandwich, and off I went. It wasn't a big deal for me.
Linda has seemed in a better mood today, but we have more fun to deal with, as the septic system is having problems with the rain again.

Tuesday January 21, 2003
Linda is a bit out of sorts, but I expect improvement today, since she got some sleep last night.

Monday January 20, 2003
Linda called at ~6:45 when I was in the shower, ready to come home. I arrived with coffee around 7:30. Dr. Kraemer came in around 8:35 to do his thing, and his part of the paperwork. I snagged a cart from the linen room, and got all the stuff out to the car. John Sincock came in with the rest of the paperwork around 9:00, and we left around 9:15. She may have to go back for a transfusion, or if she gets a fever, but she is OUT for now! I dropped her off at home, forgot my lunch for the second time today, and went back to get it. Somewhere in there I managed to load Internet Explorer 6 onto the house computer so Nancy can continue getting her email, as Earthlink webmail no longer likes Netscape 4. I finally made it into work around 9:45. Linda didn't have a very good day today. This could be the lack of sleep in the last couple of days.

Sunday January 19, 2003
I was late getting up, and when I finally made it, I just had time to hit BK for breakfast, and get Linda's latte to her before I had to leave to do my Glean thing. After Glean, Robin wanted to find out how much a gas engine cost, so we went hobby shop hopping. Most everything is out of his price range, as the cheapest one we could find that might do what he wants was $80. I think he will have to refine his design a bit before I will spring for my half of $80. We stopped by to visit Mom in the hospital, and she bought lunch. After we had eaten, we walked most of the way around the block again. It appears that her jailer (Dr. Kraemer) gave her a "Get out of Jail Free" card today, but she chose not to play it yet, maybe tomorrow. The idea is that even with our plague factory at home, it might be safer for her than the hospital. She is nervous about transitions, home to hospital, or visa versa. She may change her mind tomorrow.

Saturday January 18, 2003
As I arrived with Linda's breakfast, April was starting up Linda's last known dose of chemo. Linda had called as I was scraping the windows of the car to ask that I bring her a Bacon Croisanwich from Burger King, because the breakfast the hospital delivered was awful, terrible, and yucky. Meanwhile we will pay bills before I have to go get the big guys from an overnight birthday party. I didn't call it a sleepover, because they will probably have been up all night. Later in the day, I managed to come back and we went for a walk all the way around the block that the hospital is on. I went home, and after dinner, Nancy went over for the evening.

Thursday January 16, 2003
The cough stuff Dr. Bayles gave me worked, and I pretty much slept from 10:30 till 7:00. I therefore got into the hospital a bit late. I spilled coffee all over myself, as I was trying to close the door when I arrived. Linda and I walked over to my cardiologist's office to set up my yearly appointment. They have this neat tunnel to connect the hospital proper, and the new building he has moved into. On the way back we saw Dr. Kraemer in the hall, but he hadn't gotten to her room yet. Dr. Kraemer is seeing lots of patients with this virus I have, so he figures the GP's are probably overwhelmed. We decided that she is probably feeling better than I am at the moment, this may change tomorrow. After dinner, the kids and I went in to decorate Linda's room with snowflakes.

Wednesday January 15, 2003
I was too sick to do more than drop by the TV, and a latte this morning. I go visit my doc this afternoon.

Tuesday January 14, 2003 9:41AM
I arrived around 7:30 this morning, and either I woke Linda up, or she was awake. She hadn't slept very well, as she waited for the night shift to check in before trying to go to sleep. She gave up around 12:15, so they came in at 12:30. Dr. Kraemer was at the door as I was leaving, and he lightly harassed me for being there with a cold. I guess I only get to drop her latte off, and get out, till my cold subsides. I was hoping to donate blood next Tuesday, but it doesn't look like that is in the cards this time around. Today, I take Tristan to preschool, and after work, I have a Seattle Electric Vehicle Association meeting. There doesn't seem to be a lot of time for work, so I will have to make it up somehow.
I arrived around 22:00 to pick up Richard and Brian, as the three of them were watching "Anne Frank".

Monday January 13, 2003
Linda is supposed to call the hospital to find out when she should go in today. She isn't looking forward to this at all. It doesn't seem to bother her being at home or in the hospital, it is just the transition between the two. She appears to be getting the same cold I have, which is making her a bit nervous. I have a bunch of stuff in the car to drop off on the way home, then I take Robin to CampFire.

Friday January 10, 2003
What a busy holiday season it has been. I apologize for the gap, it has been a bit hectic around here. Linda gets beaten down a bit more by each successive round of chemotherapy, but she does come out of it, just slower each time. Dr Kraemer says everything is going fine, and we have scheduled Linda's next round to start on Monday. What I understand of the process from here is this: We will do this round, then wait a month, take another bone marrow biopsy, wait a month for them to analyze it, then go visit "The Hutch" for a discussion of what they know, what they suspect, and what we can expect going forward. We hope for final takeoff clearance then, but there are no guarantees.
On a happier note, one of the presents Linda and I got for Christmas was tickets to "Theatro Zinzani", which we attended last night. What a fun evening! Theatro Zinzani is kind of a baudy, intimate, dinner version of Cirque du Soleil. There are maybe 4 rows of tables, the outer one raised, around a center circle about 12 feet in diameter. We were at our own table, right on one of the ramps, kind of kitty-corner from the center, so most everything happened right in front of us. The players, with help, also serve the 5 course meal over the course of the 3 plus hour evening. It was just an absolute blast. It'll be a while before I forget last night.

Monday December 9, 2002
I came in with the coffee at about 7:30, and Linda and I talked. She was a bit nervous about the possibility of coming home, because she is feeling a bit weak. This has been a reaction to the GCSF marrow growth stuff. I was getting nervous that I would miss Dr. Kraemer, but he walked in around 9:00. Todays numbers: platelets=55,000, and white cells=15,500, she is good to go home! Nancy and the kids are cleaning house. Linda will stay in the hospital till after lunch, then she will come home. Hurray!

Sunday December 8, 2002
I just stopped by for a few minutes before glean, and the doctor didn't show while I was there. He apparently showed up later, and Linda's white count was at 7,000! If her platelets come up some, and the white cells make it to 10,000 she can come home. Maybe tomorrow. I flea bombed the house as Nancy and I left, around 11:20, so we are out of the house till around 16:00. Linda and Nancy are planning to play some scrabble, and I might go into work for a bit, along with doing some errands.

Saturday December 7, 2002
I arrived a little after 8:30 this morning. Linda was awake! Usually when I arrive, she isn't awake yet, maybe because the sun usually isnj't awake yet either. She was feeling better than yesterday, but didn't get a lot of sleep, because they started a unit of blood around 22:00, then gave her an antibiotic for 45 minutes, then another unit of blood. Each unit takes 2 hours, then they have to check vital signs for 2 hours, every 15 minutes to make sure she isn't reacting to the blood. Dr. Kraemerdropped in around 9:30, and everything was doing OK. She will still get GCSF till her white count is above 10000. Todays ANC was 0.6 (600), which is higher than it has been since Thanksgiving, so the GCSF is working. She is starting a six pack of platelets as I am writing this.

Friday December 6, 2002
I was in for an hour around 7:30, but Linda wasn't awake, mostly, during that time. I guess that the doctor walked in about 10 minutes after I left. After dinner, Nancy and I dropped all the kids by, and went to a folk music concert. The intermission was at 21:30, and I wouldn't keep Linda and the kids up till the end, so we left then, and got the kids.

Thursday December 5, 2002
I wasn't feeling real good this morning, so I just dropped Linda's coffee by, and left. as I talked to her during the day, she wasn't feeling very good, in fact she was feeling pretty bad.

Wednesday December 4, 2002
I went over by about 7:00 this morning, and started ballancing the checkbook. Linda eventually woke up, and helped me finish that, and we paid the bills. I think today's white count is lower than it has ever been, at 0.6. We started the GCSF marrow stimulant yesterday, and Linda doesn't feel real good today. She told me this afternoon, that she was seeing a little blood in her urine. As of the moment, I don't know what is going on there. One thing we do know, is that her platelet count was low yesterday. She got some platelets today.

Thursday November 28, 2002
I barbequeed the turkey, and made the stiffing and mashed potatos. My Sister did the pumpkin pie. Nancy did the apple, mince, and cranberry pies, and everything else.
Linda got a 4 hour pass from the hospital to come home for dinner!
Dewey and Mathew Millar came over for the afternoon and dinner. Dewey and I went to get Linda at 15:00. We all had a great time, but we had to take Linda back at 19:30.

Friday November 22, 2002
Linda had a crummy night last night, but she perked up a bit when I got there We had fun talking to Krystal, a nursing intern. She was having difficulty finding Linda's pulse in her ankles. Later, we had her listen to my heart, because it doesn't sound like most, with my mitral valve prolapse. We discussed what to do with some of our vacation condo weeks that we need to use this year, then I had to go to work.

Wednesday November 20, 2002
When I got in, Linda was still sleeping, so I didn't hang around. After work, I went over to watch "The Importance of being Ernest", because she was lonely, and John wanted it back tonight. It was OK, but yesterday's movie was much better.

Tuesday November 19, 2002
Linda and I spent a lot of time together today. I was there before work, and I came in to watch a bit of Seven Samauri at lunch, and I got back at 19:00 to finish it up, which took till 23:00. It is a great movie, but it is long, and with all our interruptions, it was really long.

Saturday November 16, 2002
Linda went back into Evergreen Hilton yesterday expecting to get her first bit of chemo for this, her third round, but such was not to be the case. There was some bit of confusion, and ooops, they didn't have the chemo drug on hand. Dr. Kraemer had been in in the afternoon, and explained the new regime. Besides the blue stuff last time, she had gotten 100 milligrams of ARA-C per day, as a continuous drip. This time she would get 3 grams of ARA-C over 3 hours every other day, three times. When the doc was in today, he didn't mention changing things, but todays orders say 3 grams over 3 hours, repeat in 12 hours, repeat this every two days for three times. It appears her dosages have doubled in 24 hours!
I went back after dinner and stayed till the chemo was done, and other than being a bit sleepy, and having power surges (hot flashes), she seemed fine when I left, around 22:00.

Wednesday November 6, 2002
Linda went to visit Dr. Kraemer yesterday, and everything is going as planned. She goes back into Evergreen on the 15th, when they hit her a bit harder with a different chemo regime. Rather than getting the ARA-C as a slow continuous drip, they will shoot some in her line several times a day. The doctor expects her counts to get significantly lower than they have before this time. He is still negotiating with "The Hutch" about it, and it isn't finalized yet.

Friday November 1, 2002
We went over to Dave & Anne Lednicer's house for trick or treating again as has become our tradition. They seem to be doing fine, and everyone had a great time. David showed the three bigger guys all his model airplanes, and most had a story about how they were decorated. Linda wasn't real energetic, but seemed pretty much fine. As I got home, it seems Tristan has a fever, and all the kids are on the screen. Linda is watching Richard play his new copy of "The Sims".

Thursday October 31, 2002
Linda had a bad night, with all her joints aching starting about 2:30 when Tristan moved into the nest next to our bed. When she got up to pee around 6:00 she took some tylenol, and that helped.

Thursday October 17, 2002
Things are a bit rocky this week. Linda was getting pretty depressed Tuesday, and she wasn't getting along with the kids. I would put her at about 2.5 on a scale of 1 to 10. We didn't get much sleep Tuesday night. Wednesday her brother Scott, and his friend Sandy arrived, and Linda may be perking up, but I can't be sure. Today, they went off to get Nancy at the airport, and invited me to lunch, but I was on the phone to Gateway trying to get this computer to behave itself. The doctors at Gateway, decide my laptop needs to go to the hospital in Texas for a short stay, so don't be surprised if I don't update this for a while.

Sunday October 13, 2002
I was in early, but the counts weren't in, before I had to go do the Sunday Glean thing. As I was finishing, Linda called to tell me the doctor had been in, and we were cleared for take off as soon as they could get 2 units of packed red blood cells aboard. Her white count had gone from 4.1 to 14, and the ANC had gone from 2.9 to 10.7! I went back for lunch, and they found the blood in time to get it started around 14:00. It takes about two hours per unit, so that said after church. I got home around 15:30 to start up the potluck entry which was kindly provided by the Sweeney's. I collected the kids and their stuff at church, dropped off the stuff, and we all went to get Mom. We got her home around 20:00, and proceded to watch the end of Monsters Inc that we had started Friday night.

Saturday October 12, 2002
Linda's ANC had gone from 0.0 to 2.9 overnight, and if we see progress again tomorrow, she gets to come home! When the marrow stimulants work, they work with a vengeance. She was till feeling a bit wimpy, but Dr. Kraemer reminded her that she did last time when the stimulants started working too. I went to work for a while, and went back after dinner to watch “As Good as it Gets”. We started it at 19:00, and it took until 23:00 to finish it with all the interruptions.

Friday October 11, 2002
I just got to stop by for a minute this morning, and what I noticed was that Linda's white count is starting to come up, but the ANC is still in the basement.

Thursday October 10, 2002
It is 7:50 and Dr. Kraemer came in about 5 minutes ago. He says the red cells are going up, probably because of the shot, but nothing else. Linda has a bit of a sore throat, and would like that to go away. She will get some platelets today. He asked if she needed anything else and I suggested some white cells. He commented that would help the sore throat. He was then off to yet another meeting. I went for coffee around 8:30, but she was back to sleeping when I got back from the basement. Robin, Tristan and I went over to watch a bit of Wallace and Grommit with Mom, after dinner. Linda was starting to get a bit of bone pain, so maybe the marrow stimulants are starting to work. We weren't even out of the parking lot when Tristan started asking if he could have some screen time, when he had just watched TV for an hour, and had spent a fair bit of time doing that at the Sohn's house during the day. We need to get him a bit more engaged!

Wednesday October 9, 2002
Linda was still kind of sleepy when I got in around 8:00. She had had a fever of over 103 at midnight, but the Tylenol appeared to knock that. When Dr. Kraemer arrived, he had to agree that Linda being a low maintenance patient had come to an end. When he showed up I was out peering at the chart, copying out the blood numbers so I could write them on the public chart for the last two days. Her white count reached 0.9 today, on day 13, the same as round 1. She is supposed to get a chest X-Ray today to check things out because of the fever. Other than that, things are progressing as normal. I came by with a movie at 19:30, hoping to get home shortly after 21:00, but somehow the movie didn't finish till around 22:30. As we walked out, we checked our furniture reorganization, which had been put back again.

Sunday October 6, 2002
When I got in around 7:40, Linda wasn't awake yet. She eventually woke up enough so we could go get her some coffee before I had to leave for the Glean. She wasn't hurting from the growth drugs yet, that will probably come this evening, or during the night.

Saturday October 5, 2002
I happened to be in when Dr. Kraemer came by this morning. The report was everything was fine. He made a comment that as her red cell count was getting a bit low, we had three options, let nature take it's course, giver her some red cells, or stimulate some red cell growth, and he didn't have a preference. Now the stimulation path, is similar to what we did with white cells last time around. On further discussion, it came out that we could start the white cell stimulation at the same time if we wanted to. This could result in Linda getting out next week! We batted this idea around for about 6 hours, over the course of my visit, and a phone call or two, and Linda decided to do it, so she might be back out in time to go to California for a wedding next weekend. She got her first growth stuff at around 19:30.

Thursday October 3, 2002
My cold is too bad to go visit Linda, but I will sneak over to take Rodney, and maybe bring her a movie to watch tonight, but I can't stay. Even though Dr Kraemer instituted neutropenic precautions on Tuesday afternoon, we still haven't seen any counts to back it up, although we haven't seen today's yet. Linda had a very good visit with cousin Sandy, talking about lots of things including what changes she will make in her life after she is pronounced “in remission” after her fourth chemo session.

Tuesday October 1, 2002
I got Linda her coffee just before 8:00, and Dr. Kraemer was already there. He said she is pretty much on auto pilot now, he just shows up, and says everything is right on track. It is hardly worth his drive up from Bellevue. I left and took Tristan to a follow up appointment, where they said everything was fine. Then we went to Preschool. That used up most of the day. All the kids and I went over for story time after dinner. Her friend Kent finally got to go home, after 56 days in the hospital.

Monday September 30, 2002
Tristan needed albuterol at 1:15 and 4:50 in the morning, again at 8:30 and 10:30, so we went to the doctor at noon, where they gave him either three or four treatments, while we watched a movie in the back room, all this because his asthma was acting up. I was kind of wasted, and couldn't concentrate, so I took a nap in the afternoon. Both Tristan and I have a cold too boot.

Sunday September 29, 2002
I did the glean thing, so Linda didn't get her coffee very early today either. I guess it didn't matter too much, because she was very sleepy, and wanted to sleep till noon, or so.

Saturday September 28, 2002
I cooked French toast for the house this morning, so Linda didn't get her coffee till around 10:00. I took Tristan with me for a bit of one on one time with Mom. We then ran home, grabbed the other guys, and went to watch some salmon preparing to spawn in the stream behind the West's house. From there we went to Alan Meitzners football game, where we lost Brian for a while after the game. Nancy and I had an early dinner, and went to watch movies with Linda while we flea bombed the house. We watched the Marx brothers “Duck Soup”, and had a good laugh. After that one, while the staff was doing the chemo change thing, Ryan showed up with a move called “PI”, which we all watched, and it was very strange. I went home to open up the house, and Nancy and Ryan came home half an hour later.

Friday September 27, 2002
I made it in around 7:25, with the coffee, but Linda is still asleep. I went to the bathroom, and Dr. Kraemer snuck in and woke Linda up around 8:00. Everything seems fine as far as he is concerned, and he was off to do battle with the government regulators. Linda's new phone number is 425-899-1238, and you can now get there by calling her cell phone, 206-909- 3404.

Thursday September 26, 2002
I'll be going home to take Linda to the Hospital for her second round today. She isn't happy about it, she is a bit afraid, but she is going to do it. When the doctor told us earlier in the week, that she could go in anytime this or next week, we just couldn't think of any excuses to delay it. More later. It is now later. Linda and I arrived fairly close to 10:30 like we were supposed to, she went to admitting, and I went to borrow a cart to hold her stuff as we moved in for another month. When I made it back to the oncology area, they said “No, she isn't checking in because we have no rooms”. I took the stuff back to the car, loaded it back up, and parked the car. I then brought the cart back, and went to find Linda, whom I found in the Comprehensive Procedure Center. Linda said that they were confused, and a room would be freeing up soon. A bit later, we heard one of the nurse people say Linda would be in 2-212, so I went to check it out. 2-212 turned out to be right off of the end of the nurse's station. Linda didn't like that idea. Laurie from the CPC went to check if there were any other beds available, and found, like I had, that that was the only one. Linda whined a bit and I went to check again, if there were any others about to become available. While I was talking to Rene, a doctor popped out, and said she would be sending 2-222 and 2-226 home today, so I brought that news back. Room 2-222 is opposite the other end of the nurse's station, and 2-226 is about opposite the public bathroom. Linda wants us to be a bit out of the way, so the kids don't bother other patients or the nurses as they are doing their thing. They finally took her in for the bone marrow biopsy at 12:20, and I went to lunch. She came out at about 13:15, being a bit groggy after the dope they gave her. She recalled asking the Dr Kraemer to help with the room thing as she was going to sleep, and it worked! We settled her into the room next to the one we had last time, and talked to Kent's wife Chris? for a while. Kent is again next door, just one less, while Linda has the one he had before. After dinner, I came over to be around when they started the chemo, which they did at 19:45. The kids came over for story, and Nancy took them home to bed. Linda and I watched “IN and Out”, and I went home around 23:00.

Monday September 23, 2002
We didn't hear from the doctor on Friday, I guess no news is good news. We did go to the Seabeck Church Retreat. I agreed to be with kids for a while Saturday morning, and when I took Tristan over, he wouldn't let me go till I got him involved in making a snack. The adult program was in full swing when I got back, and I got about 1 hour before I had to leave to do my childcare stint. We were hanging out after lunch till it was time for the Polar Bear swim, which all the kids wanted to participate in. After that I took a nap. After dinner was the variety show. Just after it started, Linda got a call from the Rockenbecks requesting her presence as birth coach, as Laurie's waters had broken earlier in the day, and they were about to start pitosin to get things moving. Laurie worked very hard all night, but was making negative progress, so ELI was born at 10:33 by cesarean. Linda went home for a nap, since she had been up all night. Nancy, Eric, the Kids, and I meanwhile caught the 1:40 ferry back from Seabeck Sunday afternoon, and went in search of RC car races to watch, but it appeared to be an off Sunday, so we arrived home around 3:00. Today is Linda's birthday, and she is…, well…, old enough to know better. Nancy will be cooking a special meal for her tonight.

Wednesday September 18, 2002
OK, I haven't been updating daily, because I spent last Wednesday buying a used car, and driving to California for Animal Camp. I got back Monday around 11:00, and spent the afternoon at the VW dealer, taking Linda to a doctor appointment, back to the VW dealer, then to a Preschool Parent Meeting. Yesterday, I actually got in some work, with yet another visit to the VW dealer to get a real factory CD changer installed, which actually works. Linda and Nancy wandered off in the late afternoon to get Linda's eyes examined for reading glasses, and then they went to a movie, just the two of them. Results of today's blood test were pretty much the same as last week, with slightly lower but still normal white count. We are supposed to hear from Dr. Kraemer this week about when the next round will be. Linda says she won't go back till after her birthday on Monday. She is hoping to be able to help with Laurie Rockenbecks birthing process which should happen any day now.

Tuesday September 10, 2002
Today, Linda got what remained of her hair buzzed off. At the moment she has a bit of the Susan Powter look, as it is about 1/8” long. She also had an appointment with Dr. Kraemer, which went very well. They took some blood, and checked it out. Her counts were mostly NORMAL! The hematocrit and hemoglobin were low, even for her, but everything else was fine. She had to joke with him about getting at least a month off. He said they could probably start today, but he wanted her out a bit longer, so they will check again next week, and then discuss going back in again.

Monday September 9, 2002
Linda was sleeping when I went off to get my teeth cleaned, and when I got back she wanted to read to Tristan and Robin, but Tristan wanted me to read, so I finished “The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins”, and went to work. After work, we had a great dinner. Linda is not having fun with her hair not completely gone, so she is going to get the rest of it shaved off tomorrow.

Saturday September 7, 2002
I brought in the coffee around 8:15, and we talked till Dr. Kraemer arrived around 9:15. No nausea, no fever, no bone pain, good counts, we are out of here! He also mentioned that he had gotten a call from one of the top guys over at the UW, on the mystery cells. They have seen them before, on people with the 8-21 translation, but they still don't know what they mean. We are getting all the paper work done, packing and we are gone. We got home, and were there for about 45 minutes, when Linda decided she needed to go to the church leadership retreat for a while. I dropped her off at Sharingwood, and came back to get her about 2 hours later. When we got home, we shipped the kids off for the night with friends from church. Later Linda, Nancy, Ryan, and I watched MIB.

Friday September 6, 2002
When I arrived around 8:30, Linda was still asleep. She did kind of wake up, but had a fever, and felt really crummy. She decided to go back to sleep instead of have breakfast, and I went to work. Dr. Kraemer decided she should stay another day, till she felt better, and her fever was gone. He also said that the mystery cells were sort of leukemic, but there weren't enough of them to worry about. Maybe we didn't have 100% remission this time around, but we are close enough to go home, and call Induction complete. I came over after dinner, and we watched a movie on the computer.

Thursday September 5, 2002
I think I arrived around 7:30, and Linda was a bit sleepy still. When she eventually woke up, we went for latte's, to remind me why I go to R&R instead. Dr. Kraemer came in around 8:30, and told us that the kick start stuff was working, and her ANC was around 0.65. If it stays that way or gets better, she comes home tomorrow. He also said the cyto-genetics results were in, and chromosomes 8 and 21 swapped a bit of material to generate the cancer cells. This confirms the AML type M2 diagnosis, and that the prognosis is favorable! This is good news.

Wednesday September 4, 2002
I think I didn't get in till 8:00, and Linda was awake. We went to the hospital espresso stand and got some latte's. Dr. Kraemer came in and told us her ANC numbers were still in the mid 0.3's, and we should try to kick start them with this very specific drug. I asked how they figure out these drugs, and he said that they figured out what chemical signal the body uses to signal that additional white cells are needed, and they make it in “industrial strength”. She got her first shot of that around 13:00. As I got off the freeway around 14:00 the gearbox was making a rather loud whine. When I got home, I looked more closely under the car and found a quarter sized hole in the differential case. Exit one GTI transmission.

Tuesday September 3, 2002
I arrived just before 8:00, and Linda was already awake. Rene had been in and posted today's numbers already, and red things were down with the exception of platelets, but white things were up, which is good. ANC was up to 0.4. Maybe she will get to come home tomorrow. I had thought I saw no broken sign on the downstairs espresso machine, so we went to try it out, but the cashier said it was still broken. We next went to the high price spread, and got our coffee. When we back to her room, my PDA reminded me that I had scheduled a physical for 9:00, so off I went. When I got home from work, I noticed a big oil spot in the driveway under where my car would normally be, but I didn't see any large amounts of oil on the underside of the car. The oil was cleaner and thicker than what was in the engine. I went back after dinner to watch a movie with Linda. We watched “The Associate” starring Whoopie Goldberg, and it was ok. It did make for a late night.

Monday September 2, 2002
I went over for a while in the morning, and Linda was very sleepy when I arrived around 8:00. She ended up telling me all about a movie she and Ryan had watched the night before. When the doc was in, he was making noises about kicking her out soon. I had to leave around 10:00 to get back in time to say goodbye to Scott and Sandy. Richard, Brian, and I went off to Bumbershoot, but we didn't enjoy much, but we did see Richard Thompson. Maceo Parker wasn't taking us anywhere, so we left to go visit Mom. When we arrived, Nancy and Tristan, and Alan Taylor arrived in the parking lot at the same time as us. Alan brought Linda a gift of a poetry book he had been reading to her from. We visited for a while, and went home for dinner. I was feeling a bit funky, and Linda was tired, so I didn't go over for a late visit. On the way home, as I was going up the hill under the pipeline, there was a bang, and a jerk from the car, so I turned off the radio, but I didn't notice anything else, so I continued on home.

Sunday September 1, 2002
I woke Linda up around 7:55 with coffee, but couldn't stay very long, because I had to do the glean thing. She seemed to be ok, but a bit sleepy, being as how she didn't get to sleep till 1:00 or so. Apparently the nursing staff had a pretty busy night, and couldn't get to her to get her set up for sleeping till nearly 12:30. Teri has gone over, and come back. I don't think I saw any numbers from yesterday, or today while I was there.

Saturday August 31, 2002
I took Linda a Latte in the morning, and didn't hang around too long, because I needed to get home to our guests. John the nurse had dropped a Bumbershoot schedule by, which he had circled a lot of acts that he liked. We had not heard from the doctor yet. Scott, Sandy and I went to Bumbershoot for the afternoon and evening. We saw Johnny Lang, whom we liked, and Ani Defranco, who wasn't taking us anywhere, so we wandered to check out the Isle of Klezbos, which didn't take us anywhere either. Then we went to see Roy Rogers on the blues stage, and he was great. From there we went to see Danny something and Laura Viers, which to our ears were great, as long as they weren't singing. The were a bit nasal twangy for our ears. We then checked out some of the art, and some was more like george, or rudy than art. We did like the “Barbie at Bumbershoot” exhibit. We then left to go visit Linda. We went for a walk all around, including a large walk outside, and through the parking garage. Ryan showed up near the end of the walk, and we had a good time talking out on the Café patio. I had to leave early, because I had woken up around 4:00. When I got home I was surprised to find it was 22:30.

Friday August 30, 2002
I arrived around 9:00 with the coffee today. Dr. Kraemer had already been in, and the numbers were encouraging. All counts were up, Hematocrit and hemoglobin were higher than when we started. We still don't know about what we are calling “the magic cells”. He was making noise about getting rid of isolation protocols by Monday. We went for a walk, and found a flute duet happening in one of the open spaces. We listened to one piece on the way to the gift shop, and another on the way back. When we got back, I showed her another way to edit and publish her log, so she should be able to keep that up a little better. We have out of town visitors and family coming this weekend, so please call before dropping by.

Thursday August 29, 2002
When I went down to check the email, I found that although I had plugged in the laptop, the outlet on the bench that it was plugged into was turned off, so it didn't charge. OK, we will just have to keep it plugged in. I got to the hospital around 7:30, and we got to watching the end of the movie a bit later. With all the interruptions, we still weren't done at 8:25, when Nancy called to remind me of the kids dentist appointments, starting at 9:00. I got home at 8:40, and called the dentist to verify the schedule, because since Richards name was not on the card, Nancy had let him sleep. Both Richard and Brian were due at 9:00, so I got him up, and Richard, Brian, and Robin walked in on time. Linda called just after 9:00 to tell me what Dr. Kraemer said. Near as they can tell, there were no leukemic cells! The uncertain news is that a lot of the white cells were not normal, and they don't quite know what to make of it. The upshot is that we have to wait and see what happens. The good news is that we don't start another round of chemotherapy today. After the kid's dentist appointments, Linda and I finally finished the movie, and it was good. I then ran off to play Squiggle, and maybe get in a little work. Just before dinner, I talked to Linda and we decided to go to sleep instead of bringing everybody over for a visit, as all the kids had visited already.

Wednesday August 28, 2002
I was again playing at working, so I didn't arrive till just about 9:00. We went for a walk, and explored some more places, till I had to leave to take Tristan to his preschool class picnic. Just after I arrived at the picnic, Linda called sounding scared. She had had a little discomfort in her chest, while we were on the patio, and it got worse after I left. She had mentioned it to the staff, and they got a bit excited, and hauled in an EKG, and had a great time playing with the toys. It eased off, and hasn't bothered her for the rest of the day. Later, they started giving her platelets, and she got very cold, and they piled up blankets on her. All in all, she had a rather exciting morning. Last I heard, around 15:00, we hadn't heard from the doctor today. It is now after dinner, and still no sign of the doctor. Tara, our favorite nurse, swears he will make it, because he always does. Dr. Kraemer came in just at 21:00, and everything seems OK. He is figuring the chest pain might be esophagus or maybe gall bladder, and we discussed the fact that they do sometimes operate on neutropenic patients, but not if they can get out of it. Early, Advance, Preliminary, Not Final, “Don't tell anybody I said this” report from the pathologist was that he didn't see any Leukemic cells. We will get more tomorrow, maybe by the time the doctor visits, in the morning. During this time, Linda and I are trying to watch a movie that John, the night nurse, loaned us. It is called "Bread & Tulips", and is in Italian, with subtitles. Around 22:30, the laptop battery dies, and we try to switch over to Linda's laptop, but are unable to get any sound, so I give up and go home to bed. We were maybe 15 minutes from the end of the movie. When I got home I plugged in my laptop to charge it up again.

Tuesday August 27, 2002
Today I didn't get in till 9:00 or so, because I was playing with recording the humidity in the bathroom as I was taking a shower. We went for a walk, and as we walked we ended up stopping by the east information desk to find out how to get to this interesting building we could see. It turned out that is the radiation therapy building, which you get to from the first floor west lobby. We went and checked it out, and it is really neat. They have this cool waiting area with a little fountain/waterfall area outside the window and it is ringed in by trees. They also have this fountain/pool thing inside. Afterwards, we went back to her room, and she had me twiddle her laptop a bit, till I had to go to work. I had to call the doctors office to find out when the biopsy was scheduled for, which turned out to be 16:00. They were supposed to come get her at 15:30, but they finally made it around 16:00, right on time. She got back from the procedure around 16:45, feeling fine. We ALL went over for a visit after dinner. I had stopped by at the video store to pick up a movie Linda wanted to watch. We went up to the Family Lounge in 5 Blue, and had a great time reading about how to behave like a kid, and playing with play dough. The kids all went home with Ryan, and Nancy and I stayed with Linda to watch “Get Real”. It was a story about a boy growing up gay, in an English high school. During the movie, Linda's nose told her I am getting sick. She usually knows a day or two before I do. We all enjoyed the movie, and I managed to make it to bed seconds before midnight.

Monday August 26, 2002
I placed a cup of coffee on Linda's table and left this morning, as I felt fevery and a bit nauseous yesterday. I talked with Laura and she was asking whether the biopsy was scheduled for today or tomorrow. When I had last talked to Dr. Kraemer, he said it would be dependant on his schedule, probably tuesday. When I got to Strobe, I called Linda to tell her, her coffee was cold. She told me that yesterday everyone was expecting the biopsy to be today. If it is today, I will go over to lurk in the shadows, as that is about as close as I should get. She also told me about her and Ryan watching “The Brady Bunch Movie”, and how it was so bad then spent a lot of the time figuring how the characters might get killed off in each scene. I went over after dinner, to hang with Linda. I found her in the main lobby with one of the techs. We went for a short explorative walk, and her IV pump started beeping, so we went back up to the room to have the nurse twiddle, and then disconnect it. We then walked around for a while, exploring different places. Around 20:30 we went back to her room, and read three chapters in our book, “The Big Sleep”.

August 25, 2002 11:32
Since the Late machine gave us sour milk yesterday, I went to R&R this morning on the way to the hospital. They sure do make a good cup of coffee. Linda woke up when I arrived around 7:00. She seemed to have a reasonable night, and so did I. We brainstormed on questions to ask Dr. Kraemer when he shows up today. My main question had to do with the transplant decision tree. I think I know how that works, but I would like to go over it again. I think that we try transplanting marrow, if it just won't grow back from killing it off too many times to get rid of the leukemia. We shouldn't be going there for a while. It being Sunday, I had to leave just before 8:30 to do my Glean thing. I saw the quilt at church that had been made by a lot of Linda's friends over the past week or so, and I hear that the quilt was delivered after church. Ryan stopped by, and watched a movie with Linda, as the rest of us were afraid of being infectious.

August 24, 2002
I got in just before 8:00, and Linda woke up then. I think she didn't have a great night. Around 8:30 we walked down to the cafeteria to get lattes, and the machine was working again. We got our coffee and went back to her room so she could have breakfast. When we got back, Linda took a sip of her coffee, and said it tasted like the milk was sour. I tasted mine, and it tasted very bitter, and the milk might have been sour, so I took them back. I think I was there till just before 11:00, whereupon I left to get the kids ready for a birthday party. I spent nearly two hours making water-balloons, and the kids had a great time. Afterwards, we went en-masse to visit Mom. We went for a walk, and even snuck out of our accustomed areas, and ended walking back in the front door, having done a bit of cross country walking, since Linda was off- leash (no IV pole). We went home, and had a great dinner provided by Bekka and Jake Cormier. I then got the kids ready, and dropped them off at the Meitzners for the night. Nancy went over to the hospital to watch a movie with Linda, and I went to bed.

August 23, 2002 9:22
I didn't sleep well last night and managed to get to the hospital around 6:45. Linda woke up around 8:20. She had “Hospital Dreams” last night. I am not sure what that means, but she didn't seem happy about it. One of them had to do with getting out of the hospital, without being healthy, or even discharged. She came back, because she didn't feel good, but they didn't seem to want her back. Laura came with an extension to Linda's progress chart. The ANC numbers for yesterday and today were both 0.1, which means She has no defenses against bacteria. In fact, she had a small fever, and so is getting IV antibiotics every 6 hours as of last night.

August 22, 2002 10:35
Linda is going into latte withdrawls, with yesterdays fiasco, and Richard and Brians Orthodontist appointments this morning. I got the guys to Dr. Wagners on time at 8:15, so we didn't make it to the hospital till after 9:00. I left the guys there, and Laurie Rockenbeck will give them a ride home after she visits, shortly after 10. Linda had bad dreams all night. I brought Robin & Tristan over for a visit after dinner. Linda was very happy to see them, and finished reading them a book that I had started. As Linda was snuggling Tristan, she heard him practicing saying “leukemia”.

August 21, 2002 10:34
Linda slept in till around 7:50, while I worked this morning. She has not gotten to sleep till around 1:00. Nancy had maybe stayed a bit late, and John, the night nurse, was a bit talkative. The doctor was showing up and we decided to sneak down to the cafeteria for latte's. We got back before he needed us, but the coffee in our latte's was missing, so I took them back. I guess the machine is only a good deal when it works. Dr. Kraemer said all was going fine. I asked how often she might need blood, and he honestly didn't know yet, just when she needed it. Linda is hoping to spend some time unplugged today, which he had mentioned as a possibility yesterday, as long as she promised to drink a lot. After dinner, I took Richard and Brian over to see Mom. Robin and Tristan had managed to get all muddy playing just before we left so I left them in the tub. When we arrived, Carol and Bryn were visiting. After a while, we threw them out, and Linda read to the guys. We left a t 21:05 or so.

August 20, 2002 8:25
Today I got in around 7:50, and Linda was already awake. On the way in, Rene had informed me we get 2 units of blood today. Apparently Dr. Kraemer snuck in ahead of me, and had today's numbers. I brought Linda a BK Bacon Croissant, which was much better than yesterdays hospital eggs. The Kids and I arrived around 21:30 for bedtime story, and were sent down the hall to the sunroom to wait. Linda came in arount 22:00, and all of us were pretty tired by then. I read to the little guys, while Linda read to the big ones.

August 19, 2002
I had this entered once, but my cyberdog ate it, and now it is too foggy to remember. (BS 8-21)

August 18, 2002 22:08
This morning, I got to Evergreen around 7:30, having stopped at BK (closed) and McDonalds for breakfast. Linda woke up about 20 minutes later. We are definitely neutropenic, and they have masks on a shelf outside the door, which stays closed. Neither Linda, April, today's day nurse, or myself had a particularly good nights sleep. I didn't stay long, because I had to do the glean thing. Linda was feeling quite perky, and went for a walk with a volunteer in the morning, and as it turned out in the afternoon too. As I was about as popular as the plague when I got to Meitzners to pick up the kids at 13:00 so I decided to let them stay for the afternoon. I started off to maybe watch a movie with Linda, when I got a call saying Tristan needed his breathing machine, so home I went, then back to Meitzners, so I didn't get to see Linda again today. After I managed to pry them all out, we went home to pick up Nancy, and to Dave Clouds for a barbecue with some electric car friends. Afterwards Linda was thinking she might go to sleep.

August 17, 2002 10:33
Linda was awake when I got there around 8:00. She was hungry, but breakfast wasn't there yet. We went for a walk down to the cafeteria to get her latte, because I couldn't carry one on my bike. When we got back, breakfast had arrived. April came by to check her out, and told us the latest numbers. Her total neutrophil started at 3.9K, then went to 3.5, 1.6, 1.5, and today is 0.16. What this means is that the chemotherapy is working just fine, and that when we visit, we will need to wash hands with the red stuff, and wear masks. Linda will also have to wear a mask whenever she goes out of her room.

August 16, 2002 08:48
I arrived at about an hour ago, and Linda was still asleep. I busied myself with bills. She woke up around 8:30, but was still feeling tired, and was afraid to look at her breakfast. She didn't seem to have a problem with a sip of her daily latte, but was still scared. She seems to have gone back to sleep while waiting for Dr. Kraemer to make it through his rounds to us. Dr. Kraemer took off the bandaid at Linda's neck. When her counts get low, we will trade in her toothbrush for a soft spongy thing so we don't traumatize her gums. She should fight the tendency to stay in bed, she should get up and out, or at least into a chair. 22:00 I went in after men's group (Preston, Dewey, Ron, Howard and myself). Linda was tired, but she seemed perkier than when I took the guys over before dinner. She was proud that she had eaten a fair bit of dinner, but not because she threw it up after brushing her teeth. She is now less afraid, because she has it over with, and it wasn't as bad as when you have the flu, it just came up and that was it. She kind of threw me out because I was yawning almost continuously.

August 15, 2002 21:14
I brought Linda's latte around 7:00 and she was still asleep, so I read Peace is Every Step till she woke up around 8:20. She was feeling pretty good, and we went for a walk around the hospital, and found a couple of new places to take the kids. Dr. Kraemer came by and dropped off a copy of the biopsy pathology report. He was very happy and proud that he had remembered. Alan Taylor came just as I was leaving. I left around 10:00, to get the kids up and going. The Kids left with the Meitzners for the afternoon, and Nancy went to the store, so I watched the Laurel & Hardy Meet Frankenstein DVD, and fell asleep. I then worked on paying the bills till dinner. Barbara Wells and Jaco TenHove stopped by to see Linda today. They are currently are co-ministers at a church back east, maybe in Reston Virginia. She said that Jaco was the perfect person to help with her non-violent visualization of resisting the cancer. He brought up Ghandi's version of non-violent resistance. Linda might enjoy something to read by Ghandi. Linda is very tired and threw the kids out pretty quick, after just a few minutes of story. The kisd were actually being OK, but one of the pumps started alarming, My sister, and Nancy were here to get the kids, and the phone started ringing, and it was just too much for Linda. Natalie showed up for a quick visit, and told us about how Max is doing. It is now 21:58, and Linda is falling asleep. Tara is here to give her tonights drugs. She wants me to stick around for a bit, so I might work on Batman2 some, as she is too sleepy to listen to story.

Yesterday, I came in with coffee around 8:30, and Linda wasn't awake yet, but Renee came in to do her vitals, and she woke up. I don't remember much of the first visit. I came back with the kids in the evening for story time, and we went to a lobby on the 2nd floor, but there is a TV there, so we moved down to the main lobby for this side of the hospital. After Nancy left with the kids I stayed around for the deliverance of the last of the blue chemo for this round. I managed to get out around 23:00.

Day before yesterday I remember being in, in the morning, and going home to get the Laptop that Kelly's loaned us up on Linda's email. I got back with it around 2:00 and the stream of visitors was so thick that it took until 5:30 to get to plug it in, and teach Linda how to use outlook. In the middle, I ran off on an errand for 45 minutes or so. I crashed early, before the kids came back from story at around 22:30.

August 12, 2002 20:57
This morning I called Linda around 8:45, and they were just coming to collect her for her heart scan. I arrived with the kids around 13:00, and found Linda out on the patio with Shelley Hartman, Mary-Clayton Enderline, and Rachael Maxwell. I sent Richard, Robin and Tristan home with Shelley, and Brian stayed to spend time with Mom. I ran off to Costco to find a Sonicare for Linda to have in the hospital. When I got back around 2:30, Carol Crow and Alan Taylor were visiting. I called Stan Crow to give him the information on Nancy's flight, so he could pick her up at the airport. C.J. Ringler stopped by to drop off some flowers, and signed Linda's book. Shortly thereafter we heard that we were go for Chemo today. At 16:00 Laura came in to take all the blood for the Hutch to do the tissue match against. She was in a big rush, because it was supposed to make it over 520 at rush hour to the Hutch by 17:00. We were also supplied with stuff to send to Linda's brothers, or their doctors with directions for taking samples and getting them to the Hutch for tissue matching. I need to get that handled tomorrow, maybe Nancy can do that. The next people to show up were LeRoy and Alan Meitzner, followed shortly by Stan Crow and Nancy. We moved down to the sun room, where Natalie and Erik showed up. Stan had to leave pretty quick, but we talked till I had to get home to catch the kids. I got home, and Linda was there being the laundry fairy. I made sure Nancy had some food, responded to some emails, and came back to be with Linda for the first batch of Chemo.

21:00 Mark: Two drugs: Mitoxantrone/Novantrone just kills the part of the marrow that produces white blood cells, leaving the red cell part alone. It is Blue! It should kill rapidly producing cells, like the gut or hair follicles. The low point of white cell production is called the “nadir”, which should be reached in the next 3 days. That's when infection precautions start. Everybody has to wash hands when visiting, and Mark will bring in special soap for that purpose. When she goes for a walk, she will need to wear a mask. Watch the friends of the kids to make sure that they are healthy. If anybody is sick, they should not visit. ARA-C Does mostly the same thing, but is continuous for 7 days, where the other stuff is one bag a day for 3 days.

22:28 Mark started the blue stuff! Just as the blue stuff got to here port, the phone rang, and it was Liz Sohn. Linda is currently talking to her, and has explained the situation. I stayed there till about 23:30, then stumbled home to bed.

Aug 11, 2002 12:30
I arrived at around 7:00, when the surgery nurses were supposed to show up, but they didn't till about 7:50. I went with her to pre-op, where we met the Anesthesiologist, but I forgot his name. Just before he shot her up, I left to do the glean thing. I got back around 10:05, but she was not in her bed. I started back to the third floor to look for her, but I was half way to the corner, when they wheeled her around the corner. She was a bit groggy, and said something about the Anesthesiologist, but I didn't catch it. Dr Kraemer showed up sometime in there, and told us the heart scan was unlikely to happen today. He also decided to put her on a drug to reduce her uric? Acid level. She is currently normal, but as they kill off the marrow, the levels will rise, and he would like to protect her kidneys. Questions for Dr Kraemer: Did he know she was on a time release lithium? He said the Lithium was fine, and that the thyroid stuff was just a different brand of the same stuff. After he left, we both took a bit of a nap. We woke up just before noon, and I went to find us some lattes. I got back, and before Linda got her first sip, Beth Edwards from preschool walked in. Linda loves to give the lecture about how I am unable or unwilling to ask for help. I just have a habit of doing what needs to be done. She did ask Beth to bring by a play-dough kit for Tristan, which she is glad to do. At about 12:15, Linda's lunch, arrived, but she wasn't quite ready for it yet, so as usual, she talked till it was cold or warm, as the case may be. Linda told her that Natalie Meitzner, 425-836-0310, is her main Volunteer coordinator, but Beth was welcome to be the Preschool point person unless Lisa really wants to. She is having a bit of pulling from the line, I think it might be the fold of skin that they have taped up. Beth left around 13:10, and we spent a few minutes re-organizing the room. Linda then had to call Melissa from preschool. I need to get this set up to catch her email, or maybe get another machine, so she can do it here, and I can still work. She wants to go for a walk after she gets off the phone, so I won't leave, as she needs someone to handle Irving, her I-V pump. 15:32 Cecile Mielenz showed up as we were getting Linda up for a walk. We went down to the “Sun Room”, and talked for an hour or so. Cecile brought a present from the preschool, which included a Chicken Soup for the Soul Journal, and a Chicken Soup for the Survivors Soul book. We made it back to the room, and I got her lunch soup warmed up, and she had eaten a bit, when Alan Taylor walked in.

August 10, 2002 10:50
We arrived at evergreen about an hour ago, and Dr Kraemer was already here. He just left. The schedule is: Blood and vitals today, chest X-Ray this afternoon, Central Line tomorrow, with tissue typing and Chemo Go probably Monday. Chemo regimen: One drug several times a day for 3 days, another drug continuously for a week. This causes remission in some patients, some take another round. One week after chemo, we do another bone marrow biopsy to see if we killed it. He said that with good anti-nausea agents, she won't feel too sick, but that when she's out of white cells, she'll be really susceptible to bacterial infection. 11:35 Dr. John Ebisu showed up to describe the process of installing the central line. He likes to put them into the jugular vein, with the tip just at the heart. Other sites are prone to getting crushed. He watches with ultrasound as he is doing it Main difficulties are clotting, and collapsed lungs. If they get plugged, or infected, they come out. I goes in at the upper left chest, squiggles up to the neck, where it goes into the vein. They will do it around 8:00 tomorrow morning, and it should take about an hour. They will come to get her a bit before to get her set up. 11:55 They came to get her to do the chest X-Ray, so I'm going to get some lunch. 12:40 Laura came in to ask questions. Doc changed doses to 300mg lithium, 250 depacote. Phone 425-899-1239. Questions: how much can she roam? Is there a library or reading room? Where is the best place for the kids to visit? Quiet room. Lounge in corner. Ethernet or other computer connections? Phone. Laura will look into leukemia support group. 13:00 Gale showed up for a visit, and gave Linda a Roman coin he bought on ebay. His head is still shaved for Sharon, and he says it will stay that way till Linda and Sharon are both healthy. 15:30? Linda L. and the kids came by for a while, and I went home to pick up some things that inadvertently got left behind. While I was there, Natalie called, and I set up for them to come get the kids around 6ish. I got back to the hospital at 5, and we read to the kids, and sent them off again. 17:30 Linda's dinner arrived, so I went down to find some food. I called Bob and Lynda after eating, and talked to Lynda as Bob wasn't home from work yet. I tried calling Jim Ozanne, but they didn't answer the phone. 18:00 When I got back to Linda's room, Carol and Nir were there. They were still there when Carol Crow arrived at about 19:00. She left around 19:40, as she had a wedding reception to go to. I had hoped to stay till Linda went to sleep, but I am fading fast.

August 9, 2002 13:45
Last Friday, some unknown Doctor's office was trying to get a hold of Linda. They seemed very confused, and suggested that some Linda Sherry was very sick, and had leukemia. I rode the recumbent from Woodinville out to Manchester State Park, where the family had already been camping for a day. After the guys were asleep, Linda told me of the tale. They wanted Linda Sherry to check in at Swedish Hospital because she had had blood drawn there. Well, she hadn't, and the medical system sometimes confuses the two Linda Sherry's.

Dr. Schiesser, who covers for Dr. Marcus, finally got in on the action and insisted on setting an appointment on Monday with an oncologist. She got a hold of Dr. Markus, on Monday, he had been unavailable on Friday. Yes, he thought it was her blood, and sent us to see Dr. Kenneth Kraemer on Monday, at 11. He convinced us that there wasn't a likely alternative to what the lab saw in the blood, but took some more, and verified similar results that evening. He was leaning strongly toward a diagnosis of acute myelogenous Leukemia. Wednesday afternoon, we went to Evergreen hospital, for a bone marrow biopsy. For a change, her blood pressure was higher than mine, but both were legal normal. We were going nuts waiting for the results.

At about 12:50 today, near the end of the last Squiggle game at Strobe, Linda called to give me the results. I didn't have the brains to ask her exactly which variety of AML it is, but she said if we didn't treat it, she had about 3 months. The doctors wanted her in the hospital for 3 weeks to 3 months. I don't know what they expect the outcome will be, but in Linda's researches, she found some quote to the effect that 5 year survival of AML is ~20%. Some types can be treated with 6 months of pills, I guess this isn't one of those.

Just after I got home from Strobe, my Sister called, and I told her what I know. I don't think I will volunteer more, till I know more.

14:35 Evergreen hospital Inpatient registration called, and wants us to call them tomorrow at 7:30 to make sure they have a bed for Linda. The number to call is: 425-899-2717.

14:57 Call Evergreen Hospital Inpatient registration at the above number to pre- register anytime up till 9:30 tonight.