Days +7, +8 & +9, A roller coaster rider .

         A lot has happened the past three days. Some of it I even remember. One thing I remember is Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were miserable days. A lot of the effects were starting to hit in force. I think it was Thursay I was so out of it I neither made, answered nor returned any phone calls including three from Kathy. Phones &  Facebook were out. Sleep and using the bedside toilet were pretty much the order of the day. The trouble was sleep came small bites for the most parts. 

          Anyone who has done much time in a hospital knows that when you check in, your dignity checks out. Fortunately the nurses here go the extra mile to put you at ease. Without getting not any of the gorrey details, I found myself in the humiliating position of having to call on my night nurse the bit g me clean clothes and to help me clean myself up. I can't say how long I sat and looked at that cord by the toilet but it seemed forever. Fortunately when the door opened the nurse on the other side was very comforting and very upbeat. I don't think she stopped talking the whole time but she sure did a great job getting me through an embarrassing situation. She was just one of the many angels taking care of me here.

         Enough of the stuff. Today started out not so great but better than yesterday. They had to infuse some platlets today. Kathy came up probably about 11:30. That lifted my spirits a bit but fatigue and headaches and diarrhea started getting to me. Don't know if these were symptoms of the platelets being infused but it appeared my day was heading in a negative direction. After the Infusion I got out of bed and sat in the chair next to Kathy. Soon the pain medication kicked in and the headache got better. Next I got the news that the bowel movement adolescent to the lab in the morning was negative for infections. That means they are now giving me Imodium to control the diarrhea and have taken away "the hat"! The Imodium is working and having to "go" is much less stressful. 

         Next the oncologist came in and told me I just might be going home Monday. My stem cells are recovering. I would like to say that is the end of all the issues I am having with this but it does mean while the bad days are not totally behind me but there are fewer bad days ahead ahead and more good ones ahead.

        Now the perfect ending to this day will be a good night's sleep tonight. It's been a while. Hoping tonight is the night.

Goodnight all!

Glenn

Day,+5 A mixed day

     Today started off feeling good and although I had some ups and downs, overall it was a good day. It is difficult to stay awake with so many drugs in your system and being confined to a room does not help.

     On the good side I received ten cards today and a couple phone calls from. My wife. Also my oncologist "suggested" I could be out of here sooner than I think. Not getting my hopes up but this weekend would be nice. Even next Monday would be good.

     Been a while since I wrote my last words. Guess that means I better go ahead and post this. Thanks for the cards. They are really appreciated!

Goodnight

Day +3 & +4

Good morning, I am going to try and write a short post today for Glenn. Some of the side effects have set. They have been giving him medication to help with it. The exhaustion has set in, which makes him really tired. Sleeping most the day now. The nurse told me his body inside is working so hard to make him well, that your whole body literally become exhausted. That puts it into perspective. I will be going home this afternoon and returning Friday morning. I'm sure he will post later if he is up to it, but be patient as he may not post everyday. The nurses here are great so I'm sure he'll be in good hands. Glenn's room is quiet, probably the quietest hospital room he's been in so he can get plenty of rest. I do want to thank everyone for your support, cards, phone calls to both Glenn and myself and especially your prayers. Some have asked if it's alright to put them on their prayer list at church please feel free to do so. Thanks to everyone, love to you all, Kathy

Day +2

        Today was mostly uneventful. It was pretty much a typical day except I got a call from my brother and Bill Venable. It was nice to hear from the the outside world. Other than that I just sleep most of the day.

        Nothing in the hat today. I will keep everyone posted as I know everyone is anxious for the outcome of that event.

        Did feel a little nausea today but the nurse gave me medication that seems to have calmed my stomach down. Couldn't eat much either. Had the world's worse crab cake for lunch time but didn't eat but the first bite. Dinner was stuffed flounder. Don't know if that was any good or not. Just the thought of fish made me feel sick. I ate the salad and ice cream. That was all.

       Not looking forward to it but it seems the side effects might be getting started. I'll know more tomorrow about that. Getting sleepy again so that's it for tonight. As always your thoughts and prayers are very much appreciated!

Goodnight!
Glenn

Day +1

      I am late posting tonight. I have heard from three people they have had phish attack warnings while replying to this blog. If you get this warning then back out. It seems reading this is no problem but posting is. To be safe I suggest posting any comments to me on Facebook.

      When I started writing this I planned on chronicling my experience here for myself and for anyone else who cares to keep up with me and hopefully some people who may be facing a stem cell transplant. In addition I want to tell the good, the bad and the ugly. I will keep it tasteful but it's about to get ugly.

       So far things have been going real well. I have been told in the next few days expect some of the side effects to kick in, mainly nausea and diarrhea. They can give me medication to combat the nausea so that does not concern me. The trouble is not only do they want me to have diarrhea! They want me to do it in what they call a hat! They want me to crap in a hat!!!!! The hat is a plastic tub that mounts under the toilet seat. Somehow I don't see this ending well for me but it will be worse for the nurse! She has to collect it, measure it and analyse it! If it passes I get Imodium to relieve the diarrhea. If not, try, try again.

     Okay, that's it for the ugly. Other than pain in my left side which feels like muscle or rib pain or both, I am doing just fine. They gave me pain medication for the pain and it has made me sleep most of the day.

      Last but certainly not the least, I had a visitor today in my sister, Carol, received 7 cards including a couple photos from a Outer Banks trip a few years back when my hair was still long and I got a call from Dave & Donna Alexander. It was really good to hear from Dave. I was afraid we were going to lose him a couple months ago. He sounded good. Glad he is on the mend.

      That is it for tonight. Thanks to everyone who has called, prayed, sent a card, posted on Facebook or even just thought about Me for a few seconds. It is very overwhelming to realize so many care. I can never thank you all or fully show my appreciation to all of you.

Goodnight & God Bless everyone!

Day 0

       Today for me is Day 0 or Day zero.What that means is the beaches have been bombed, the enemy bunkers have been mostly destroyed and my troops of stem cells are coming ashore to do what Americans can do best, win this war. In other words my stem cells have had over two weeks of R&R and are ready to shock and awe the myeloma cells. It will be an epic battle I am sure but I have confidence my boys will come out of this with a Victory of monumental proportions! The reason this is Day 0 is because this begins my first real offensive attack on the cancer. Spiritualism rebirth aside they refer to this as my 2nd birthday thus the day zero. Tomorrow will be +1, followed by +2 the next day and so on.

       I first started writing this before the stem cells were put back. Somehow I lost the original post so I will cover some of what it was about. Basically they were giving me medications that would fight infections and nausea and that they might make me sleep all day. With that in mind I wanted to get this out earlier in case I can't or just don't feel up to it later. Before I could get back the original was gone so I restarted this. Bottom.line now is the stem cells have returned to the fight and are ready the take on the evil myeloma army. I am sure the battle has already begun. I have been warned the battl e may not go so good for the first two or three days when we will rally and turn the tide of battle towards victory. In a few weeks the battle will come to an end after we anialate those scum sucking myeloma. Once we have prevailed I will go home and participate in the peace keeping phase of this battle. That means more chemo to stop the myeloma from coming back while we are still acessing the extent of our victory. Once that is determined we will make a determination of what kind of treatments I will need to continue and how frequently I'll need them or even if I will need them at all!

       Well just finished lunch and so far no ill effects from the transplant.. It has been over three hours. I don't doubt I'll have them but so far nothing. I am free to roam as they have anchored me from the IV poll. Four the next few hours I have to have a nurse come in if I want or need to stand but that should not be for long.

         This is going to be it for now. If anything else developes and I am up to it, I'll post it later. Everybody have a good day and continue to pray for Sheila Clendanial and also for her husband Don. I suspect it will be a nervous few days waiting on the biopsy report.

          Thanks if you took the time to read this. Stay tuned tomorrow for the next exciting adventures of Glenn and Kathy in OUR JOURNEY!

Thanks and good day to all!

Day -1

        You may have noticed a change in yesterday's title. The reason for that is the 2 days prior to transplant are minus days. Yesterday was actually minus 2 or -2. Today is -1. Transplant day is day zero or just 0. After that the next day is +1, +2 and so on.

         My second round of high dose chemo just started a few minutes ago. It will probably take an hour or so to complete. Tomorrow I expect to get my stem cells about 9 am.If all goes as planned. The will just involve a few syringes and will neckline in my room in just a few minutes, about the same time as it takes to have blood drawn except this is going back in through the same port my IV fluids and other medications are administered. They tell me the worst days are the two or three after the stem cells are returned and then things start improving. Whether or not I do well or not it is going to be a long three weeks. Hopefully my stem cells will recover fast enough I can get patrolled early.

        Last night I didn't sleep to well but that's normal for me and hospitals. Otherwise I am still holding up well. Not looking forward to what I am going look like with no hair. Hopefully it will come back all one color. I don't care if it is brown or gray as long as it is one color.

         I have heard from several people they are planning to come see me. I am really looking forward to seeing anyone who comes to visit. Those that do come please don't bring any gifts. Flowers and fruit baskets are not allowed. I realize some of you are traveling along way. One couple will be coming from Pongoteague, Va. Just the fact you are taking the time  and expense to come so far is more than enough for me. Expect to wash your hands and don a mask as it is required. I may look a little different depending on when you arrive. The chemo is in my system now so there is no stopping the hair loss now. I understand it will probably start about this weekend although I did find a hair on my bedside table today.  If anything else comes to mind I will update this later. Otherwise this is it for today. Tomorrow my stem cells come home and I start the healing phase of my treatment. After tomorrow I just have to stay here and be monitored to make sure everything is going as it should. Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers. I think my hospital phone number was sent via email but regardless whether you got the email or not you can call my cell phone. If you don't have my cell number message me and I will send it to you.

Love you all!
Have a good night!
Glenn

P.S. I just heard a dear friend, Sheila Clendanial is having a biopsy of a lump in her breast. She is a strong wonderful woman and whether you know her or not please say a prayer for her. Thank you.

Day -2

       I am in my room and all hooked up. So far I am only getting saline but any time now they will be in with the good stuff. I have been posting from my desktop computer but am on my tablet now so expect some typos.

       Outside it's snowing pretty good. We are expecting I think 6-8 inches before turning to rain. Kathy is staying about 1-2 miles from here. It is a house owned by a church and they don't charge people who travel over 50 miles to get here. Kathy says she is the only one there so far.

        As I was writing this the nurse came in a started pumping the hi-test stuff. No ethanol for me. Just 100% pure premium! Now we will see how long before this stuff starts doing its thing. For those with a medical background the drugs they are giving me are Melphalan & Ondansetron. The first drug is to make me sick. That's the chemo. The second is to keep me from getting sick.

         On an unrelated note I got to watch the new Walking Dead on my tablet today. I was pleased to see Eugene survived as I had heard he didn't make it. That's it for today so far. If anything else comes up I will let you know. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. This isn't going to be fun but as a few of you have already told me, I got this!

Have a good day!
Glenn
 
Well it is almost 11pm. Time for me to get to bed. So far I am doing well. Not sure exactly when but I finish this high dose chemo some time tomorrow. Don't think that means I am out of the woods yet by any means but I will take it as a sign I am tolerating it well so far.

Almost Time!

          Good News! As you hopefully can see, I got the title changed to Our Journey! I wanted to do this because this is a journey Kathy and I are taking together. We will both be posting as we go along so keep checking to get both sides of what is happening!

          Today I had my last Dr. appointment before going into the hospital. It had nothing to do with my stem cell transplant except that it was originally scheduled for later in the month and I had to reschedule it. Yesterday I had my heart and lung tests and both were okay. The appointment today was about my cholesterol and it was good too. Tomorrow is my last day on the bus for a couple months and the rest of the weekend will be getting things together to go. Not exactly looking forward to this but looking forward to feeling better and being able sleep through the night again. Not much to write right now and probably won't be posting anything else until Monday.

Have a good day!
Glenn

Counting Down

      Just a short post here. The easy week I thought I was going to have is now not going to be so easy. Next Tuesday through Thursday are going to be busy days. I have to get bloodwork done, a couple Dr. appointments and heart and lung tests done.

      If I can I am going to change the title of this blog to Our Journey as it is not just my journey but it is Kathy's too. She will be posting and she will be busy running back and forth to Christiana, taking care of things at home and trying to keep working. Then when I get home she will probably have a lot to do for me but hopefully not too much.

      Okay, that's all I got for today. Don't expect anything until about next Tuesday although if I have something worth posting before then I will.

Any Help Appreciated

      I am trying to learn this blog as I go. If anyone has any experience with Blogger and have any tips or advice I would appreciate all the help I can get. A couple things I would like to know. One is if you get notifications when I post? If so do I have to do something to set up notifications? Another question is does anyone know what a "permalink" is and what or why if anything would I use it for? Guess that is it for this morning. If I think of anything I will post later.

Have a good Day.
Glenn

Where I have been and where I am going next.

      Not sure what I am doing so let's hope this works and people can find this. A friend of ours suggested my wife write something for our motorcycle club's newsletter keeping everyone up on what was going on with me. When she told me this she used the word blog so I decided to do this. This blog is primarily for family and friends who have expressed concern for me but feel free to share this with anyone you think may be interested.
   
      First off I have a cancer called Multiple Myeloma. It is a cancer of the blood and bone. There is no cure at this time but it is a highly treatable cancer so I expect to be around a while. This all started sometime in about April or May. I was having some trouble with my appetite and as a result began losing weight. Nothing smelled or tasted right to me so I was gradually eating less and less. This all came to a head in early July. I went to my Doctor and he ordered some blood work. Kathy and I went to a 4th of July picnic at a friends home. By this time I had gone from 325 lbs to about 250 lbs. That day I couldn't eat anything. On sunday the 5th, I got a call from my Dr. Being it was Sunday I knew it wasn't good. He told me get to the hospital so I did. They didn't know what was wrong with me but they knew I was anemic. They admitted me and gave me several units of blood. In all it would eventually total 9 units. They did testing and on I believe Monday morning a lady came to my room and told me what they thought I had which was Multiple Myeloma Cancer. She explained to me what it was and how it could be treated bur said I needed a bone marrow biopsy to confirm it so the next day I had the biopsy and the diagnosis was confirmed. Since then I have been taking lots of pills, had about 6 or 7 plasmapheresis treatments, about 7 or 8 cycles of Chemo and just yesterday (1/26/2016) had stem cells collected for a stem cell transplant scheduled for 2/15/2016.

     So in a nut shell that brings us up to where I am now. There won't be a lot added to this until I go to Christiana Hospital to have my stem cell transplant on 2/15. Posts on here will be both from myself and from my wife. I will be in the hospital 3 to 4 weeks. Due to the high dose chemo and other drugs they will be pumping into me there will be days I will be too sick, tired or both to post so Kathy will post both for me and for what she has to go through on this journey. Just don't read too much into it when she or myself say I am having a bad day. Part of the process is I have to get worse, mostly from the chemo, before I can get better. We will try and between the two of us should be able to post daily. Often we will both post on the same day as what she will be going through will be different than what I will be going through. As I learn to do this I will post photos from time to time. Anyone is welcome to follow and respond to a post anytime you want.

     Guess that's it for tonight. Now let's see if I can get this out so people can see it. If you were able to read this please post a short message to let me know this is out there and people are getting it. A simple "got it" will suffice however post whatever is on your mind. If you read this far then thank you and keep checking back.

Goodnight!
Glenn