Michael said today was his worst day to date. He stayed in bed most of the day. All I can say is thank goodness for pain killers. If today was the worst day....tomorrow can only get better.

Michael was able to have chemo today. His white blood cell count was 3.4 yesterday and it was 4.2 this morning (normal is 4.2-11) so whatever they gave him yesterday worked. His tumor markers are down again to 889.5 which is really good news. His liver enzymes are improving as well. They didn't show as much improvement as they have in the past so I'm cracking the whip and making him choke down the Avemar. He hasn't had it very much these last 2 weeks and I told him that if the numbers weren't as good as in the past that he would have to start drinking it again everyday.

Michael is suppose to have chemo today but they ran his blood tests yesterday and his white blood cell count is too low. The doctor gave him a shot in the stomach and sent him home. (Michael couldn't tell me exactly what they shot was.) He is suppose to go back to the hospital today to have his WBC checked again to see if he's OK for chemo. He also had his INR tested and he is at 7 which means his blood is way to thin. (Normal is 2.5) The nurse said that it would contribute to his headaches. He just seems all over the charts today. I'll know more later...I just hope he's cleared for chemo today!

Today is Michael's 53rd Birthday...Happy Birthday, Hon!!

I dragged him to Octoberfest in Lake Geneva yesterday. It was a whopping 43 degrees...burrrr! He survived pretty well. I would have to say that yesterday was his best day since chemo last week. The bad days are starting to outweigh the good days...but it's encouraging to know that bad days are always followed by good days. He ate like crazy and he was up to 160.8 on the scale last night! I'm hoping to persuade him to go out to dinner tonight...so I can fatten him up some more before chemo on Wednesday.

Here is a picture of Michael in the chemo parlor. Today was his 4th round of chemo. The Avastin is working it's magic. His tumor markers are down to 1554! (They started at 4338.) And his liver enzymes are slowly going down as well. He is definitely starting to feel the effects of the chemo but it's very encouraging to see the improvements in black and white.

As I had hoped, Michael started feeling a lot better last night. It's funny how quickly he can make a turn around. He desperately wanted to get a good nights sleep last night so I bought some melatonin to try and help and of course I read that it shouldn't be taken if you're on coumadin. It's always something! But he took it anyways and didn't get up during the night. I wouldn't say it was a particularly restful sleep but it's probably the best nights sleep he's had in weeks. The pain in his leg from the blood clot still bothers him and his legs cramp up at night so he's constantly tossing & turning. I did discover that the Protonix the doctor gave him for GERD causes sleeplessness so he quit taking it and just went back to Zantec. It's a constant quest to figure out the drug interactions!!

This week has been particularly hard for Michael. He had his 3rd round of chemo last week and he's been pretty miserable ever since. He can't really explain how or why he feels bad which is very frustrating for me because I don't know how to help him. To make things worse, he can't sleep and he's up all night. The doctor gave him some ambien but it didn't work at all. I'm hoping that he'll feel better in a day or two because it will be a week since the chemo. I'm going to TRY and get him to start changing his diet. I would like to start by cutting out sugar and caffeine and then try and wean him off "junk food". All the crap he eats can't be helping! He's down a couple of pounds but this is usually the trend...lose weight the week after chemo...put it back on the week before chemo...then do it all over again.