John is OK

Hi you all.  John and I got back from Hershey today.

I'm feeling grateful tonight.  Grateful that it looks like John's cancer is not back.  That was the decision made by his oncologist at yesterday's appointment.  

Actually, Dr. C. thinks John is doing quite well.  All tests have come back negative.  Dr. C. decided not to do the biopsy b/c there was no sign of cancer.  

John's labs (counts and levels) were also exceptionally good.  Except for the red cells.  The Hemoglobin and Hematocrit were much too low.  

They were almost low enough to get a blood transfusion (red blood cell packs).  

We are hoping he will not start to need to get blood transfusions again.  He hasn't had to have them since February.  This meant that the Hemolytic Anemia was probably gone.  Now we are wondering if the Hemolytic Anemia could be back again.

What does this mean?  Well, we will take it one day at a time.  Perhaps a spleenectomy?  Who knows.  We are not even going to think about that right now.  We have packing and moving to get through, LOL.

Right now John is getting Arinesp shots (very similar to Procrit shots, you may have heard about them on TV) to help raise his red blood counts in hopes that this will stimulate their growth.  If that occurs, then maybe he won't have to be transfused.

Actually, John is looking pretty good, and getting stronger every day.  I was pretty worried about him about a month ago, but now the fevers have stopped and he says he is feeling really good.  Praise God for that.

Sorry I alarmed you all.  My bad. 

Ok, I have to get back to my packing.  I know I told you all I would tell you how my sleeping is going.  But I don't want to make this entry too long.  I just wanted to tell you John was ok. 

Suffice it to say that the sleep thing has been hard.  First hard, then easy, then hard again.  Last night I guess went ok, but I kept having nightmares.  I could hear the pressure of the air (from the hose of the sleep apnea machine) in my dreams, and dreamt all kinds of weird things.  One of the things I dreamt was that a grenade exploded in my face.  Another thing I dreamt was that I was a baby in my mother's womb.  This is all b/c of the sounds of the air and the pressure from the machine.  I DO NOT like the weird dreams, LOL.  The night before I dreamt I died.  I DO NOT want to have these dreams, LOL.  I just want to be normal.  On the other hand, I don't want to die from stopping breathing w/o the machine.  Oh well!

Ok, I must run.  John is waiting for me.  Love you all,

Krissy :) 

Tags: no cancer, transfusions, Hemolytic Anemia, sleep apnea