morrowlife

Here are my new monitors. I got them for the conference at which I’m exhibiting in February. One of them is currently sitting on my desk, though, being burned in. Maybe I should burn in the other one too. I’ll have to think about that. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPad-cam, taken in my living room the other day, and part of my famous Electronics series.

Okay, even I will admit that’s not exactly Great Art. But it comes as close as I can today. And all of my Loyal Readers should definitely buy some of those [amazon text=excellent monitors&asin=B008A3KFB8]. And they should of course click on my link to buy them.

Well. It’s been quite a weekend. Shannon was scheduled for the long-awaited bronchoscopy on Saturday morning so we could finally find out what’s going on inside her lungs. Instead, they told her she has pleurisy and they didn’t need to find out what was inside her lungs. So they didn’t do it. Again. It’s now rescheduled for tomorrow morning. Sigh.

She’s had a pretty rough time of things the past couple of days. Sunday morning started pretty much as usual. They unhooked her from her IV pump long enough for her to take a shower and the day started. I came over to the hospital in the morning, worked for an hour or two, and then left to go back to the hotel to do Shannon’s and my laundry. After spending a couple of fairly relaxing hours sitting outside and reading while the laundry washed and dried itself, I folded everything, put my stuff back in my room, and headed back to the hospital with Shannon’s stuff.

I was pretty much shocked by what I found there. She had suddenly become extremely weak, to the point that she could barely get out of bed or even speak in a complete sentence. She has remained pretty much that way since. I wrote an email to her doctor asking for his help and he came over today to see what was going on. He took a look at her latest blood work and discovered her electrolyte levels had fallen dangerously low due to fluid loss brought on my the diuretics they’ve been giving her for several days to try to remove the fluid from her lungs and chest cavity. He started her on fairly high doses of potassium and magnesium and said we should see rapid improvement.

Sadly, she started improving, but fairly quickly stopped and even got a bit worse, I believe. When I left the hospital a little after 9:00 this evening, she once again couldn’t stand up or even sit up in bed. I don’t think she’s dying, but I’m very worried about her. We need to get this figured out and fast.

On the positive side, her white cell count is falling, as it should as a result of the round of chemo she just finished. The blasts are above 70% now, if I heard correctly, so it’s pretty clear she still needs frequent chemo to remain in remission. While the doctor was here, I talked with him briefly about how this would be a very convenient time for us to get another stem cell transplant. He’s promised to look into it after she’s back on her feet and cured from the pneumonia/pleurisy.

On that front, the infectious disease doctor was over this afternoon. He mentioned a lot of things that could be going on, but he thinks the most likely reason the antibiotics haven’t completely cured her is that there might be some virus (she originally had influenza A, as my Loyal Readers will recall) or fungus in there too. So he’s adding a bunch of antivirus and antifungal medications and pushing hard for the bronchoscopy tomorrow so we’ll know for sure. There are all kinds of other obscure things that could also explain the problem, which is why he thinks the test is so important. It really needs to happen.

As far as I’m concerned, pleurisy sounds like a 19th century disease. Maybe they should check her for consumption and ague while they’re at it.

And that’s about it for today. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: beer-stealing pig! And the best part is that there’s definitely an immediate opening.

See you tomorrow.

Here’s a glass full of bubbling, boiling water. Kind of. It actually contains dry ice. I believe I mentioned several days ago that my brother Chris sent us a Christmas gift of meat and other stuff from the nice folks at Omaha Steaks. Since Shannon has been in the hospital so long, we haven’t had a chance to cook and eat any of the stuff. However, I did spend a bunch of time over a few days playing with my dry ice. That’s the block of dry ice there in the background.

Actually, it turns out there’s not a lot of things you can do with dry ice. I broke off little pieces and put them in water. Then I  . . . umm . . . broke off more little pieces and put them in water. Actually, that was it.

Greetings from Duarte, California! Shannon came this afternoon via air ambulance and I drove. We had a couple hours’ notice, so I got everything packed back up, drove over to the hospital, picked up Shannon’s stuff, and left for Duarte about an hour before she did. And . . . I beat her! She called me just before she got on the airplane and I was 99 miles away from here. I got to the hotel, checked in, got into my room, and Shannon called again to let me know she was on the ground. I finished unpacking, went over to Rubio’s for a delicious fish taco dinner, went to the nearby Trader Joe’s for a bit of browsing and the purchase of some delicious-looking orange creme soda, and got the call from Shannon that she was safely ensconced in her room. So I came over to the hospital.

I have a lot of confidence that they’re doing the right things here already. They’ve started testing her blood, they’ve done a chest x-ray, and they’re doing a CAT scan tomorrow morning. Then they’ll probably do the bronchoscopy and figure out what’s going on in her lungs. Then she’ll start getting well. Simple!

My trip was uneventful. I didn’t need to make any stops, so I didn’t. The traffic going towards Las Vegas was heavy, but ours was just fine up until the last couple of miles, and even then it moved. So it was a good day.

I miss Mark already. I really hope we’ll be home soon.

No work was done again today. Tomorrow for sure. I have nothing else to do now but work and be with Shannon. And sometimes both at the same time. Life’s good.

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: detective rat!

See you on Monday.

Here’s Mark with a Zoltar machine. That’s Mark there on the right, with Zoltar on the left. Of course, having his name printed directly over his head is something of a giveaway. Maybe Mark should consider getting a sign like that one. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken in Boulder city mere moments before the Atomic Missile photo featured on Tuesday, and part of my famous Electronics, Machinery, and Statue series.

I nearly called Mark LRN2 in that first paragraph there. That’s a difficult habit to get out of. Once you get a shtick going, it’s hard to change direction.

By the way, you can have a Zoltar machine too! Or maybe go [amazon text=a bit cheaper&asin=B000NOOZ1S].

Lots of news around here. Yesterday afternoon, I got thoroughly disgusted when our lung doctor refused to perform a test that our oncologist told us Shannon needed. It’s the bronchoscopy they’ve schedule two times before and called off both times at the last moment. The guy said he won’t do it because her platelets are too low. Which is ludicrous because her body is incapable of creating platelets, as I mentioned. She needs that test because, while she’s doing much better than before, she’s no longer really improving and she can’t get free of the oxygen. She also can’t get free of the hospital.

So I got unhappy and decided it was time to go to the City of Hope. Shannon agreed and I started making the arrangements. Our Nevada oncologist agrees that it’s a good time to transfer her. Our California oncologist agrees and has been wanting us to transfer her since he found out. And our internal disease specialist’s partner visited us this afternoon and told us he absolutely agrees that we need to go. Without wanting to say anything negative about the wonderful people at the hospital here, they just don’t have enough experience with stem cell transplant patients and their special needs. At this point, we need to get with the experts. So we’re going.

Shannon called me early this morning and let me know they told her she was being transferred today. She I scrambled around and drained the jacuzzi, changed the sheets on our bed, finished folding Shannon’s laundry and got some extra clothes out for her, got gas in the Taurus, and packed a suitcase for myself to last for anywhere from three days to five months. I loaded it all in the car, along with Shannon’s pills and a dirty clothes basket, and headed to the hospital to await Shannon’s air ambulance departure. And . . . she didn’t go. There’s not a bed available at the City of Hope yet. It’ll happen within a few days, of course. But why did I believe them when they told me we were leaving? Sorry.

I should have done what we did last time this happened. That time, I kept living a normal life until they told her it was time to go. Then I went home, got ready as described above, and drove to Los Angeles. In my defense, I thought they had told her it was time to go.

Anyway, we’re going soon.

No work was accomplished today in all the confusion. Spoke with my mother and both of my brothers today. Everybody seems to be doing fine and they’re all excited for us to keep moving forward. Chris was going to come visit us for the weekend, so that’s canceled, unfortunately. Maybe another time soon.

And there’s not much else on my mind right now, so I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: rental chicken!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s an atomic missile. I want one. Although I have no idea what I’d do with it. Or even where I would keep it. All I know is I want it. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken in downtown Boulder City this past weekend, and part of my famous Machinery series.

That thing is awesome.

Check out the list of Loyal Readers over there on the right. I have four new Loyal Readers! They haven’t technically applied for Loyal Reader status, but they’ve all admitted to reading the blog. And that makes them Loyal Readers. Welcome aboard, Bob, Don, Nan, and Melanie. Thanks for reading. Loyally.

Of course, I know they’re all just reading to find out how Shannon is doing. So let’s bow to the pressure and examine the record. She’s doing pretty well. Quite well, in fact. She’s feeling well for the most part. She’s able to shower now and … duh-duh-duh-duh! … she’s able to go for a walk! They brought us a portable oxygen tank and turned us loose in the hallways of the hospital. It was the first time she had been outside of a hospital room in nineteen days (other than when being transferred somewhere by hospital personnel, of course). It was a huge deal, if you ask me, even though it was only a brief walk. Congratulations, Shannon! That’s one small step for a woman, one giant leap for Shannon.

Not much work got done today. I spent a lot of the time on emails, reviewing trouble tickets, and other odds and ends. Just a little bit of documentation. That manual is so overwhelming to me that I’m really struggling with it. There is a ton more work to do. Better get down to it.

Shannon found us a potentially good place to buy the golf shirts John and I plan to wear at the conference in February. Thanks, Shannon! She mentioned that her boss at the interior design studio said she was a great sourcer. And she was right! Now we have to decide whether to have the PhotoDoc or the Business Casual logo put on there. There are good reasons for both. Or maybe we should put both on.

The cleaning ladies come early tomorrow morning, so I’d better end. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: gangster pig!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s a bit of Great Art from Shannon and Mia. Originally, it had a beard made out of paper loops – 24 of them, to be exact. It was a really cute little advent calendar. Now, it’s garbage. Great Art courtesy of Shannon, Mia, and the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken on our kitchen countertop, and part of my famous Event and Vacation series.

The event was Christmas, of course.

Notice anything different, Loyal Readers? That’s right, I’m no longer calling Loyal Readers by their Loyal Reader number. I’m tired of it, so it’s time for a change. It was fun while it lasted, wasn’t it? Wasn’t it? Hello? Anybody?

Pretty good weekend. Shannon’s doing quite well pneumonia-wise. She’s feeling good, although they’ve had to pump up her oxygen just a little bit. She’ll get off of it sooner or later. She was able to take a shower today for the first time since she went into the hospital, which made her feel great. She’s breathing better, looking better, eating better, and in every way greatly improved.

Now for the less-good news. Even though today was day four of chemo, her white count continues to go up and the percentage of blasts in the white cells is also increasing. It’ll get into the danger zone pretty soon. Fortunately, we’ve been in this situation before – last August to be exact. The chemo she’s getting is pretty slow to act, so it’s not unexpected. But her numbers need to start lowering pretty soon. Keeping fingers crossed for that to happen right away.

Made a little progress on the work front. I’ve been working on the documentation for PhotoDoc. There is a TON more work to do, but it’s moving forward again. I’ve also been working on PhotoDoc’s logo. I’ll show it to you as soon as it’s finalized. Many thanks to non-Loyal-Reader Matt for working on it for me. Also many thanks to non-Loyal-Reader Clifford for working on the videos my non-Loyal-Reader partner John has made. All that delegation is starting to pay off.

Got my new business cards in the mail today. They look very professional, as far as I’m concerned. Behold:

The phone number and email address have been obscured to keep the spammers at bay. If any of my Loyal Readers want to get in touch with me, you already know where I am.

Although that information was also in the post from a few days ago. But nobody will notice that one, will they? This one looks just like the artist’s conception, doesn’t it?

And that’s about it for today. I’m trying to get to bed earlier and now’s the time. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: Cookie Monster of the sea!

See you tomorrow.