Hey Everyone,
A lot has been happening since my last blog. I know in my last blog, as well as in Eric’s we both said the cancer was out of his brain. We left the hospital with the understanding it was still out of his brain. He had an Lumbar Puncture done prior to us leaving so we thought we were still in the clear! We were so happy to get home and be “normal,” we couldn’t wait. Literally we had checked out of the hospital by noon, and were on our way. I literally dropped all our stuff in the front hall, made sure Eric was Okay, got in the shower and headed up to dance. It felt AWESOME to be able to go to work, and come home and know my husband would be there. I wouldn’t have to drive back to Milwaukee to sleep in a cot next to him. I was going to be coming home to my husband, sleeping in the same bed, waking up in the morning next to him. We were going to be like a real married couple. No nurses checking in on us every hour, (but we DO love the nurses) no him needing to get blood at 6 am in the morning, no hospital food. Felt awesome!
Anyway, we had gone two days without medical stuff. We were under the impression that Thursday Eric was going to have a bone marrow biopsy. The plan was go get his labs taken, go see his doctor, get a biopsy, and get some blood and platelets if need be. Brian, Eric’s dad took him to this appointment because I had to catch up on work, and wasn’t sure I’d be able to make it in time if I had gone. Since I have taken off the majority of the year, Eric and I decided that until dance recital time, unless it’s a major emergency. I got a call about two hours after Eric had left our house with his dad. They were no longer going to do the biopsy. Instead, they would be doing a lumbar puncture.
I had to gather my thoughts. I couldn’t figure out why, until Eric told me. They found more cancer in his brain. The sample they took right before we left the hospital had come back with cancer in it. So instead they were going to treat the brain, and worry about the marrow another day.
I’m still in shock. I thought we had the upper hand on this one. I was 99% sure that the cancer was out of his brain and we were going to find out by Friday what was going on in his bone marrow. I thought if any devastating news was coming our way it would be after the biopsy, and I was even pretty sure that was going to come back that he was in remission. If there was any cancer in his bone marrow they were going to start a mylotarg treatment. Instead, they did the LP, and we have to wait to find out what’s going on his brain. It sounds like there may be a biopsy in the near future, but can’t be sure either way, because things can change in a matter of minutes.
As soon as we know more about what’s going on, and what the treatment plan is, we will update you. Right now Eric is home, and we’re trying to live as normal as possible. His dad came down today to spend the day with him, and I worked in the office all day. We’re trying to keep things as normal as we can, while also facing the reality that Eric is still sick with the pneumonia, and we have so many unknowns going on.
As always, thanks for all of the support. Eric’s biggest bucket list thing is getting people to join the registry. If you go to www.marrow.org and you can sign up to maybe one day save a life. They send you a cheek swab thing, and you send it back. You most likely will not be a match for Eric, but you might be someday for someone out there. When you donate, it’s almost just like giving blood. Think about it. Had some random guy in Europe not joined the registry, Eric wouldn’t have been able to get that last transplant. We will never know who that guy is, but he’s out there, working, or doing something in Europe, not knowing the impact he really had on our lives. By joining the registry, you could someday be saving someone else’s life. PLUS it’s a very easy way to do it! If you do sign up, after you send in your packet, email us at life@givetolife.org and let us know so we can put you on our “Bone Marrow Team” on the L.I.F.E. site!
Thanks guys!
Cari