tom's blog

Christmas break

Posted Sun, 12/28/2008 - 22:23 by tom

Christmas was pretty special. Anna, TJ and I were all home. We slept here on Christmas eve, and TJ did manage to fall asleep at a reasonable hour, so we were able to put his presents out and then talk about how Santa came by... He's still a little young to understand the whole thing, but he's pretty good at saying Merry Christmas and Santa Claus. He was real excited with opening up presents. He would rip into something, and then if it was clothes, the clothes were quickly discarded as he searched for something more fun. The day was a little emotional. It felt great to have everyone home but it felt a little quieter than Christmas normally does. Plus, I think we missed Tino a little extra as he would normally be in the middle of everything.

Bianca had been here for almost two weeks and she left on Friday night. She was a big help with Anna and TJ, as well as keeping the house under control. When she left Niko (her brother) and Lele (their Aunt/TJ's godmother) came to town. They'll be around through New Years and then head back home.

We had Niko, Lele, Anna's parents, my parents, my sister and my grandmother over on Saturday. Although, we celebrated on Christmas day with just us (and Bianca), Saturday was much more of the celebration. It felt pretty good to have a busy house again with lots of people and lots of food! Anna was able to hang out for most of the day, but did sneak away a couple of times to rest and take a little nap. We went a little light on presents this year, mostly because Anna didn't have time to get out and shop. Overall though, TJ was the undisputed winner as we have tons of new toys to go with his tons of his existing toys.

She heads back over to see the doctor tomorrow for a check-up and we suspect she'll probably be ready for another round of platelets. On Tuesday, she has another spinal tap scheduled as part of the chemo treatment plan. She'll have one of these a week for the next six weeks or so. It's definitely one of the more uncomfortable procedures as the whole thing takes a while, then she has to lay down for several more hours... and then that night and the next day, the spot where the perform the procedure is pretty sore.

there's no place like home

Posted Tue, 12/23/2008 - 22:52 by tom

Anna made it home on Monday afternoon. I think it's really helpful (emotionally and physically) to be back at home. Although, she can move around and walk the halls out the hospital, it really isn't conducive to doing anything other than laying in bed. She went back today for the bone marrow biopsy and that's always a long procedure. I think they were over there from 10:30am until about 4pm. She's feeling a little extra pain tonight in the spot where they did the procedure, but other than that is feeling pretty good. She hasn't had chemo in a few days now, so we're all expecting her to continue to bounce back.

TJ comes home tomorrow... he's been at her parents forever... or at least a week and a half, but it feels like forever. I think we're all anxious to see him again. I can't wait. It'll be nice to have him here on X-mas eve, and then wake up on X-mas and go open presents.

Yanks sign CC, AJ, and Teixeira. Looking good for the season.

Merry Christmas to all.

the weather outside is frightful

Posted Sun, 12/21/2008 - 16:37 by tom

Crazy weather this weekend around here. Had a bunch of snow, some rain, and some sleet.

As of Sunday, Anna is still in the hospital. Her white blood cell counts were pretty low, so as of Friday they were planning on keeping her until Tuesday... Today, things were looking better, so they're starting to talk about her going home on Monday. Either way, I think it'll be pretty soon and it does look likely that she'll be home for Christmas, which is great news.

Overall, she's feeling pretty good but her sleep schedule is all screwed up. She's been napping during the day and then wide awake all night. Now that she's back in the 5300 unit, it's been a good experience to see some familiar faces with some of the nurses that had cared for her back in Sept/Oct. I can tell she's feeling pretty good, because she's antsy to get out of there. She's been talking about going home for a few days now, which is always a good sign. So, if everything continues forward as per plan, she'll go home on Monday and then go back over for treatment on Tuesday, but that will be done on an outpatient basis.

Bianca was supposed to go home on Monday night and my mom was supposed to come down today... but, Bianca decided to stick around and spent Christmas up here, which is really cool. Bianca's been great this past week in that she's been pretty much living over at the hospital with Anna... and also helping out around the house with laundry, cooking, etc. Since Bianca was in town and the weather was bad, my mom decided to stay up in Albany... which I'm sure is good for her as I'm sure everyone has some last minute Christmas stuff to handle.

It's been a tough week all around. With Anna's physical condition and staying in this hospital, it makes things a little extra chaotic and emotional. Plus, with the weather, Anna's parents didn't come out this weekend, so it's been a full week since either of us have seen TJ... which is tough. He should be back out here by Wednesday though, so that he can wake up at home for Christmas morning.