tom's blog

hope you voted

Anna was scheduled for treatment on Monday, but the doctor decided to cancel it. She went in for her appointment, but her platelets were on the border of being low so the doctor decided that it wasn't worth it to push things. Even though there was no treatment, it was a great appointment for Anna because her primary Oncology doctor was back from vacation. She was able to catch up with him and ask all of her questions that had built up over the last couple of weeks. The fact that he canceled treatment is not cause for concern. He just wanted to give her body a little more time to bounce back from things last week. Her next appointment is on Thursday, so she'll have a couple more days to relax.

She really has been feeling great. At this point, she can't remember the last time she had to take pain meds, so that is a great sign. Overall, she's just continuing to feel better and better every day. Since Anna didn't have an appointment, she went into the city with her Aunt and spent some time with TJ. It's been a bit tough on her with being separated from TJ, but it's only for a week and this arrangement is best for everyone.

My mom is down next week and they'll be back together out here in Jersey. Also, Anna's god-sister Nana (aka Ili) will be up next week for a few days. She hasn't seen Anna since this started, so I'm sure it'll be great for them to spend some time together.

Friday night looks like a drinking night in the city... (for me, but not Anna). If you are around and interested, drop me an email. I owe quite a few people drinks for making donations and definitely look forward to catching up with people given that I haven't been out in quite a while.

Special thanks to Dave and Julia for sending the care package. Also, thanks to Veronica for the flowers and holy water.

Hope everyone voted today.

marathons, football, visitors and maybe a home for tino

Our friend Kathleen ran in the NYC marathon today in support of LLS. Yeah Kathleen! Unfortunately, we didn't get in to see her but we're really proud of the work she has done in support of raising money for cancer.

Anna felt great all weekend. We went out to breakfast today and ran into our neighbors, Ruth and George. They live down the street from us and are really nice people. After breakfast we went food shopping, then our friends Janet and Brian and their 8 month old son, Lucas, stopped by. It was the first time Anna had seen them since before this started, so it was great to see them. We watched quite a bit of football today, which felt pretty good just to be able to relax and watch TV. This evening, her Aunt Xiomara, came down from Rhode Island and she'll be staying here with Anna this week. This week is pretty light on the chemo treatments. Just two days, so we're hoping that she continues to feel better and I'm hoping she doesn't do too much damage in the shopping malls.

The folks that are currently watching Tino called tonight and said they may have found a home for Tino. There is a family that they are friends with... it's a husband/wife and twin 7 year old girls. They met Tino today and are going to take him for a few days, then they go on vacation for a bit and when they get back, if everything is still OK, then they'll take him. We're real hopeful it will work out as it sounds like a great place for him to go.

Hello strangers

I know, it's been a while.

Anna had a good week of chemo treatments. Wednesday and Thursday were relatively quick treatments. She had a bit of a hard time one of the days when one of the nurses got a little concerned about Anna's "numbers" (white blood cell count, hemoglobin, etc). At the end though, was a bunch of excitement over nothing. Just one of those moments of unnecessary confusion and stress that probably wasn't necessary. Other than that, it was a bit of an uneventful week. Our friend Kathleen continued to drive her all week and that worked out pretty well.

Things are beginning to get back closer to normal. Well, I guess as normal as they can be in this situation. I actually went out on Thursday night to a Rangers game with my friend Brian and was able to have a couple beers and a good time (Thanks Brian). After the game, I went up to Anna's parents house and stayed there for the night. They were trying to put TJ to sleep by the time I got there, so I didn't get to see him that night but was able to spend some time with Anna. Also, I did get to see TJ in on Friday morning so that was pretty cool. The whole gang (anna, tj, and her parents) came out here for the day on Friday. TJ dressed up as Donald Duck for Halloween and they got quite a few trick-or-treaters before I got home from work. Here are a couple pics
http://anna.gaff.net/image/tid/4

Also, quite a few neighbors stopped by and Anna was able to spend a little time with them. I think she enjoyed getting caught back up with everyone and participating in a normal activity like handing out candy. She still gets a little tired sometimes and can't do too much at once but other than the occasional 30 minute nap, she's back to a pretty regular sleep schedule and night and is up most of the day. She'll do a few activities like fold laundry, etc but definitely isn't back to running around just yet. This coming week she's down to just two chemo treatments, so I am hoping she'll feel even better. Also, her primary doctor is back from vacation so she's happy to get caught up with him.

Plus, for the next two weeks, Anna is staying out here at our house. This week, her Aunt Xiomara comes down and will stay with us. Next week my mom will be here. TJ will bounce around a bit, but there is definitely a little more activity in the house these days. Our friends Ira and Chris stopped by today for a brief visit. It was good to see them and get caught up on everything that's been going on lately.

I'm going to try to hit the NYC marathon tomorrow with TJ to cheer on our friend Kathleen and all of the other runners. If anyone else is going, please drop me an email or a text message or something. It really depends on TJ's schedule as the time to see Kathleen is pretty close to nap time.