It's been a long time since I've updated my Blog! I didn't realize how long until I looked at my last post of April 2013.
Much has been going on in our family in the past 9 months. When we returned home from Arizona in April, Larry went in for his normal checkup by his family doctor. The office called a few days later and wanted him to come back in to talk to the doctor about is blood test. The doctor told him he was concerned about his white and red blood counts and wanted him to see a doctor at the Illinois Cancer Center here in Peoria. After seeing Dr. Lou at the center, he was told he has Smoldering Multiple Myeloma. She explained it but I'm not totally sure I understood it. It is a cancer that affects the formation of the red blood cells within the bone marrow I believe.
We talked about his diagnosis for a few days and decided to ask Dr. Aguawal, his family doctor, if he felt going to Mayo's would be a good idea to find out what they felt about it. His doctor felt that it would be a good thing to at least hear what they had to say. The doctor scheduled the appointment and about 3 days later Larry had a sore spot in his elbow and by the next morning it started getting red and was swelling. He called and went into see his doctor. He said that he had an infection from a small puncture in the elbow, which Larry had no idea how that came about. Within 2 days his arm was huge and very hot to the touch. He had been taking very strong antibiotics for about 3 days so he called the doctor again and ended up seeing Dr. Adams, which is my doctor but in the same practice. Dr. Adams gave him another antiobotic to take along with his current one and said if not showing improvement by noon the next day, which was Friday, to go into ER as they would admit him and get him on IV's to attack the infection. We called Mayo to move the appointment time as we were scheduled to be there on Monday. They moved him to Thursday of the following week.
Friday came and his arm still felt warm but not hot as it was before. We waited for him to get a couple more doses of antibiotics before deciding whether he needed to go to ER. By 4:00pm the heat had gone out of his arm and it looked as though the swelling was subsiding. We left for Mayo's in Minnesota on Wednesday and by then his arm was pretty much back to normal.
Our visit to Mayo's was amazing. It is the most organized and friendly place I have ever been. They did many test on Thursday and sent Larry home with a bag to collect his urine. We returned early on Friday morning to drop off urine and for him to get a PET and CTSCAN. At 1:00 we met with doctor again and she pretty much what we heard at the Cancer Center here in Peoria, however, she did much more explaining and when we left we felt much better about what we knew than before.
So, basically, Larry has continued to have blood test at the Cancer Center about every 6 weeks. They are watching him very carefully and to date has not suggested he start any active treatment, which we are thankful for.
About the same time the issue was going on with Larry's cancer, he started having back problems as well. His back got so bad he couldn't function. He saw his family doctor and they ordered a MRI and gave him pain pills. After MRI the doctor called and told him he had a herniated disk and sent a request to the neurology doctor for an appointment. We waited over 6 weeks just to get a call from the doctors office. They said his name was on the list and one of the doctors would be reviewing his records and would call back. We waited almost 2 weeks to hear from them again. At that time they told him to see one of the neurologist regarding a pain injection. Another 10 days before he was able to get in for a shot. After the injection, his back settled down and so far he has had no further problems. Hopefully that will continue. I jokingly told everyone I am trading him in for a newer model as he seems to go from one problem to another!
Larry and his brother Art spent a week in September in Canada on a fishing trip and caught enough fish to bring their limit home. Larry kept asking me to go but I felt he and Art probably would enjoy the trip more.
Larry also wanted me to go on a trip on the motorcycles to Charleston NC. It was only about 3 week before Leslie's baby shower was planned so again I told him I had too much going on to leave. I told him to call his friend Wally Zukas and when he called Wally was excited to go. He left home late on a Monday and rode 6 hours to reach Wally/s house in Marion IL. They then left Tuesday morning on the trip south. They were gone almost a week and when he started the ride home the weather changed to cold sleet and snow. He did not have enough clothing and when he arrived home on Saturday night late, he was frozen.
I have been having problems with my throat for quite awhile so I saw Dr. Hendricker with Midwest ENT Group. After scoping my throat he told me I had several polyps and probably could benefit from having them removed. I took a couple of medications for about 2 months which didn't help. When I returned to him in November, he decided I should have them removed. He completed the surgery and I could not talk for 3 days and then I slowly got back to my normal talking over about a 3 week period. I just returned for my final post op appointment and he said all was fine. I no longer have the raspy voice and my voice is pretty normal after the healing process. I am really happy I decided to have the surgery.
We had Leslie's baby shower on November 16th and since it was a combined shower with Pete's family, it ended up being quite large. She got many nice things and everyone seemed to enjoy the time together.
We sold our timeshare on Anna Maria Island in September but we had 1 week left to use for the year. I asked Larry if he wanted to go which was a definite 'NO'. I decided rather than to waste the week I'd ask my long time friend Sandi to go. She was excited to go and found she had enough frequent flyer miles for both of us to fly directly into Sarasota which is only about 20 miles from the Island. We flew out on Saturday December 7th and flew home the following Saturday on the 14th. We had a nice time and the first few days were very hot and humid. After Wednesday, the air cooled and it was beautiful. I think we ate at every seafood restaurant within 25 miles of the condo. If nothing else, I think we gained 20 lbs.
Leslie went through a long 9 plus of pregnancy and we had a new grandson on January 12, 2014. He was born via C Section after she was in labor for almost 48 hours. He was 9 lbs 4 ozs, 19.5 inches long and looks like a clone of his father, Pete. Pete named him and had the name picked out for sometime before he was born. His name is Oliver Joseph. Pete's middle name is Joseph and he chose Oliver just because he likes the name I guess. He is such a sweetie! Leslie had so many problems before the delivery and about 3 hours after getting settled in her room, she started hemorrhaging. They worked on her for several hours trying to get it under control then gave her transfusions as she lost so much blood. A very scarey time for all of us! She was a real trooper through all the issues and I was very proud of her.
They came home from the hospital on Tuesday January 14th and Oliver was very fussy for the first 2 days as he was not getting enough to eat. She and Pete took him to the breast feeding center and they suggested they supplement his feedings until she started getting more milk. They also worked with her regarding the nursing. The lactation nurse came to the house on Thursday night to check on Oliver and told Leslie she could stop down at the breastfeeding clinic and pick up a scale to weigh him. Currently he is doing very well on his weight gain. He gained 1.4 lbs in less than a week.
Well these are just a few of the happenings over the past 9-10 months. There are many more that I'm sure was forgotten
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