Whirlwind Week |6-16-16|

I should probably update all of this week when I'm not so exhausted, but I know people have been asking how Mike's doing, so I'll do my best to make it short and sweet. 

Monday- 

We thought he was getting surgery, but his labs weren't looking too good. Surgery got post poned until Wednesday, and Mike got admitted to the Cardio Thoracic Progressive Care unit. 

You already knew that, didn't you? Moving on, then. 

Tuesday- 

Mike spent the day not feeling too good at all. He had so much anxiety about the biopsy that he was making himself even more sick. He had started spiking fevers off and on Monday night and all day Tuesday. They ran a bunch of tests, but never could determine an exact cause. It was concluded that it's from the lymphoma working against him. He also received lots of IV fluids and some potassium, but his potassium levels were still dropping. We were worried that they wouldn't do the biopsy on Wednesday morning because he wasn't feeling any better than Monday. It was hard to see Mike feeling so down. He was emotional and scared. I wasn't scared about the surgery, but I was scared seeing him like that. Us women are never happy... We want our man to talk about his feelings, but then when he finally does- run! (I didn't run, I held his hand and gave him a pep talk) 

Wednesday- 

They brought us down to Pre Op at 6:15 in the morning, and they took him back to the OR room an hour later. There is something about watching your loved one get rolled down a hallway that's always a little difficult. 

Dr. Vee came out around 8:40 and told me that everything went great. He got viable tissue, and we should get results by he beginning of next week. 

My sister Jen came down to keep me company, and so we went back up to his room to wait for him there. He got back at 10:30, feeling very groggy. He spent the remained we of the day in and out of sleep. Mike's parents came down to visit, and they brought the girls with them. Lucy wasn't intimidated by all of the tubes he was hooked up to, but Molly was a little apprehensive. I tried to explain them all so it took the scariness away, and Lucy declared, "I'm going to be a doctor when I grow up, so I can take care of Daddy." 

By dinner time, Mike was more awake, and he told me that now that the surgery is over, he's wanting to focus on getting well and getting his strength back. He promised me he would start eating and drinking again. I reminded him that he isn't allowed to give up on himself like he had done in the days leading up to surgery. He agreed to keep fighting. 

Thursday- 

I had to get on the road early this morning to bring the girls to their well child check ups. They knew they had to get shots and they were both very brave. They said, "Daddy gets shots all the time, and we are brave like him!" There was one "ouch!", but not a single tear. I didn't want to burst their bubble and tell them that they are brave like their mommy with shots, and not their daddy- he tries to talk them out of a shot every single time. Next time, I'm going to tell him to be brave like his daughters! 

When I got back down here, Mike was having another episode of severe shaking chills. He gets them pretty frequently, so it didn't alarm me, but his sweet nurse looked a little freaked out. 

In the mid afternoon a hematology/oncology team came in and we got to have an amazing conversation. Dr. Heather Male was the lead doctor and she lifted so much anxiety off of me. She explained everything that has been going on, and answered all of my questions. She told us that the biopsy was going to tell us if the area in his chest that is growing is lymphoma or inflammation caused by reactions in the tissue to the chemo. She spelled everything out perfectly clear, and ran through all scenarios and best case/worst case situations with us. It was the exact conversation I had been needing. 

We are scheduled to see meet with the transplant team next week to discuss Mike's future process which will lead us to them. We now know that there is a good probability that he will need not only a stem cell transplant with his own bone marrow, but most likely, he will end up needed an allo transplant, which means he will need a donor. I will provide more info in the future, but I would GREATLY appreciate if you would consider signing up to be on he bone marrow transplant registry. It is quick and easy, and you can find more info and sign up at Www.bethematch.org . You could be the match to save my husband's life. You could save our children's father. You would be a HERO! I would make you cake and eat it with you :) 

well, on that note, look at he time. Waaaaay past the time I had in mind for a "short and sweet" entry. 

I'll post again soon. Hopefully we will get out of here by Saturday. And then I'm going to sleep in my own bed for 1 year. Ha. 

Xoxo

Robin