Today is Dad’s Day 0 while April 1st is more commonly known as April Fool’s Day to the rest of the us.
Husband and I awoke to no AT&T cell phone service. AT&T had a wide spread outage that covered the entire Tampa Bay region and Sarasota. Some AT&T customers thought it was an April Fool’s joke. The outage was caused by cutover issues related to the terribly poor transition of Verizon Fios’ operations to Frontier Communications. The good news was that our household still had internet connectivity (even as a new customer of Frontier Communications) and that Mom and Dad are Verizon cellular customers. We were still able to communicate with Mom and Dad.
Husband picked up Mom at 9:00 a.m. to take her to the Moffitt Cancer Center. Mom and Dad are extremely thankful for Husband chauffeuring Mom back and forth to Moffitt. They are always expressing their gratitude. We are extremely concerned about having Mom ride in one of our cars since Daughter and I are both sick. Dad asked Husband to drive Mom back and forth in a non-contaminated car. Husband has been wiping down the interior of the cars to help reduce the spread of any illness.
After breakfast, Dad learned that his new stems cells had been delayed…until tomorrow, Saturday, April 2nd, in the afternoon. Ugh. Thus, an extra day of rest while Dad pauses Day 0.
Dr. Ochoa, inservice BMT, visited Dad. Dad spoke of two concerns. The first was that the tremors have gotten slightly worse in his hands and arms. Dr. Ochoa believed that it is the chemotherapy affecting Dad’s brain. Dr. Ochoa didn’t believe it is caused by the chemotherapy affecting Dad’s muscles. Dr. Ochoa requested that a neurologist examine Dad. The second issue was that the tops of Dad’s feet are quite red. Dr. Ochoa was not concerned. He believed that the redness may be caused by Dad’s low platelets or the chemotherapy.
When the neurologist came to see Dad, the neurologist was impressed by Dad’s mobility. In fact, when he first saw Dad, he questioned if Dad was even the one he was to examine. This was because the neurologist had spotted Dad walking his two miles. The neurologist came to the same conclusion as Dr. Ochoa…it is chemotherapy affecting Dad’s brain. Based upon the half-lives of the two chemotherapies, fludarabine and melphalan, we anticipate the tremors to stop soon.
Dad’s platelets were fine. His hemoglobin level was a little low so he received one unit of blood.
Both, Daughter and I, went to visit our fabulous family doctor, Dr. Martha Price. I told Dr. Price that Daughter and I need to be healthy again, ASAP. Dr. Price was already familiar with Dad’s situation. She understood the urgent need to be cured with Dad being in the BMT (blood & marrow transplant) unit for his stem cell transplant. I was diagnosed with a sinus infection, and Daughter was diagnosed with bronchitis. Dr. Price went heavy handed, more so than usual because of Dad, with her prescriptions to help speed up our recoveries and to address any possibility of bacterial infection. Dr. Price said that I could not be around Dad for 4 – 5 more days. Daughter was told even longer at 5 – 7 days. That assumes we are feeling good at those points in time.
Midday, I went to Trader Joe’s in an attempt to purchase fruit, salads, sandwiches, and a few frozen meals that Mom can cook in the microwave. Mom has limited options when staying at Moffitt. There is a shared family refrigerator for her to share with others. Mom said it was quite full. There is no proper stove nor oven to cook food…not even a toaster oven…only a microwave. During my grocery shopping, I was texting and snapping and sending photos of a variety of frozen foods that could be cooked in the microwave. Microwaved meals. How unappealing! I tried my best to select dishes that had a hope of tasting palatable. Mom was not interested in most of my offers.
While FaceTiming with Dad yesterday afternoon, Dad was constantly hiccuping. This was believed to be related to the same chemotherapy effects Dad is experiencing with the tremors.
Day 0…the day Dad was to be infused with the donor’s stem cells! April Fool’s!
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