Kevin is improving quicker than the doctors expected. He starts his full program of rehab today. He still is not able to get out of bed by himself, or for that matter sit up by himself. The therapist will try to get him walking again this week. He is healing well. In the beginning it took three rol of gauze to fill the wound now he is just taking one. His sirits are still good. He is a little frightened to be alone because he can do so little for himself, could have something to do with his control isses. His apatite is doing good. Visits from the family and friends realy help him keep a positive outlook.
I am waiting to hear from the oncologist about when and how we will start the chemo reatments again. I don't think it will be for a few weeks at least. His speech is not good so he is not very willing to have a long conversation. Over the weekend My mother and sister came, Doris and his parents came, and Barb and Jerry came to see him. Barb made some bread to drool over.
Joey anad Becky got their houseand I believe they closed this weekend. They were very excited to get a place large enough and without a flood in the basement everytime it rains. I convinced Jackson (the youngest) that the babtisomal font in the sanctary area was his private swimming pool. Uncle Kenny strikes again!
Dan is progressing on the rehab for the house they are going to live in hile finishing up school. I am sure they, as well as Keith and Doris are anous to get that done. Kiley will be one next month. Kevin will hopefuly be able to get to the party. Zack was four this month and at his birthday party is when Kevin really started to hurt form the infection.
BUT Drew is my buddy, he is so easly currupted. He has learded to do a manical laugh from me, and now we are learning to tell pretty women "back at ya babe". I am sure this is every parents dream. Katie still rembers how to dance with a pole, she has to get through college some how.
Well I must get backto the real world and start another day now
Kenny

!.

Kevin has moved the the BJC rehab facility, no not for that, for treatment and physical therapy. The wound is healing very well. The doctors are very pleased with his progress. He was originaly expected to be in the hospital up to ten days. The facility is located at 401 Corporate Drive in Clayton Mo. The strange thing is he is now directly across the street from Enterprise C0rporate. He actualy lookes out his window into the building that he last worked in. His spirits are up. He is expected to be here for two to three weeks. The doctors are now not expecting to do more surgery and debreetment the infection is responding to the antiboitics far better than expected. Neither of us thought he would come home from the hospital in the beginning. We actualy inquired about the Hospice facilities. But once again Kevin puts my plans for the new condo on hold.
I am not sure the cats will allow him back in our bed. Max has taken over Kevin's pillow and actually sleeps with his head on it and his little tounge hanging out. This is quite a sight to wake up to. But the cats do not snore as loud as Kevin. He will be home with home health care as soon as he is able to get some of his strength back. I am not sure if we have to do more acomodations yet. I will try to keep everyone updated as often as possible.
On a scarry note I think Kevin is just scared that I will try to ballance the accounts now that they are coming in and he will give me very exacting instructions on how to pay what.
Thank all of you for the support and encouragement. We both apriciate it very much!
Kenny

Kevin is in the hopital

On Sunday March 8, I took Kevin to Barnes Emergency because of pain and swelling in his groin. Within a few hours he was rushed to emergency surgery and had to have an incision in order to drain and debreed an infection that had progressed to gain green. After the surgery he was put into ICU, untill tonight. He is being moved to room 6576 at BJC. He is doing well and is on morpheine. The Dr. told us that he has a difficult road ahead. The treatments for his toumor will have to be suspended for a while. The treatments are what allowed the infection to progress rapidly and with few symptoms. He will be in the hospital for 5 -10 days and then will go to a skilled care facility untill the wounds heal.
I would like to thank all of you for your support. Kevin can recieve e-mailes at barnes website. I will continue to update as time allows.
Kenny
P.S. I am a terriable speller and this has no spellcheck!!

MRI Results and Temador treatment

I had my bi-weekly Avastain treatment and a visit with the Oncologist to discuss the MRI results. The report was a bit vague this time, it did not give any dimensions. The only thing the report indicated was a slight increase in size. The Oncologist reminded me that even with an MRI it still not an exact science when you are dealing with small changes in size. I had gotten used to the tumor shrinking by a measurable amount. The short answer, now that given the long narrative is that they error on the side of growth when they can not tell due to such a slight change.

I start the Temador on Friday, I give myself a day in between the Avastain and the Temador. I learned that lesson early on in my treatments. You have to give your body time to recoup. The Temador is a five day treatment which is taken in pill form and I do at home. We get up at 6:00AM and I take the anti-nausea pill, go back to bed then get at 7:00AM and take the 300mg's of Temador go back to bed then up for the day 8:00AM and have a light breakfast and the rest of my medications. With this treatment I do not leave the house, I get so run down from the Temador and tired from all the anti-nausea medication that I sleep most of the time.

Busy Weekend

I started out on Friday by volunteering at Food Outreach for a few hours. I am doing data entry that the staff does not like to do because it is so repetitive, but the Accountant in me loves the repetition. Then that evening Kenny and went to O'Charlies for Maggie, Kenny's brother-in-laws sister, there were 2o plus people in attendance. Including Maggie's grand daughter Marie and Charlie's grand son Paul, we went to Florida a couple of years ago with Kenny's family and we had a fantastic trip. Saturday we went out to dinner at Nonna's in Belleville with Mark and Tony, two of my old friends from Belleville. We had a really enjoyable visit and luckily the restaurant was not busy so we got to visit for a while. Sunday I spent cleaning out junk drawers, it amazing the amount junk we have accumulated over the years! Monday I went to the monthly lunch with some of my friends from ERAC. I always enjoy these lunches it keeps in touch with my friends/former co-workers who I miss getting to see on a daily basis. This month it was some of my friends from payroll and some of the people from my old department. It always a treat after lunch to stop and visit the accounting department. Thank you Christine for continuing these lunches they mean a lot to me and thank you for the apple pie, it was delicious as usual!!!! From there we went to my ENT appointment my Oncologist was concerned that I was having so many Sinus infections. The ENT luckily found only minor problems that should be manageable with changes in my allergy medications. Since I am taking Chemotherapy the ENT wants the Oncologist to suggest what medications I can take. I have an appointment tomorrow with the Oncologist to get the results of my last MRI, I will do quick post tomorrow night to let everyone know the results.

Treatment and MRI

I had my Avastain Treatment yesterday, it went very well. This is done at Siteman since it is an infusion. We started at noon with Blood work, then I went down to the MRI lab. I wound up in my favorite machine, the one with the scratch marks on the inside! I will get the results in two weeks when I see the doctor. We don't anticipate any growth so we decided the results could wait. From there it was to the 7Th floor for treatment. The actual infusion time is 30 minutes, but the Pharmacy does not prepare the drugs until you check in. So it winds up being about 60-90 minutes. So we ended the day at little after 5:00.

Birthdays

We had three birthdays at the end January, beginning of February. My Nephew Brian on January 28Th, he was 31. He is in the Navy stationed at Denver, CO so we were unable to see him on his birthday. My Mothers birthday was January 29Th, I will be nice and not say exactly how old she is, but it is above 80. Her and Dad still live in the house by themselves and she is still driving and bowling three days a week. We took her and Dad to Long Horn for dinner, we were joined by Doris, my sister-in-law, Amy my niece and her four kids. My Brother and Dan, Amy's husband were unable to make it. Last but not least was Kenny's Father on February 1st at 70. Kenny's family celebrated at Outback. I was unable to attend because of the Temador treatments, but Kenny at least brought a piece of cake.