We need your help

Ok, people, this is a little more on the serious side. Joe's in real bad shape these days, and it's not easy to be around him. I know I've not been visiting him as regularly as I used to. But the thing is; no body's been visiting him lately, other than family. He's getting depressed. REAL depressed. He misses his friends and all the socialization that he's used to. PLEASE make some time to go see him for a couple of hours. He'll probably be asleep when you get there. Go ahead and wake him up, he'll be happy you did. It'll be hard for you, but Joe really REALLY needs people right now. There's no need to bring anything. He can't eat or read, and he's not watching movies anymore, just your presence is enough. I hope that visits will be spaced out so everyone doesn't show up the same day, but even that would be better than nothing. I'm serious, PLEASE, I'm begging you, this is more important than any fundraiser. Please go, and go again and again. Thank you.

Waiting is the hardest

Dr Spivey is still working on getting Joe into a better hospital, and Joe's going downhill while we watch. He has to stay in bed because he falls if he even sits up. Now he's lost the ability to swallow, so they've been running tests to figure out what's up with that and he's on IV nutritiony goodness. In order to keep the cancer at bay while we find a place for him, Dr Spivey is going to start him on the same chemo that he did before, assuming nothing else changes, on Friday. He's out of it most of the time because of the pain killers, but they switched him to a constant pump, so he's slightly more intelligible now than he was before. Keep the prayers coming kiddoes!

stupid system

We're waiting and hoping right now. Baylor turned Joe down because he doesn't have insurance. The doctors are trying and trying to find a hospital that has the facilities to treat him that will take him, but I'm worried because the cancer moves so fast; I hope the search doesn't take too long. They're checking out a hospital in Houston and one in Galveston that has a program that would pay for everything, so hopefully that would work out. The oncologist suggested contacting the media, so I wrote all the local news stations and Oprah. :) I haven't heard back from any of them. If any body out there has any suggestions or knows any strings they can pull, we'll gladly take the help!

Out of the frying pan. . .

It seems that Joe has a tumor in his spine and holes in his pelvis bones, both of which are caused by the lymphoma. The tumor in his spine is causing him huge amounts of pain, so he's drugged up all the time making it pretty hard to carry on a conversation with him! He's started falling down again, so he has a huge knot on his head, which is apparently not as hard as I thought. His oncologist says he needs more extreme treatment which can't be done where he is, so they are transferring him to Baylor as soon as possible. I don't know which Baylor, but I assume the one in Dallas. Once he is there, they are going to start giving him the drug that increases his cell production. They will then start sucking out his stem cells and freezing them until they have enough to work with. Then they will give him some super hard core chemo, and shoot the stem cells back in, but I'm not really up on all this so I may not really understand what's going to happen. If you'd like to visit Joe before you have to drive to downtown Dallas and pay for parking, I would suggest getting up there today.

Spoke too soon

Apparently, I should never say anything optimistic about Joe's situation because it only jinxes things. This weekend, Joe started having extremely painful muscle spasms in his butt and lower back. They're having to keep him on high doses of muscle relaxants and deladen, and as a result he sleeps most of the time. After doing a c-scan and an MRI, it turns out he has a mass AND and abnormality in the hip area. The are going to biopsy the mass and do a pet scan on the abnormality. They have no idea what this is all about, but it didn't happen until after his latest bone marrow biopsy, which he said was FAR more painful than either of the other two, so I'm guessing it's related. Hopefully they'll figure it out quickly.

looking good!

Joe seems to be coming to the end of the hospital road! He had a colonoscopy and cat scan last week which declared him tumor free, and lab results show that his staff infection has cleared up. They still have him on antibiotics for it, but better safe than sorry, right? Today they did a bone marrow biopsy, and we should get preliminary results in a few days, and full results in a couple of weeks. So Joe could be home soon! WOOT!

home stretch

The garage sale was a huge success, and we rasied over $900! How great is that? Many thanks to all who contributed, participated, tried to contribute or participate, shopped, or just sent good vibes our way. And now I will never have another garage sale ever again, so don't ask!

Joe is doing very well and seems in good spirits in general. He had the intrathecal shot, and Monday he should be getting a bone marrow biopsy and a colonscopy (for checking on the abdominal tumors). He has a raging staff infection still, but he's on the good drugs for that, so hopefully it'll clear up quickly. Keep sending prayers and visiting!

and the counts go down

Well, you all know that Joey finished his fourth final (hopefully) chemo and we have been waiting for his counts to go down. The wait is over and they are officially down. He is neutropenic (low white cells - no defense ) and his platelets are at 3 which is where they were when he went into the hospital. That means that he has no way to make clots so he can't get HURT!!! He is being very careful and if anyone out there is sick, put off that visit until later. When he gets better they will do the intrathecal (spinal tap plus chemo) and a CAT to see where his cancer cells are or if they are. If they have been truly conquered, and we hold our mouths just right, maybe he can go home! Shh! whisper and don't tell anyone so nothing else happens to foil his attempt to escape the evil hospital. Anyway, he is feeling kinda sick and low right now so anything to cheer him up would be nice. Also we are having a garage sale tomorrow for his fund so give us a call for directions and find all the treasure you can carry away, for a good cause. Until better news, bye, bye.