Life In The Hospital 2/12/2007

No wonder why time passes so slowly. They don't change the date!!!


How many power bracelets does a hero need?!?


Guess how many cranes are in this jar?


All you need is a genius, some strings, and a horses tail...


B.U.D.S. "But Understand Dis Señor," "I will NOT wait on you after you give me your bone marrow"


Toto we're not in KANSAS anymore!!!!!

Day - 4

Maybe it was the rain, but we both slept in until 9:30 am. Day #2 of chemotherapy with ARA-C got off to a rocky start. Finally got around to eating breakfast around 10:30am. Unfortunately, Dale became nauseated again around 11:30am and lost the breakfast he just ate. I think it was the 3 tabs of bactrim he had to swallow that made him nauseous. The nurses decided to step up the anti-nausea meds. Now he gets Zofran every 8 hours around the clock instead of every 12 hrs plus phenergan i.v. for breakthrough nausea. It seemed to help. He was able to keep lunch and dinner down. Dale spent the day building lego and watching the Lakers lose again. Auntie Sharon, Uncle Kenny, Auntie Cathie and Auntie Judi came to visit while I went home. It was a nice break for Dale. Cathie and Judi gave us the guest book from the blood drive today at Faith UMC. We were both shocked and very greatful for the overwhelming outpouring of support for Dale again. I read through each and every name on the guest book. A big heartfelt thank you for your help, your time and your gift of life. From what I understand, there were more donors than bags so some people were not able to donate blood. There were approximately 90 something people who signed the guest book. It makes a difference knowing that the blood that is being transfused came from someone you know. Dale felt so much better after his blood transfusion yesterday. He was smiling and laughing again even if he was a bit nauseous. Yesterday's transfusion( from a designated donor) took his Hg up to 9.4 and Hct - 28.4 today. His wbc,however,is now down to 0.8 and the ANC(absolute neutrophil count)is 700. The nurse this morning told me "everything is coming down nicely". The goal is to get to "0". Thank you for your tremendous effort and support today. We thank God for family and friends like you. God bless you all.

Day-6 and Day-5

I was just informed by Wade that my days of posting are off by a day so this is my attempt to catch up. Day -6 went fairly well. Dale completed the total body radiation today. His radiation therapist called it graduation day and presented Dale with a beautiful diploma in radiation therapy from the University of California, Los Angeles(UCLA). It looks very official. He was very pleased with his accomplishment and immediately put it in his "happy book" when we got back to the room. His ANC was 1000 so visitors were still allowed and Tam, Lester and Marv came to visit. He seemed a lot brighter during their visit, smiling and talking like his usual self and even laughing. Laughing is a rare these days. We were also told his hemoblobin is now 7.9 and Hct - 24.9 and will probably need a transfusion soon. Wade came up in the afternoon and I went home for the night to spend some time with the other two but they were off doing their own thing so I went to Friday night hula class. According to Wade, his afternoon with Dale was spent playing Nerf baskeball and catch for "a few hours". Thank you to all who folded the thousand cranes for Dale. The vase filled with the cranes sits on his bedside table and is just absolutely beautiful. It adds color to his room.
Day - 5 - 1st of 4 days of chemotherapy. Dale woke up tired and sad today. His hemoglobin is down to 5.9 and Hct - less than 20. ( I forgot what Wade told me) After the morning chemo(ARA -C) , Dale will receive blood. Today is first day Dale cried and actually expressed to me sadness about his illness since the initial news about his relapse. He shed some tears when nurse Terri talked with him at Miller's Long Beach Memorial on the first day of induction chemotherapy back in December but that has been it until today. I think the low hemoglobin scared him and he feels "yucky". He said being in the hospital makes him sad. Hopefully, after the transfusion , he will feel better. I have tried really hard not to cry in front of Dale but I could not hold the tears back today. Derek and Danny ( maybe not Danny since he was complaining of a sore throat last night) will visit later today bringing Grandma June's famous chicken long rice. Thank you for the food and groceries and gifts. We really appreciate all of the support and kindness . Thank you Percy Penguin for the flowers. Most of all, thank you for your continued prayers and please know that Dale prays for all of you too.

Day - 7

Today 2/8, we woke up on time. The radiation went well but like clockwork Dale started to feel sick around noon and felt better around 2pm. Breakfast seems to be his best meal. Lunch consists of a few bites. After the 1pm radiation session, he manages to have a snack. Today's snack was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich which he threw up just before dinner. Having thrown up, he felt better and ate dinner. Dale eats so much for breakfast the nurses are not too concerned if he doesn't eat the rest of the day. Sally came to visit with Dale so I went for a walk in the botanical garden next to the hospital populated by about a million squirrels. I also walked to one of the nicest Ralph's supermarket I have every seen. Later in the day we were treated with a 30 minute "patio privelege" so we took a walk outside. Dale was able to feel the fresh air and the sun. He felt so good he walked up 3 flights of stairs to his room instead of taking the elevator. A letter came from Percival Penguin today with pictures too. Dale is tickled pink with his new pen pal. Thank you to whoever set that up for him. We share the letters with the nurses and other staff here. Wade, Danny and Derek came to visit this evening. It was nice to see the three together again. They watched Gray's Anatomy and went home. We thank God for having made it through another day. Blessings to you all.

Day -(minus) 8

Day -8 started with both of us waking up late for our radiation appointment. We are supposed to be up and ready to go by 7:00 but we didn't wake up until the patient transporter came to pick up Dale. The morning radiation session went well. The nausea was better this time. He threw up breakfast but was able to keep lunch and dinner down. He spent the morning excercising with mom (shooting nerf basketball, throwing the football, running in place and stretching) and doing school work with Paula, the hospital teacher. We were also visited by the hospital chaplain as we were signing Pirates of the Caribbean valentine cards for his class. We quickly hid the skulls and pirate cards out of the chaplains view. We also met Dr. Lasky today. He was very nice. Actually, everyone we have met so far has been great. After the afternoon radiation session, Dale spent the next 2 hrs on his feet building a lego robot. The nurses kept checking in to see if he needed to rest but he didn't stop until it was completed. In the meantime, I fell asleep and took a nap. When I woke up, Dale was still standing there. He didn't want to sit because the physical therapist mentioned he should stand as much as possible to keep up his muscle strength. Our dentist, Dr. Kari Sakurai visited us today and gave us a new mouth rinse to help with the mouth sores. It is new to UCLA and we're hoping it works on Dale so they will consider using it on other kids.
I didn't realize Dale was a LOST fan but he watched 2 hrs of LOST before he took a bath and went to bed. He mentioned he missed the sun and asked how many more days he had to stay here. It was a hard question to answer. Hope all is well outside of UCLA.

Day -9 1st day of conditioning

Day -9 started early down in radiology at 7:00 am . The total body radiation takes about 30 minutes. 15 minutes on each side. He is premedicated with benadryl and hydrocortisone iv 1 hr before so he is fairly sleepy during the procedure. The nausea hit about an hour after the morning session. Luckily it started after breakfast so he was able to enjoy that. The afternoon session of radiation started at 1pm. The nausea had subsided and so the afternoon was spent doing homework, working out with the physical therapist and throwing the football around the room with mom. The UCLA teacher dropped by with an assessment test followed by a 30 minute private session with the child psychiatrist. The psychiatrist shared with me a question he asked Dale. The question was "If you had three wishes, what would they be?" Dale replied, " peace, everyone gets to be treated equal and nobody would get hurt anymore." The psychiatrist then asked if he had any wishes for himself and Dale replied "no". He later told me it was apparent that the church and his faith are a big influence in Dale's life. If Dale's wishes come true, the world will be a better place. The days are long but somehow with God's grace we get through the day. Dale started to practice his violin and actually drew a small crowd of nurses who came to listen. He played "Shine Jesus Shine" for them. A big thank you to Dale's blood and platelet donors. His hemoglobin is already down to 9 and Hct at 28. They will transfuse when Hgb drops to 7 and the Hct 20. His platelets yesterday were holding steady at 210,000. I think they tranfuse when it gets down to 30,000 or less. The staff at UCLA is wonderful. We are still getting acquainted with their system. We miss Millers but I'm sure in time we will get used to the routine here. Thank you Auntie Wendy for sitting with Dale while I went to hula. Thank you all for your love and support. Thank you for the cards,letters and emails . Your words of encouragment warm our hearts and rejuvanate our spirit.
Grace and peace to you all
Juliann

Day -10 (minus 10) "The Countdown begins"

We had an early start (5am at UCLA for admission)and 7:30am surgery for central line placement, but all went well. Dale is now a little sore, but resting well. We spent the morning reading "happy pages" from friends and church class mates. It was fun to watch him laugh and giggle. Auntie Shari came and helped us hang up pictures and cards to decorate his room. The room is comfortable with an extra bed for Mom with a small refrigerator and a even a bathtub for Dale. Tomorrow is Day -9 with total body radiation at 0700 and 1300. We were able to enjoy a few minutes of sunshine outside for lunch and took a little stroll around the front of the hospital.
We miss all of you already.
Thank you for your prayers.
Love,
Dale, Jules and Wade.