Doing Better!

We went to Hope Lodge to see Dad this weekend. It felt different being there with him instead of in the hospital. He was doing pretty well. He had been back to the clinic on Friday to get blood work and to make sure he was doing OK. He was a little dehydrated so he had to be hooked up to liquids. He went back on Saturday and everything in his blood work seemed to be OK. He is tired still. It will get better once his blood counts start going up. He was in good spirits. He was joking around quite a bit. Dads friend Sammy and Sammy's mother Jean are staying at Hope Lodge also. They have been letting Dad and Sharon know what to expect and how he may feel. Sammy has to stay close to the hospital for 100 days and he is on day 77. He still has bad days where he doesn't want to get out of bed. Rest is the best medicine right now. It is going to take a while before he is going to feel great.

Good News!!

I talked to Dad and Sharon last night and Dad had good news to share. He is getting released from the hospital TODAY! He will have to stay in Buffalo for at least two weeks and be checked at the hospital every day. They still have to check his blood counts and platelets. They also have to make sure he doesn't get an infection or have a fever. He can't wait to take his first breath of fresh air! We will let you know how he does.

Nice Friend?!

Dads friend Phil stopped in to see dad during the week last week and said to dad as they were visiting ........

"Man Butch your head looks like a Dandelion!!!!"

Do they look the same to you???
As dad was telling us the story on Saturday, his nurse (Denise) was in his room and she just started to giggle about it. Then she took a deep breath and blew at dads head. Dad was cracking up. It was good to see him laughing again.

Kaminski Park & Gardens

When dad was at Roswell for his first round of Chemo we could see a garden area out of his window. We finally decided on Saturday that we were going to stop and take some pictures.

Kaminski Park & Gardens: Walk of Life and Gardens of Hope

Introduced in July 2002, the park features perennial gardens, teak benches, inscribed pavers and trees dedicated to exceptional individuals.

The Walk of Life is located adjacent to the Institute. This area offers you the opportunity to pay tribute to a beloved family member, friend, coworker or health care provider. The path is outlined with inscribed red bricks donated by patients and loved ones.

The park offers sanctuary for people to sit quietly, to read and reflect, or to join family and friends in conversation.

The gardens are beautiful and very peaceful. We really enjoyed our visit.

Weekend Visit!

We went out to see Dad Saturday. He was doing pretty well. He is still somewhat tired and he isn't eating a lot, but he did eat a little while we were there. His friend Marty stopped by to see him while we were there. They had a good time picking on each other.

Sharon came home for the day to visit with a friend that was here for a visit so we said we would stay with Dad. He really didn't need us since he is in the hospital and the nurses are so good to him, but he seemed to enjoy the visit.

Dads hair started to fall out again so he decided to just have it shaved off again. We brought our clippers and Chris shaved him down. It was the first time Chris had shaved any ones head.

Dads counts are going up. Dr. Smiley said that he may be able to get released from the hospital next weekend. He will have to stay in the area for two weeks, but he said he can't imagine what breathing fresh air is going to feel like. He hasn't been able to leave the hospital at all for 3 weeks.

Update!

I talked to Dad tonight and he sounds stronger on the phone. He has been doing a few laps a day. That's not as many as he was walking, but he is getting up and taking a walk every day. The Dr. told Dad that he should start to feel better by the end of the week. That is a good and a bad thing. When he starts to feel better is when he runs out of patience, and that isn't good for any of us. I also talked to Sharon tonight and the nurses told her that on paper his numbers look good and he is where they want him to be. His numbers should start going up towards the end of the week or weekend.

Dad had a surprise visitor today. All of our family that reads this will get a kick out of this. The visitor was Dave Whitehill!! He had an appointment out there but came on the wrong day. Uncle Randy had told him about Dad being in the hospital, and he stopped in to see how dad was doing. Sharon said he even had dad laughing a little bit today. Yep I said Dave Whitehill and Dad in the same room together with laughter!!!

Still Not Feeling Well!

We went to see Dad on Saturday. Boy were we shocked when we saw him. He was so weak. He could hardly stand on his own. He was sitting up when we got there, but he just didn't look good to us. He was so weak that he was having a hard time even keeping his eyes open. He had had diarrhea for 2 days and he hadn't been able to eat much. His immune system and blood count are way down. The doctors said this would happen and it is where they expected him to be at this point.

This is Dad's friend Sammy. He has Non-Hodgkin’s T-Cell Lymphoma. He is staying at Hope Lodge. He just had a stem cell transplant also. The stem cells he received were donated by his sister. Since he just went through the transplant he has told Dad how he is going to feel and what to expect.

This picture is of Dad, Sammy and his mother Jean. They have been very helpful to dad and Sharon.

Dad has also been retaining fluid and has had double vision for a couple of days. They are pretty sure that the double vision was caused by one of the medications that dad was taking. He stopped taking it today and we hope that it clears up soon.

Dad and Sharon would like to thank everyone that sent cards or left comments and E-mails.

We will keep you posted.

Worn Out!!

We think this is how Dad is feeling right now!!

Dad has had a rough couple of days. He threw the doctor for a loop on Tuesday (the day of his stem cell transplant). In the morning he had a fever so they had to take him for a chest x~ray to make sure that he wasn't getting pneumonia. (he wasn't) Then they started his transplant and his breathing got really shallow. They hooked him up to oxygen and kept an eye on his oxygen levels. He rested for a while later that morning, then they started another round of stem cells. He didn't do so great on the second round. He got very sick and couldn't keep anything down. On Wednesday he was doing some better. He had visitors that night for his birthday. Go HERE to see who came to visit Dad. I talked to him again on Thursday night. He is very tired, but he said "he's going to make 'er". He also said he never wants to be that sick ever again. Everything that Dad is going through right now is normal according to the doctors. He is going to be very tired because his blood counts are so low right now.

Thank you for all of the great birthday wishes!!

Today Is My Birthday!!!

This picture was taken after he got his morphine shot on Saturday.

He was being a smart a** about me taking pictures of him.

Happy 60th Birthday Dad. We know this isn't how you wanted to spend your 60th, but we promise to make it up to you when we get you home.

Happy Birthday Dad.

We all Love You!!!

Today Is The Big Day!!!

Dad is done with his Chemo. He had Chemo every four hours over a 5 day period (Tues. - Sat.), so the 16 rounds are done. Sunday and Monday were what they call "days of rest" (no Chemo). So today is the first day of Dads Stem Cell Transplant. I talked to Dr. Smiley on Monday to see how Dad was doing and if he was handling everything OK. She said that he is doing great. He is right where she wants him to be for the transplant. She said that he may have a couple of rough days ahead of him, but it shouldn't be too bad. Since he is getting his own stem cells put back in it should go smoother. It is usually a lot harder when you get stem cells that are donated. They are expecting his blood counts to be low for a while during this time. That is the main reason he has to stay in the hospital for so long. He will be in the hospital until his blood counts come back up to normal so there is no fear of infection. We will keep you posted.

How To Leave A Comment!

We have had quite a few people say that they want to leave a comment, but can't figure out how. Hopefully this will help.

At the bottom of each post there is a "comment" link to click on.

After you click on it, a window will open that looks like this. Type your comment in the larger box at the top.

Then at the bottom, click in the circle next to Name/URL.

Type your name in the box that opens. You do not have to put in a URL.

After that type in the word verification. This is so we don't get Spam comments.

Then just hit the "Publish Your Comment" button. Your comment will show up on the blog after that.

We hope this helps you if you weren't sure how to leave a comment.

Hangin' In There!

We spent the day at Roswell today and had a very nice afternoon with Dad. He was in very good spirits. We brought him a few early birthday presents. Years ago Dad used to like to do sketches, so we thought maybe he would like to give it a try again. We bought him a sketch pad, charcoal pencils, graphite pencils, colored pencils and a few other things to get him started. We also thought that it would help pass the time and keep his mind off of everything that is going on. We walked a few laps around the wing with him and he got a few ideas for drawings from the artwork hanging on the walls. Hopefully he will really enjoy it.

Believe it or not, he is almost done with the 16 rounds of Chemo. They have been giving him more than one round a day, so it didn't take as long as we had expected. We will let you know when he is done and when the next step is going to begin.

Don't forget that his birthday is on Wednesday the 11th if you want to send a card or e~mail. The e~mail link and mailing address are in the sidebar.

Traveling!

We have talked to Dad on the phone all week and we finally are able to go see him Saturday. He sounds really good on the phone. We had Jerzie for a little while on Thursday so I called dad because she was talking so much. I thought she would at least say Hi. She said HI PAPA and Love you Papa which made him happy. We will give you a better update once we see him.

Update!

Jerzie wanted to tell Papa Hi.

Video taken with a cell phone

Just wanted to update you on Dad. Today is day # 2 of his Chemo treatments. He sounded really good on the phone and seems to be doing good with the treatments so far. One of the things he has to do daily is Physical Therapy. Today he walked 34 laps around his wing at Roswell. 33 times around is 1 mile, so he says he already has one lap in for tomorrow. To all friends and family... dad can have a laptop computer brought to his room to check out the blog. We are sure that any comments or e~mails will help to keep his spirits up. If you have any family pictures that you would like to send to Dad and Sharon please e~mail them.

We will keep you posted on Dads progress.

Card Shower!

On June 11th Dad will be 60! As most of you already know, he will be in the hospital for his birthday. We thought it would be neat to see how many cards he could get. We are asking you to send them to where Sharon is staying so we know that dad will get them.

Hope Lodge

Butch Smith room 2

197 Summer Street

Buffalo, NY 14222

or click on the link on the side bar to send an e~mail.

Thank you in advance for helping make his birthday special.