Monday, August 30, 2009

Hope everyone had a good weekend and was ready to end a month and start a new one this week. It is hard to believe it is already September. Where did the summer go? The saying, "the older you get the faster time goes" is really a reality with me. We had a very quiet weekend. Michael enjoyed playing Yu-Gi-Oh at Bo's Hamburgers on Saturday and then Sunday we rested most of the day. He is feeling pretty good other than his feet hurting which is caused from the chemo. It is a form of neuropathy. He also has it in his fingers. We have already been to the hospital for blood work. Hopefully counts will be up enough that we won't have to go back for blood and/or platelets. We don't have anything scheduled tomorrow but Wednesday we have a full day. Beginning at 7:00am we have a PET Scan to see what the chemo is doing with the cancer. We hope to have something to shout about! That afternoon at 1:00 we have a CARDIAC scan to check his heart. On Thursday morning, we have a CT Scan of his whole body. Friday is our doctors review of where we are. Hopefully our counts will be high enough we will be able to head home for Labor Day. He will have another NPlate shot for platelets before the next round starts and will have to wait for 5 days after the shot to start the chemo. We are hoping and praying that they will give the shot either Friday or Saturday morning and then we can have 5 days at home. God is good and we know he is working His miracle in Michael's life in His own time. Will write more later.

08-28-09 GETTING SOME OF THE GOOD OLNEY BLOOD

WISH I COULD SEND SOME OF THIS RAIN HOME TO THE BIG O THAT WE ARE GETTING HERE IN HOUSTON TONIGHT. WE HAVE FLOODING IN DOWNTOWN HOUSTON AND EASTWARD. AS WE WRITE THIS, WE ARE AT THE HOSPITAL GETTING TWO UNITS OF BLOOD. WOULDN'T YOU KNOW , WE HAD THE IV LINE REMOVED LAST NIGHT AND TONIGHT WE HAD TO HAVE BLOOD. WE WILL PROBABLY BE HERE UNTIL ABOUT MIDNIGHT. HE HAS HAD TO HAVE BLOOD WORK DONE TWICE TODAY AND NOW BLOOD. BEFORE THIS IS ALL OVER, HE IS GOING TO LOOK LIKE A PIN CUSHION. MICHAEL IS SOUND ASLEEP. WE HAVEN'T HAD VERY GOOD LUCK THIS WEEK. THEY SAY GOD DOESN'T PLACE MORE ON YOU THAN YOU CAN HANDLE, BUT HEY, I AM NOT AS STRONG AS HE SEEMS TO THINK I AM. OF COURSE, MY PROBLEMS COULD HAVE BEEN A LOT WORSE THAN THEY ACTUALLY WERE. I WON'T BORE YOU WITH MY CAR PROBLEMS, BUT I WILL HAVE TO SAY GOD IS GOOD....KEEP ON KEEPING THE PRAYERS GOING.....GOD IS GOOD AND WE WILL BE BACK HOME BEFORE YOU KNOW IT!..
LOVE TO ALL, TERRI AND MICHAEL (some have said they don't know when to call--call anytime and if we are unable to answer your call due to us being in the hospital where our wonderful cell phone won't ring, leave a message and we will call you back. We usually can transfer our cell calls to the room where we are in the hospital 940-564-6220)

Round Six is History....August 27, 2009

Round six is officially over. Have a week to watch counts and see what happens. We have scans next week to see where we are in the eradication of the sarcoma. Hopefully it is gone or nearly gone. Two more rounds for certain. Looks like we are looking at the middle to end of October. We have a PET Scan, CT Scan and a Heart Scan next week and then a doctors appt on Friday. Hopefully he will release us for a few days.
Had the IV line removed tonight and the bag of fluids stopped. Michael said he feels like a free man when the bag isn't a part of him.

AUGUST 26, 2009

ROUND 6 ALMOST HISTORY

Saturday, August 22, 2009

HOPE ALL IS WELL WITH EVERYONE. WE ARE HAVING AN UNEVENTFUL ROUND SO FAR. TODAY WOULD HAVE BEEN MY MIMI'S 92ND BIRTHDAY. I CERTAINLY DO MISS HER. TODAY IS MY LAST DAY OF THE "RED DEVIL" FOR THIS ROUND. THREE MORE DAYS OF FLUIDS AND THE CHEMO WILL BE HISTORY. THEN TWO MORE ROUNDS TO GO.

BACK IN HOUSTON, AUGUST 18, 2009

We arrived in Houston this evening about 7:30pm. We will be having our CVC line put in tomorrow morning about 7:30 at the hospital and then will begin our 6th Round of Chemo at 1:00pm. Had a wonderful week at home, and it was certainly hard to leave this morning. Looking forward to being back home for good. We certainly owe a lot to my brother-in-law and Michael's Uncle Forrest for all he has done for us during the past four months. We will never be able to repay him for his kindness and hospitality. Will try to update the blog a little better this round and hopefully our counts will stay up where they are suppose to and not drop to the critical range. Thanks for your prayers. Love, Terri and Michael

BACK IN HOUSTON FOR TONIGHT

WE ARE BACK IN HOUSTON TODAY, BUT WILL BE LEAVING FOR OLNEY IN THE MORNING EARLY. WE COULD NOT GET THE PLATELET INJECTION CHANGED TO WICHITA FALLS OR DALLAS TODAY. WON'T HAVE TO BE BACK IN HOUSTON UNTIL WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AT 1:00 PM TO START CHEMO FOR ROUND 6.....HAD BLOOD WORK DONE TODAY AND PLATELETS ARE UP TO 182......WOW....WHAT A ROLLER COASTER RIDE WITH COUNTS! WE WILL BE IN OLNEY UNTIL TUESDAY AFTERNOON OR WEDNESDAY MORNING DEPENDING ON WHEN THEY SCHEDULE THE CVC LINE INSERTION ON WEDNESDAY BEFORE CHEMO. PLEASE DROP BY IF YOU HAVE A MINUTE AND WISH THE WOLFMAN LUCK ON ROUND 6. WE ARE NEARING THE END OF TREATMENT WE HOPE.....THANKS FOR EVERYTHING YOU ALL DO. LOVE, TERRI AND MICHAEL

HOME AT LAST!!!!!!! August 10, 2009

JUST WANTED TO LET EVERYONE KNOW WE ARE HOME AT LAST FOR A FEW DAYS. DON'T HAVE TO GO BACK UNTIL THURSDAY AT THE EARLIEST....MICHAEL'S COUNTS ARE UP TO 3.9 FOR WHITE BLOOD COUNT, 8.4 FOR HEMOGLOBIN AND 62 FOR PLATELETS........PRAISE THE LORD......IT CERTAINLY IS NICE TO BE IN OUR DIRTY HOUSE FOR A CHANGE.......HOPE TO SEE ALL THIS WEEK SOMETIME....
I AM GOING TO WORK TOMORROW AND MICHAEL IS GOING TO STEWARTS TO BE THE PR MAN FOR A COUPLE OF HOURS......HA! IS JUST ABOUT TO HAVE A FIT TO GO BACK TO WORK........

TERRI

Yeah!!!!!!

This has been a lonnnnnnngggggg weekend.. especially since we had planned to be home for it. However, our counts are going up again. Today, Michael's hemoglobin was up to 8.3 and his platelet count was up to 53. We could have come home today, but thought we needed to stay for our oncologist appointment tomorrow morning with Dr. Ravi. Want to ask some questions and gather his thoughts as to our progress. We are going to ask him if we can go home for a few days. Michael's platelets have to be 100 before we start another round of chemo. . . . . . . so maybe we can have a few days. This is information that was shared by the triage nurse on Friday. Mom could stand a few days also. Michael really wanted to be home today for the 3rd anniversary of Marc's death. We would have liked to be home to put some flowers out for him. But guess that is not that important. Michael is feeling pretty good. Walked from the parking garage to the lab today. He hasn't done that in over two weeks. Hope to see all real soon......

TODAY'S BLOOD DRIVE TOTALS.......WOW

WOW! THAT IS A THREE LETTER WORD TO DESCRIBE THE TURNOUT WE HAD FOR THE BLOOD DRIVE TODAY IN OLNEY. JUDA CALLED A LITTLE WHILE AGO AND ADVISED WE HAD 100 COME IN TO DONATE BLOOD AND ONLY 11 WERE TURNED DOWN FOR SOME REASON. YOU ALL ARE AWESOME! I KNOW I SPEAK FOR ALL THE OLNEY PATIENTS.......THANK YOU FOLKS FOR ALL YOU DID. IT IS GREAT LIVING IN A SMALL TOWN......OF COURSE WE KNEW THAT.....!!!!!THANKS FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS FOR GIVING OF YOURSELVES TO HELP US.....YOU ARE THE BEST! I HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL AT THE STORE REAL SOON .....AS SOON AS I AM FINISHED WITH TREATMENTS AND GET SOME STRENGTH BUILT UP. I LOOK FORWARD TO CARRYING OUT YOUR GROCERIES AGAIN. I REALLY DO MISS EVERYONE.

LOVE TO ALL OF YOU,
MICHAEL WIPPERMAN AND ALL

HOORAY FOR COUNTS!!!!!

Never in my life did I think I would get so excited over counts moving upwards, but hey, we have something to get excited over. We might celebrate big time for this increase in counts. Michael's platelet count is up to 20 today....yeah! We might be on the upward swing for a change. He looks a whole lot better and actually has some pink in his lips this afternoon. I have promised him a surprise if he can get them up to 50 by the end of the week (not that he has anything to do with it).

I want to remind everyone to make an effort to donate blood tomorrow at the civic center in Olney for all the Olney folks who are struggling with this terrible disease. Take a few minutes out of your busy schedule to give a unit of blood tomorrow and know that every drop is greatly appreciated.

I personally want to thank everyone who has helped in any way get the drive off the ground. Especially to our friend, Juda Ming for her unselfish time and organizing ability. You are the best......and if there are any cookies left, save us just one. Understand a lot of baking will be going on in Olney today and tonight. Juda is hoping for 100 units of blood tomorrow, so please don't disappoint her. Thanks everyone and God Bless you All. Thanks to Carter Blood Bank who will be doing the drive. Thanks again.

Love to all our friend and family,

Terri & Michael

P.S. Michael felt good enought to go to OUTBACK Steakhouse for dinner tonight. First steak we have had in over 5 months. Was it MMMMMMM Good........!!!!!! He said he had to get his counts up quick........and he is doing all he can to get them where they need to be. He ate 1/2 rack of baby back ribs and macaroni and cheese.....He is one full boy!

Monday, August 3, 2009

Happy Monday to everyone.....we got some much needed R & R yesterday after we had 12 units of platelets. The blood and platelets we are receiving must not be any good as far as our blood work is concerned.....still hasn't brought any counts up. They say this happens once in while with the aggressive chemo we are getting. Just hope they come up some by the weekend. This staying indoors is the pits. Need to go out to eat or do something fun. Maybe I could use a TBone Steak from Saltgrass. MMMMMMMMM! Mom has been pretty sick.....thought she was going to have to go to the hospital instead of me over the weekend. She has had a sinus infection and hasn't been much of a nurse other than trying to keep me from having to go to the emergency room with a fever. I have had a fever the last two nights but so far we have missed the e.r. She has now started playing doctor on the side rather than being my nurse. This is our secret. Stay cool......there aren't many cool, dry (with no humidity) places here....Michael and Terri

Saturday, August 1,2009`

Things are going okay here in Houston. Our counts continue to be a concern with the MD Anderson team of doctors. Even after all the shots, they still continue to get lower, lower, and lower. We had two more units of blood last night and a bag of platelets and bloodwork today which proved the blood and platelets did NOTHING. He had a fainting spell a while ago and nearly scared me to death, but is fine now. This is the second one of these he has had.