Hello Friends.

 

It has been months and months since an update.  But like we say, no news is good news.  Let me give you a little overview of what happened.

 

1.  June 23rd - 27th:  John went in for the second round of consolidation chemo at the Huntsman.  This was an outpatient procedure.  It made John a little more nauseous than the previous round, but he hung in there.

 

2.  July 7th- 16th:  

 

Hello Friends!

 

I know it has been a very long time since I have updated the blog, but I have been having major issues with it.  In addition to technical matters, there has been too much to update you on.  Well, here goes.

 

After the last update, John was doing extremely well.  It was almost like the chemo never knocked him down.  He walks at least a mile everyday, sometimes rides the bike, but

 

Hello Friends!

 

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated the site.  I am aware there have been some errors with the website too.  Let me catch you up on what is going on.

 

John is currently home in Cedar City at his parent's house.  After his stay at the Hilton hotel in Salt Lake, he had an appointment at Huntsman Cancer Institute.  During this appointment, John met with his new doctor and

 

Hello again!

 

Sorry that the blog can't be updated minute by minute, by I am trying to get an update out every few days.  Let me catch you up....

 

On Saturday morning, the doctors came in John's room and gave him the news that he was free to leave in the afternoon.  After careful consideration, John decided to not leave the facility because of the speed of his turnaround.  He didn't really feel

 

Hello Everyone.

 

Wow...These past days have been a whirlwind.  There wasn't very much down time at all and John has been very busy.  Because of his constant fevers and the doctor's failed attempts to locate the infection causing these fevers, the doctors decided to take a new approach.  John was selected to take part in the new clinical study to receive a PET-Scan.  PET-Scans are typically used

 

Hello Everyone,

 

These past couple of days has been hard, to say the least.  John has been fighting constant fevers ranging up to 40.5 Celsius (104.9 F).  The doctors attribute this to some sort of infection that they cannot find in his body.  Not being able to find the infection with APL is not something rare.  The doctors just try to support him during this rough time until his white cell

 

Yes, it’s that time.  John has buzzed his head.  He was sitting in the chair today and ran his hand through his hair and, YIKES!  A little bit more than normal came out.  He just decided to cut it all off before it made a mess.  He was trying to schedule a normal haircut anyhow, so this was only a little more off than he would like.  He actually seems to enjoy it, as it’s a little easier to

 

Hello Friends,

 

Over the past couple of days, John has been hit with been extreme nausea.  This, as the doctors told him, was expected.  It was all part of the "feeling lousy" period.  Along with this, John is having severe esophagus pain.  It feels really swollen and has progressive gotten worse.  It's hard for him to swallow, and the sight of fifteen pills at a time just makes his throat close

 

Hello!

 

Well, the "lousy" feeling the doctors told John about finally set in today.  As his white cell count gets closer to zero, it's going to drain him physically.  He was back on some meds for nausea and pain, but that didn't really help with his "blah" feelings.  The doctors came in again with nothing to say.  That's a good thing.

 

John also received his tentative schedule for the rest of

 

Hello Everyone!

 

These past two days have been good for John.  Besides for his lack of sleep (he still hasn't gone to bed yet), things are well.  He had a little chest pain again, but took some medicine and it subsided.  He had his fourth and final chemotherapy injection in this first introductory period.  For all of you medical brainiacs, the form of chemotherapy he is receiving is idarubicin,