Solace -- Word for the Day -- Thursday, June 26, 2008

Solace
DEFINITION: (verb) to comfort or console.

Lollipop, lollipop, oh lollipop -- Raise your hand if you remember that song! This is what Chemo Sabe did today for his bone marrow biopsy -- two lollipops plus a nerve medication. What a difference from the last biopsy. It did the trick to solace him. Of course, my coaching him to relax and just my presence made a big difference! ha

We were both exhausted when we got home this afternoon. We have been up since 4:30 a.m., arriving at UAMS at 6:00 for the PET scan. Took a nap and are ready for the night to end.

We have an appt again on Monday with the big dog. Will have the results of the biopsy then to let us know if the chemo did any good the last round. We pray the lesions will be fewer or gone all together. Remember -- he had 27. The marrow pulled out today was quite white and about an inch long, and about the size of spaghetti. The first two biopsies were bloody and longer. The aspiration took three tries today. And the collection was three vials. They used the same hole, but probed around into the tissue to different areas to make the pull. It is a suction method. The reason for the three tries is because the chemo cleaned out a lot of stuff so the samples were hard to collect.

The drugs really worked on him today. He was full of energy and wanted to trim the hedges in the flower beds. We have been needing them done for several weeks. I pulled up three stalks of poke salad that were taller than me (5 ft. 4-1/2 in.). I was so embarrassed. I am glad we are on a hill overlooking our neighbors.

Anyway, he did get out about 6:00 p.m. and took some hand trimmers and did two bushes. It was a struggle for him to stoop down and collect the clippings. He did it 'once'. With that we came in and sat down in the cool. I am glad he didn't get the gas trimmer out.

He has kept his good humor throughout the day. He had a very good nurse for the biopsy and she spoke to him the whole time. When the hole was cut he felt some pain so she stopped and gave him another shot of lidocaine. Solace. That made about the 5th shot.

We won't have another MRI until the growth factors he had last week wear off. What he has in him now would fool the test. We did find out that since he is non-secretory, he will have more biopsies more often that others. This means that he does not have the M protein. That means the MM does not show up in his kidneys or other organs, so the MM is harder to detect. Again, we thank the Lord for pushing him off the roof.

He is working tomorrow and then we are going to leave Saturday early to go to Mountain View with our friends. We have rented a cabin for one night and then back home on Sunday. I hope the travel doesn't wear him out because we do need to just get away and forget. He is already looking forward to it because he says his luggage with be 10 lb. lighter. No need for hair spray, hair dryer, brush, gel, razor, etc. I can attest to the fact that he carried more of that stuff than I. I even joked with him when this first came about that the rising gas prices didn't bother me because we would be saving that in hair spray. The first question he always asked in the past about lodging was if they had a hair dryer. You know, it doesn't matter how he fixes his hair -- it NEVER blows on the bike! ha So, we are enjoying the bald.

Oh... that brings me to Telly Savalas... Kojak... When I was a teenager, the Kojak series was quite popular. So was Peyton Place.. I made certain I had my homework and chores done before his serices came on. I even had a huge poster of him on my bedroom door. Gosh, my teenager dreams came true. Watching him suck on those lollipops today and looking at me with a twinkle in his eye brought Kojak back to me in real life. Solace.... "Who loves you baby?" -- Chemo Sabe does.

With that -- I am closing. I wish you all a blessed weekend and will give you an update on Monday.

Love --- Pepper (Tonto)