March 12

 Things are getting pretty predictable now.   On the week of the infusions (on every other Monday), Jeff starts to feel bad around mid-day on Wednesday, really tired on Thursdays and starts to 'recover' on Friday, and feels pretty good again on Saturday.   We've learned to do certain things to help mitigate the symptoms, although they have varied a little between treatments.  Last week, the symptoms were less severe, although there was much more coughing this time.   This week will be for followup blood test and EKGs and we will go home on Thursday.   After that, we will just have visits to MDA on Mondays, for infusions one week and followup tests the next week.   After the 4th cycle (8 weeks) are complete, a scan will be done to see how Jeff is responding and we will go from there.   Probably won't be many more posts (unless something unusual happens) until results from the scan are received.   A big 'thanks' to everyone for their concern and prayers.

March 8

Jeff was discharged from CTRC Tuesday afternoon and admitted to the hospital (per protocol). Early Wednesday morning he had some 'chest pain/tightness in his chest', but he has a cough and it might be related to the cough or the large amount of fluids he is receiving. He had a breathing treatment because of the cough and shortness of breath and the cough is slightly better. He is somewhat anxious because of the shortness of breath though it seems to be improving with the breathing treatments and reassurance from the midlevel provider. The rash is starting on his back as expected so the other symptoms can't be far away.

Thanks for your interest, concern and prayers. All are appreciated.

March 3

We got back into Houston Sunday. After lab and seeing the doctor, treatment started again yesterday. Overall, Jeff is doing well. He developed itching and redness about 2 hours after starting treatment, but 2 doses of IV benadryl took care of those side effects. He will be admitted to the hospital today for one day. So far all is going well.

(From Maureen: my apologies for not posting this timely)

March 1

Jeff was feeling well enough to go visit our friend Lisa yesterday morning. Unfortunately, by noon he was developing a headache. Thinking it was allergies or hunger we did things to alleviate those issues. The headache got worse and about 5:00 pm he took his B/P which was very high. The doctor on call said to take him to the ER, which we did. We were in the ER from 6:00 - 10:00 pm. By then his B/P was down and his headache was better. He is doing better today, but keeping a close eye on his B/P. We head home tomorrow afternoon after seeing the doctor. We will return to Houston on Sunday to start the round of immunotherapy all over again.