02/09/2013:

4:30: Another wake up call, another round of blood work to see what my blood levels are.  My crit has been falling, and that’s not good.  I doze back off after the blood is taken.

7:30: Shift change, awakened again by the nurse coming in to take the vitals.  My temperature has finally cleared and I am back at a normal 98.6

8:00: Breakfast, same stuff again.

8:30: Done with breakfast, and I doze back off and take another nap.

11:00: I wake up, still a little tired, but can’t sleep all day.  I turn the tv back on watch some more tv.

12:00: Lunch time!  Food, oh boy.  Not too bad, pretty easy to eat.

12:45: Done with lunch…

1:00: Not much to do, can’t really get out the room myself since I am in an isolation room.

3:00: I call maintenance because the room is getting warmer.  He tells me that the temperature in the room is 51 Degrees, I tell him it doesn’t feel like 51, and I am not the only one that is warm.

5:00: Supper time, more great food!  HA!

5:35: Done with supper.

7:30: Shift change, more vitals, and I still don’t have a temp.  However the room feels like it is warming up more.

10:00: The nurse comes in to change an antibiotic bag.  I tell her that it is warm in here and she agrees.  She will have the charge nurse call maintenance and handle it.

11:45: I doze off, but still warm and not comfortable.

11:59: Another day gone!

02/08/2013:

4:30: They wake me up to draw some blood for checking my blood count levels.  I doze back off shortly after.

7:30: I wake up, shift change, vitals time, temperature and blood pressure.  I have a temp back down to 100. so my temp is back to a reasonable one, but still a temp and have to get that under control.

8:00: Breakfast, the same ole, grits, eggs, bacon, and a biscuit.

9:00: I doze back off to sleep.

10:00: I wake up.  I just watch some TV, not in the mood to do too much else.

12:00: Lunch, oh joy.

1:00: Just watching TV.

4:00: The doctor stops by saying that it looks like it is a staph infection, at least that’s what the blood culture is coming back as.  He has consulted a general surgeon to possibly take the port out tomorrow if possible because that is the source of the infection.

5:00: Supper time, nothing like great hospital food, yeah right.

7:30: More vitals.  I have a temp down to 99.3 now.

10:00: I take an Ambien along with my Alegra D.

10:15: I jump in the shower, still hooked up to the IV line going to my port in my chest.  A challenge getting a shower when you can’t get the port area wet and have a line connected to you the whole time with the IV pole right on the other side the door.

10:40: The shower is maybe a little too hot, I am a little weak getting out.

11:00: I am back in my hospital bed.  The room is pretty warm/hot.  I push the temperature down as low as it can go, but it doesn’t improve too much.

11:45: I finally fall asleep.

11:59: Another day gone…

Infection – Fever – Hospitalized – Day 1 – Chemo Therapy Round 2 – Cycle 1 + 17:

02/07/2013:

4:30: I get up out of bed to use the bathroom, I have been tossing and turning all night long and have been unable to sleep. It is storming outside when I exit my room and my dad is already up watching the weather because it is storming really bad outside.  I use the bathroom and then return and watch some TV with him.  I need to get some sleep, I have an appointment in 5.5 hours with Dr. Safa at Tulane University Hospital and Clinic at Tulane’s Cancer Center.

5:00: I started drifting off to sleep and slept a  little better than earlier but still in and out of it.

8:30: I get up out of bed. I eat some Honey Nut Cheerios.

9:00: My mom and dad and wife get into my parents car and my dad drives us down the Tulane Cancer Center in Downtown New Orleans.

9:30: We get to Tulane and walk around a little bit figure out where exactly I have to go.

9:35: I sign in at the front desk. I take my seat.  I am starting not to feel good, but try to ignore it.

9:45: I walk back up to the front desk and told them I signed in, and asked the if they have a new patient packet for me to fill out.  They give me a clipboard with 4 pages of info to fill out.

9:50: I return to the seat by my wife and start filling out all of the info.

10:00: They call me back to the desk.  She asks how far I got, I said the first page basically because they asked a ton of question and spaces to fill out.  She said that’s fine, she asks to see my license and insurance card and said that I wouldn’t have to fill out all of the paperwork, she could just scan it into the system.  She points me to the last 2 pages and has me check mark some boxes about past history and also sign the consent form.  She then ask if I am paying my co-pay at the moment as well.  I say yes, and give her my credit card for my co-pay.

10:15: She processes everything gives me my cards back, the receipt, and sends me back to my seat in the waiting room.

10:30: We are called to the back.  The nurse walks us down the hall to the Hematology/Oncology Department.  She shows my family to the patient room, and sits me down in another chair to take my temp, weight and blood pressure.  She asks me if I just drank some super hot coffee or something, I said “No”, and asked “Why, do I have a temperature?”

She says, yes 100.8.

With me with my chemo and everything I should go to the Emergency Room if my temperature is ever over 100.2

10:50: The nurse shows me to patient room where my family is waiting.

11:00: Still sitting in the room, not feeling at all.

11:30: Still in the room waiting, I lay back on the patient table.

11:40: I sit back up as I am really starting to feel the nausea hit me.

11:50: I go over to the garbage can, but nothing comes up. I put some cold water in my hand and wipe my face and head.I ask someone to ask them where the bathroom is not wanting to head out the room to I know exactly where I am going as I have access to a sink and garbage can at the moment.  I am shown to the bathroom.  I still do not throw up, but while I am there I do use the bathroom and rest.  I then wash up and wash my face with cold water and then head back to the patient waiting room.

12:00: I am back in the patient waiting room.  They tell me they will come explain more of the transplant process, but first they want to do a blood culture from my port to see if it is possible my port is infected.

12:15: The nurse comes in and I ask if they have any numbing cream, she says she doesn’t, but she does have some Pain Ease spray that numbs the area.  I ask her if the needle she has is compatible with my smart port.  She says she is not sure, and will have to go check.  While she is out checking.  I pick up the needle and start examining it, through its plastic casing of course, it looks like its the wrong type of needle just from examination.  I then see that in small print it is a non-coring needle on the back of the packaging.

12:30: The nurse comes back in and says that that is the right needle.  She gets to work.  She prepares her culture bottles and the needle.  She then positions herself on my right hand side and has me lay back on the the table again and puts my feet up.  She then sprays my port and numbs it up and then puts the needle in.  I don’t feel a thing.  She then tries to pull back some blood but can’t get it.  I move around she still can’t get it.  I walk around and she still can’t get it.  She then pushes some saline to get some flow going, and then she is able to pull back the 4 syringes of blood she needs.  She fills up the two cultures bottles and she fills up 4 vials of blood to send off for testing.

12:40: She comes back in to get some external cultures from my arm but she is not confident of sticking me with my veins and my hard sticks, so she says another nurse will do it.

12:50: Dr. Safa comes in with a few other members of her staff and starts going over what will go on during the whole transplant process.  They will have to schedule it to be in sync with one of my salvage chemos so that they can give me the Neupogen following the chemo.  They will then watch my blood count to watch it dip, and and as soon as they see the numbers starting to rise again they will start doing a blood dialysis on me where they pull the stem cells out of me and freeze them.  This will go on for a week, 5 days straight, for 5-8 hours per day till they have enough to give back to me during the transplant.  Once they have collected enough they will let me rest for 1 week.  They will then do 9 days of chemo with different drugs counting from -9 to 0.  Then either on day 0 or day 1 they will watch me for 15-21 days until they are happy with my blood counts returning to good numbers.  Since I live locally, they will then let me return home.  They will continue to monitor me and I will come in for a number of check ups, but while I am home I will not be able to be around any children 14 or younger and I will also not be able to be around any pets including Buster, as they do not want the possibility of transferring viruses from animals to me, or scratching me and causing and infection or any chances of anything really.  Anyone seeing me will have to make sure they are clean before entering the room I will be staying in, along with washing their hands.  If they have any sickness whatsoever, they will have to wear a mask, or not see me at all.

1:20: We talk with the Stem Cell Transplant Coordinator and she goes over everything with us including a packet and how to contact her and what we must do next to prepare.  Dr. Safa comes and tells me that they talked to my oncologist Dr. Veith and that I must now go over to EJGH to be admitted for my high temperature.

1:30: We are heading out of Tulane and over to EJGH.

1:40: I am dropped off at EJGH. I go to the admit desk.  They don’t have me in the system yet.  I call Dr. Veith’s office and they are getting everything OK’d with the insurance company and then they will finish up the admit orders.

2:05: One of the admit staff calls me and starts checking me in.  Everything is already in the system, she just needs my co-pay, so I give my Credit Card for this $250 Hotel I mean Hospital Stay.

2:15: I take my admit papers and start heading up to the 5th floor.  I see some of the nurses I saw two weeks ago for my last chemo infusion.

2:20: I am in my room.  I was originally told I was going onto room 518, but was put in room 516.  They put a sign on my door saying that none of my visitors can be sick, everyone must wash their hands when they enter my room, that and other rules.

2:35: My dad finds me finally in 516, I originally told him 518, and then had to text him 516.

2:50: Shannon my nurse comes in and tells me everything we are about to do.  I am at 100.3 with the fever.  She wants to access my port.  I tell her let me call my mom to bring over my lidocane cream for my port because accessing the port hurts like hell because of the way the needle pinches the skin against the port before piercing through, a needle for blood isn’t as painful, I tell her that they can come draw blood from my arm.  She says she will call them to draw blood from my arm and to call her when I am ready.

3:10: My wife and my mom both arrive.  My mom gives me the lidocane cream and I give it to my wife.  She puts on one of the gloves out of the bag and then applies the cream to my port.

3:15: Done Applying Cream, now I just need to wait an hour before I let them access my port.

3:30: Shanon comes back and checks on me and I tell her that I should be good to go at 4:15 for her access my port.  She makes a note of it.

3:40: I am just hot and tired and just lay in bed.  I am so out of it, I don’t even feel like getting on my laptops.  That should show you how far out of it I am.

4:15: Shannon comes back with needle to access my port.  She wipes off the area, sanitizes the area, puts on gloves, and the readies the needle with saline throughout the line and needle.  She then sticks the needle in.  I feel a very slight pain but something like a 1 on the scale of 0 – 10 so not bad at all.  She puts the plastic patch on to hold the needle in the port.  Shen then proceeds to flush the port and draw back blood.  She then grabs 4 bottles for cultures to be done here.  She prepares to pull blood, but it take a little while and then she figures she has to pull down on the needle  to get the port to move just a little to get the blood to come back.  She pulls 1 syringe to throw away, and then she pulls 4 syringes,  for each bottle.  She then puts one syringe into each bottle, flushes my line with 2 syringes of saline, clamps off my line, and then leaves to submit those cultures.

5:00: Shannon come back and hangs some antibiotics and fluids.  Until they know exactly what is in my system they are going to give me a few different rounds of different antibiotics.

9:00: My temperature is 103.1.  The nurse calls the doctor and the doctor says to give me a 500mg Tylenol.

11:00: My temperatures are in the 101 ranges, so the Tylenol helped.

11:30: I get an Ambien to help me sleep.

11:59: Another day gone, blah…

01/25/2013:

11:00: I wake up.  I am in and out of it.  I just stay sitting down and resting.  I still have that constant feeling of feeling like I have to burp.  I have my laptop on my lap and the TV on.

1:00: Nothing to eventful, just taking it easy…

3:00: I take a nap.

6:00: I wake up.  I eat some food, nothing taste right, blah! SUCKS!

8:00: Just watching TV…  On the laptop too.

11:30: Another day burning out.  Didn’t do anything at all today but be lazy and take it easy.

11:59: Blah.

01/24/2013:

3:30: I am awaken by Louis coming in to my room to hang the bag of Chemo that needs to be administered for 2 hours.  He comes in, hangs it, and then on his way.

5:30: The alarm starts going off on the pump as the 2 hours of chemo are done being administered.  Louis comes in and hooks up the Saline bag to flush and then takes back off.

5:45: Louis comes back in with another saline and sugar water solution to flush me with.  He first takes a 2 syringes of blood from my port line for some blood work, and then hooks up the solution he brought in.

6:00: I doze back off.

7:45: I am awaken by Louis coming back in to check my blood sugars my blood sugars is 262.  Elise also comes in and checking back in with me since she is back on duty today.

7:50: My mom arrives.

8:00: Elise comes back in with 6 units of insulin and gives it to me.

8:15: Breakfast arrives and is pretty good.

8:45: Elise comes back and tells me that I have been discharged.

9:00: I sign all the paperwork for the discharge.

9:15: I feel very nauseated and dash off to the bathroom just in time, yes disgusting I know, but it is what it is as it happened, blah! Not fun!

9:30: I am out of the bathroom.

9:45: Elise calls for transportation.

9:50: My mom goes and gets the car.

10:00: Transportation arrives.  I sit in the wheel chair and he gives me the two bags we had and I hold on to the for the trip downstairs.

10:10: We get to the car.

10:15: My mom goes into the parking garage in the building closest to the the building with our doctors in it.

10:25: My mom runs inside and makes an appointment with Dr. Veith in 2 weeks before my next scheduled Chemo infusion.  My mom also stops by my Internist and picks up a blood glucose meter and some test strips for me to monitor my blood sugar since my numbers have been off since the chemo and the steroids.

10:45: We are heading back home.

10:55: We drop off a prescription at the pharmacy on the way home.

11:00: We get home and I just rest.  I have to go see Dr. Jacob to get my stitches out in an hour.

11:45: I get up, and we get in the car and head to the doctor.

12:00: We get to the doctor and I am shown to the patient room.

12:15: The doctor comes in and looks at the stitches and says they are ready to come out.  He cuts the stitches and pulls them out one by one.  He then puts on the adhesive and applies the sterri strips to my neck.

12:30: Doc says I am good to go, he will see me on Lundi Gras, the day before Mardi Gras as Mardi Gras is my next infusion.

12:40: We get back to the car.

12:55: We get home.

1:20: I just relax in the chair at home and watch TV.  I take a phenegon and eventually doze off.

4:00: I wake up.  I don’t feel like eating or drinking and have the constant feeling of having to burp, which doesn’t help.  I just continue to watch TV.

6:00: Still watching TV.

9:00: I get a bath, maybe not the best idea, a little weaker after but I am clean.

11:00: Just watching TV again, nothing else to do.  Not hungry or thirsty.

11:59: Another day gone.

01/23/2013:

0:00: Just watching TV and on both of my laptops.

2:30: I finally close my laptops, put the back of my bed down, and doze off.

5:30: Vitals Time, the nurse comes in and checks my blood pressure and temperature.

6:00: I am back on my computers.

7:30: I doze back off.

8:30: Breakfast is served!  Eggs, Grits, Bacon, and a Biscuit.

9:00: Done with Breakfast, I wake my wife up to take my coffee, since I don’t touch the stuff.

9:30: Bathroom time.  Also housekeeping comes in and changes my bed linens.

9:40: The nurse comes in and puts my steroid eye drops in my eyes.  I have been getting these eye drops 9AM, 3PM, & 9PM.  They burn like crazy.

10:00: I can finally open my eyes and see again after those eye drops.

10:10: I am about to get back in bed and I see the sheets have these stains all over them.  I call for housekeeping and explain to them that they just changed my sheets and replaced them stained sheets, they apologize and explain that they will be back shortly to resolve the issue.

10:30: Housekeeping comes back in and I show them the sheets, I believe that the person that replaced my sheets was a resident.  The assistant nurse had to tell them that they get stained sheets int he clean clothes stacks all the time.  She told him to simply don’t put it on, but throw the new clean sheets in the dirty linens bag when they come across such sheets like that.

10:45: Housekeeping is done, and I get back in my bed.

11:00: I am all settled in bed, back to watching TV and on my computers.

11:15: My wife heads on out to school.

12:30: Lunch is delivered.  Orange glazed pork chops, mac and cheese, and steamed broccoli.  Along with a side or two.

2:30: I don’t have much left in my 24 hour drip, the nurse comes in and speeds up the pump rate so that it can complete, and they can get the next set of drugs going.

3:00: The first Chemo drug is done.  Thy come in and hook up my second bag of my steroids, dodecahedron.

3:30: They hook up my second Chemo.  Shannon, my nurse is now being moved over to the Charge Nurse Position, and Louis, who has taking care of me before in the Yenni Outpatient Building, just so happens to be coming on now and will be working to 7AM.  The second chemo will take 2 hours to pump.

5:00: With my sugars being high on the glucose readings from the blood test, they have decided to start monitoring my sugars and put me on a sliding scale for insulin to counter the effects of the steroids.  Louis comes in and sticks me, and I am a 176, and my scale starts at 175, so he will come back with 2 units to stick me with.

5:15: Louis is back and sticks me with the 2 units of insulin.

5:15: My supper arrives, Meatballs and spaghetti, Lemon Cake, Salad and a chocolate chip cookie.

5:30: My bag of the steroids is done infusing, and Louis comes in with my Saline and Sugar Water solution.  He sees I am eating, and tells me he will come back in a little bit to give me time to finish my meal before hooking up the flush.

5:45: My parents arrive.

5:50: I am done my supper, and the pump starts going off.  I call Louis and he comes in and hooks up the flush and starts up the pump.

6:00: My dad takes my food tray and puts it outside on top of the food cart.

6:15: I am a little tired and I doze off.

7:45: I wake up.  My wife had come, but then realized she forgot her work shoes, so her and my Dad headed back home to go pick up her shoes while I was still sleeping.

8:00: My dad and my wife arrive back to my room.

9:00: Louis comes back in and checks my blood glucose level again, it is 316.  He comes back with 8 units of insulin, this burns a little bit!

9:45: My mom and my dad head on out.

10:00: I start flipping through channels and turn on Rambo.

11:00: I am out again sleeping.

11:59: Another day gone, and I am still sleeping with no issues!

01/22/2013:

7:15: I get up, and start to get ready.

7:30: I put some Honey Nut Cheerios in a cup and eat some.  I feel a little nauseated but its just a mental thing from having to face chemo again.

7:45: I put on my Lidocane Cream on my port and put Saran Wrap over the area so the Lidocane can soak into my skin and not get all over my shirt.

7:50: We lock up and head out.

7:53: We are in the car.

8:00: We park in the parking garage, not too many people here.

8:10: I check in at the front desk and am ask to take a seat with everyone else.  It seems that they only have on person checking people in.

8:25: They call 4 people at one time going to different small offices to check in and pay their co-pays etc.

8:30: They call me to check in.  We go over all my medical history and contacts.  I pay my $250 Co-Pay and am given a sheet to head up to the 5th floor and give it to the Charge Nurse at the Desk.  Room 523, oh joy.

8:35: I am shown to my room by my Nurse, Elise.  I start unpacking my laptops and getting settled in.  She needs to take my vitals so I briefly stop for that.

8:40: I get a call from the client who’s office I went to yesterday.  When he did the system restore, he restored the computer back to a point where he could log onto his local machine.  However, now today, when he tries to log on, he gets a trust relationship issue.  This the trust changed between the time that the system was restored to and today.  I remoted into his laptop and removed the laptop from the domain, and then restarted the computer.  I then remoted back into the computer and and added it back to the domain and restarted the laptop.  I then remoted back into it one final time, and was able to log into his laptop with no issues using his domain username and password.  Problem resolved.  I also checked a few things on the server and the server was in perfect health, no issues there.  It could have been a hung update from over the weekend.  The whole time that I am trying to help my client, a doctor, my nurse is trying to explain everything to me as well.  All this medical talk makes convos hard to follow, lol.

8:45: My wife head on out to work, she has to be there for 9:00.

9:10: I setup my office line to ring both my office and my hospital room at the same time.  Therefore those that don’t know that I am in the hospital can still talk to me directly.  I can answer the hospital phone and they will be talking to me as if I was at the office.  I also have an application on my laptop that I can make and receive phone calls for my office phone as well.  I am using this to screen the calls that are coming in with the caller ID that pops up on my screen as there is no caller ID on the Hospital Room phone.  I am just having everyone call my office that way I can monitor my incoming calls, and they don’t have to worry about learning another number.

9:20:  The Transporter is here to transport me to the Pulmonary Department for my breathing test.  Once at the Pulmonary Department she disappears off to her next Transport. This will be used to compare my results to my other Pulmonary Test back in 07/09/2012, post PET Scan and Pulmonary Test Monday,  same procedures as before, For all the test i would be breathing into a machine. The first test was a simple breathing test, breath in deep and exhale completely. I did this 3 times. Next the chamber door was closed, we had to wait 2 minutes for my body to warm up the chamber so that we could begin the test. I was told to pant and then after some panting the air flow was cutoff to measure my resistance of breathing in and out. After 3 of these test, the chamber was then opened and my next test began. This test was a medium speed test where I would suck in as much air as possible and then blow out as long as possible, and then suck in again. We this test twice. The next test was to breath in and out deeply, then breathe in as quick and as fast and as deep as possible, hold it for 8 seconds, then breathe out quick and when told. Next we moved into another room where the first test was to breathe in as deep and as fast as possible and blow out as fast and as hard as possible, then breathe in again once we couldn’t exhale anymore. This was done 4 times. The final test was having to breathe in and out as hard as possible and as quick as possible like you were hyperventilating. We did this twice and then we were good to go.  Test 3 I would cough or catch of piece of flem when breathing out.  We did this test 8 times as they were not getting the results they wanted to see.  We’ll just have to see how they fair out.

10:15: The transporter comes and get’s me from the Pulmonary Unit and brings me over to the Nucleur Medicine Department.  They thought I was a no show since I was in Pulmonary at the same time I was schedule to be with them.  They pull my orders back up and prep me.  Bryan tries to stick me twice.  He cannot get a stick and the first one burns bad, and the second one he just can’t get a vein.  I tell him then that they usually call in the IV team because I am a hard stick.  He places a call into the IV team.

10:25: The IV Team still hasn’t responded to him, he places 4 more calls into the IV team.

10:35: The IV Team gets the call and calls him back.

10:40: The IV Team shows up.

10:45: The IV team gets the IV started in my left forearm.  Forearm, come on, that thing hurt like a @#%@#,  She couldn’t even get the needle in all the way because the vein she went into curves.  She holds it there for a while with just the plastic needle filled with blood to the top.  She pushes in and out and then the blood just stats coming out all over the place, all over my arm, her gloves the floor. She needs Bryan to put on a pair of gloves and help her because she needs to push the plastic IV in further so just the triangular tip is seen at the base of the skin.  This $@%! hurts!  She puts two piece of tape on me, an then starts to clean me up.  They then get blood return with no problem while flushing.

10:55: Bryan puts in the first half of the Radioactive Solution.  He is going to lunch and tells two other nurses that I got the injection at 10:55 and I need to get the next one at 11:15.

11:05: I am just sitting here…

11:15: They put in the second injection and then put me up on the table for my Nucleur Cardiology Tests.  They slide me back in position and then start taking images.  A nurse ask me if I would like a blanket over my legs, I tell her yes, as the room is freezing, and all those needle sticks didn’t help me.

12:00: My testing is done.  They call for a transporter to come get me to bring me back to my room.

12:10: The transporter arrives, checks my information and then wheels me to my room.

12:20: I get back to my room, and there is my breakfast, nice and cold.  The milk and juice is nice and arm.  Oh well into the trash they will go, I can’t take any chances with food not being the right temperature.

12:25: Elise comes back in and get’s ready to start my port.  She cleans up the lidocane cream, and then cleans the area.  She then puts on her gloves and and sanitizes the area.  She then lines up the port and pushes the needle through my skin into the port.   I didn’t feel a thing.  The lidocane cream sitting for 3 hours sure has numbed up the site!  She gets a good blood return, and tapes the needle to my chest.

12:30: Lunch arrives.  She tells me she will get the needle in and then let me eat while she goes and gets lunch herself, and then she will return to finish up an get going when she gets back from lunch.

1:00: She returns after lunch and hooks up the bag she brought with her full of some goodies.  She then runs the Zofran and the Decodran, an anti-nausea and steroid medicine.

2:00: Elise returns with another nurse to check the Cisplatin they are about to feed into me for 24 hours.

2:30: After checking everything, ensuring my blood return, taping down the port, setting the pumping speed, she starts the Cisplatin.

3:00: I am in full swing, I am completely using my two computers side by side and just doing some work.

3:30: Elise comes in and checks on me.  She ensures that I have a blood return and then let’s the pump keep pumping.

4:30: Elise comes in again and checks on me, again ensuring blood return.

5:00: Supper arrives, yummy!  Salsburry Steak, Fried Cubed Potatoes, Zuchinni, A Cookie, Peach Cobbler, and Peach Encased in Jello.  Great Stuff.

5:30:  My dad checks to see if they want me to pick up anything from McDonalds.  I tell them sure, pick me up a McDouble.

6:00:  My parents show up with the food.  1) I don’t know if I can eat outside food if they are keeping track of how much.  2) The smells are throwing me off. 3) The I just ate, and not all that hungry.

7:30: Elise comes in introducing the nurses who are taking over for her.

8:00: I get my mom’s new phone activated for her while sitting in the bed.

8:30: We play with tons of ringtones for her phone.

8:35: My wife arrives.

9:00: My parents prepare to leave, they need to go to Walgreens for medication for my mom.

10:00: I start updating my posts, and watching Gone in 60 Seconds Again.

11:59: Another day done with!

01/21/2012:

7:30: My dad wakes me up, he is off from work today, and he is going to drive me to my Doctor’s Appointment.  Seeing how that I still have the stitches in my neck, I still cannot turn my neck to look both ways when driving a car.  So I must still rely on other transportation.

8:00: We head out the house.

8:07: We get to the parking garage, and wow, no one is there, its practically empty.

8:15: We check in.

8:30: I meet with the Hearing Test Nurse.  She does a pressure test on my ears, along with kind of tone echo.  I was then put in a sound booth and told to repeat the words that I heard.  I was then told to press a button every time I heard a tone.  We then walked to a different part of the office, and they did a test on me that they do on all new born babies to test for hearing loss.  I had a minor high frequency degeneration, but other than that, everything else looked normal.

9:00: I meet with Dr. Jacob for a quick review.  He wishes me the best of luck on the next chemo regimine.

9:10: As we are leaving the parking garage, I get a call from a client in the building on the other side of the hospital.  No one can sign on to their computers.  My dad drives me over there, and we go in and check on them.  He did a system restore on his computer and was able to log in because he was using a cached password from when the computer was restored.  I then rebooted the server, and then I was able to log onto the other machines with no issues.  The main problem was the domain controller not responding to requests.

9:40: We go downstairs and check to see if Dr. Veith is in his office.  It appears that his office is closed for the holiday.

9:50: We are getting back into the car to head back home.

10:00: I get home.  I get back on my computer and do a few more things.  I talk to my business partner, and he wants to meet at the office later today.

11:00: I help my dad figure out how to put a fragile decoration into a box.  They can be tricky sometimes.

12:00: I sit in the Lazy-Boy and watch some TV.

12:30: I am dozing off, and don’t fight it, I just let myself to go sleep.

2:30: I wake up and go back to my main computer to finish up a few things.

3:30: My parents get home.  They are going off, and I ask them to drop me off at the office so that I can meet with Jamie and have a business meeting with my health and everything coming up with me and the other plans we had for the business that we are working on.

4:00: I start working on a few of the installations I was working on at home.

4:45: My computer starts acting up and freezing and I get a few write errors.  I need to do a chkdsk.  I take the hard drive out the computer, hook it up to a computer in the back, and let that usb/sata setup do a chkdsk of the entire hard drive.

5:15: Jamie shows up.  We talk about my health first and where everything is going with my upcoming chemo and stem cell transplant plans.  After going over these things we go over the plans we have been talking about for the business.

9:45: We wrap up our talking.  We lock up and Jamie drives me back to my house.

10:15: I jump in the bath as I have my chemotherapy tomorrow, no shower yet, still got the stitches.

11:45: I get out the bath, a long nice time to think of everything coming up, and I had my laptop with me as well.

11:55: I get back in my chair and lay down and relax.

11:59: I doze off soon after.  Another day gone, chemo tomorrow.

01/20/2013:

8:00: I wake up, and I am just awake.  No falling back asleep now.  I get out my laptop and start doing a few things on it, checking on installs I was working on last night.

10:00: Looks like another morning of some sausage, grits, eggs, and biscuits as my mom has begun cooking.  I haven’t eaten anything for breakfast regularly in a while.  Good to have some good meals on the weekends.

10:40: I get up and eat at the kitchen table.  I haven’t taken any pain medicine since 2:45 AM.  So as far as pain goes, I am doing pretty good.

11:30: I find myself back in the Lazy-Boy.  On my laptop still working on a few different things.

1:30: Time to find the Atlanta/San Francisco game.

2:00: Kickoff.

5:30: Atlanta lost, thank goodness, don’t need to worry about them being or winning at our Home the New Orleans Superdome

6:00: I get on my main computer in the living room and check a few things and do some work.

7:00: Time for a bath, damn stitches, showers are so much quicker…

8:30: I get out the bath, and the New England/Baltimore game is still going on.

9:30: Baltimore wins, so it will be San Francisco against Baltimore in the Superbowl here in New Orleans.  I just channel surf for a little bit.

10:00:  I catch Transporter on AMC and begin watching that.

11:45: I doze off watching TV.

11:59: Another day gone.  I can move around a little better 🙂

01/19/2013:

9:15: I wake up.  I haven’t taken a Percocet for almost 8 hours, and I can barely move my neck because any movement sets off some pain.  I take a Percocet.

10:00:  Breakfast is being cooked.  Eggs, Bacon, Grits, and Biscuits.  I can start moving around again.

10:20: I am still sitting in the Lazy-Boy.  My wife gets my breakfast together, and gives it to me on a small table dinner table over my lap in the Lazy-Boy.  She then get’s her breakfast, and sits by me on the Sofa.  My parents are sitting by the main table eating.  The food is great!

10:45: My wife leaves for work.  I am finishing up my breakfast.

11:15: I am done with my Breakfast.

11:45: I turn on the TV and just watch TV for the rest of the day.  Not really worth moving too much.

2:00: Still watching TV, I am also on my laptop computer.

5:00: Still watching TV, yep you guessed it, still on the computer as well…

7:30: My parents bring home some BBQ Pulled Pork and Brisket, and some Ribs, good stuff!

9:00: I go take a shower.  I don’t want to get my stitches wet yet and deal with the feeling of getting a cut wet, since 7 inches of my neck are a big cut.

11:00: I find myself back in front of the TV.  My dad is laying on the sofa watching the TV with me.

11:45: I am exhausted and just let the the tiredness overcome me and fall asleep….

11:59: Another day done!

01/18/2013:

12:00: The start of another wonderful day, oh joy.

12:15: I take my next pain pill, percocet/oxycodone.  These things work much better than the hydrocodone.

12:25: I am laying back in the lazy-boy, all covered up as it is a bit chilly outside.  Watching some history channel, but it doesn’t take much for me to fall asleep.

12:35: I am out of it.

2:15  My wife wake’s me up with a phone call telling me she is on her way home from a friends.  I fall back asleep.

4:00: I get up to get rid of some more fluids, and instead of waiting an additional 15 minutes for my percocet, I just go ahead and take care of that pill n ow.

4:10: I am sleeping again in the lazy-boy.

7:00: I am awake.  I can’t sleep anymore.  I get up.  I talk to my dad a little bit who had taken today off a while back because he was supposed to have jury duty yesterday but he called last night and they said that they didn’t need him to show up, so he went to work yesterday, otherwise with Monday being a holiday and him not working on the weekends, he would have been away from work for 5 days.  Oh well 4 is ok too.

7:30: I dig into half of what is left of the pecan pie that my sister brought over less thatn 24 hours ago, and give my dad the rest of the half.

8:00: I turn on the TV and a movie that has nature release a toxin into the air that causes humans to commit suicide and not worry about self preservation is sweeping the New England area.

10:00: The movie is over, and my dad and I are going to head to the office.  He grabs their old computer to bring to the office since the old computer was their main computer before I gave them a new computer for Christmas.  I just need to get a few last things off of it, and since I don’t have an extra monitor at the house, and I cannot get in remotely for some reason, we are just going to bring it to the office where I have plenty of monitors and tools to work on computers.

10:15: We are in the CRV with my dad driving since I can’t much less turn my head, or even try to get in the car without being very cautious.

10:30: We get to the office.

10:40: We are upstairs.

10:45: I go downstairs and pick up a package that was delivered to another suite since I am out of the office with all of these medical appointments and treatments and such.

10:55; I make it back upstairs.  I start going through the mail and just about to settle in when the mail lady come by and tells me that she just delivered a package to me downstairs.  I tell her that I would greatly appreciate it if she kept it up when I am out.  She said she was just getting used to the route again because she broke her leg and was out of work for the past 2 months and was unaware of any of the latest updates or the business closing down the hall that she used to deliver my packages too.

11:05: I go back downstairs and pick up the package that she delivered today, and then back upstairs.

11:15: My dad brought a tape to the office that he would like transferred.  It was a Valentines Day Special that he had taped a long time ago when i was a kid and wanted to transfer it to DVD for my sister to watch.  I help him get the transfer going and then go to my office and start working on a few things.

11:30: I get an email from a client and reply back to her that she is secure the way she is setup.

11:58: I get another email back from the client.  She is looking for some help setting up a new program so that she can email her clients documents that she scans and prepares for them.  We first have an issue with the password, so we reset that, and then after resetting that we can still not send out out an email with the new program.  She is going to call both the ISP and the company to figure out how much longer her email will work with that ISP since she is no longer with that ISP and the company with the software since the settings are correct, but we cannot send out a test email.

12:45: I am done with that client.

12:50: I go in the back and show my dad how to stop the video capture, and then how to trim what he doesn’t need off the end of the video and then how to burn the video to a DVD all within the same software.

1:00: I leave my dad with the DVD burning, as I get a call from a client who is having an issue with a slow computer.  I talk the client through installing the remote software and then remote into the computer and start taking care of the slowness issues.

2:15: I am done the scanning and the cleaning phase and the computer is running pretty well.  The client will call me back when they find a cable to hook up their printer to their computer.

3:10: I get a call back form the client saying that they found the cable.  They hook the cable up for me, and i download the software from the manufacturer’s website and install the multi function color laser printer.

3:35: I am done with the printer.  Another client is calling up, and he has to figure out how to hook up another computer to the internet so I can work on it remotely too, so we disconnect while I take the call from the other client.  The other client wants to put some mp3’s on his iPhone from his computer so he can listen to them and he can’t figure out how to do it.  I remote into his computer, start up iTunes and copy the files tot he Phone’s Music Playlist.  He is then able to listen to these files on his phone and issue.

3:50: I call back the previous client and we try a few things to get it connected to the internet, and then he decides that he lives close enough that he can just run over and drop it off.

4:00: I make a call to a client’s whose phone call I missed and instruct her that she can pick up her computer from downstairs anytime next week because i will be out of the office next week and in the hospital for my next chemo treatment.

4:10: I call a Doctor client of mine to update him on my situation.  He is one of the greatest doctor’s I have come across with a great personality and will go out of his way to make sure that you as a patient, person, and friend is taken care of.  The Whiz!

4:15: The client gets to my office with his computer and a backup tape cartridge.  I take them both and tell him I will work on them as I can with me being in and out, and he completely understands!

4:30: My dad and I walk downstairs and deliver a computer and toner for pick up by my clients when they can drop by since I will be out of the office.

4:45: We head back upstairs.  I setup the computer that was just brought  in for remote access and then my Dad and I head on home.

5:00: We are in the CRV heading home.

5:30: We get home.

5:45: I get on my laptop and continue doing work that I was doing earlier, but mainly administrative and billing work on the things I did earlier.

6:50: My mom gets home with some Taco Bell for supper.  I get some spicy things, but again, I don’t taste the spice anymore, I can only feel the burning sensation in my mouth 🙁

7:30: I am back in my chair updating some software backup licenses for clients of mine and also processing the billing for the updates.

8:00: I finalize a few more things on the computer.

8:15: I just relax and watch some TV.

11:00: I get ready to get another bath.  Another long day, I don’t want to get a shower yet.  I just took the bandage that my wife put over my drain hole last night and starts to leak when I take it off, oh great.  I also notice that my neck around the stiches is really swollen and bruised, oh joy.

11:30: After a good bit of examination its almost time for me to jump in the bath, however I can’t stop looking at the colors and size of my neck…

11:59: Another day gone…

01/17/2012:

1:30: I wake up, my neck is in pain and I don’t want to move too much.  I wake my wife up who puts the feet down for the lazy-boy, and I get up and make my way to the bathroom.  All those fluids….

1:45: I make it back to my chair, but my wife is sleeping, so I do the best I can do not to wake her, I sit in the chair, lean back a little and doze off.  Not the most comfortable position, but I am able to fall asleep.

4:00: I wake up, and I wake my wife up as the pain is just unbearable, and I need to reposition myself in the chair.  She then gives me one of my pain pills, fixes a pillow under my head just right, and my feet are back up in the reclined position on the recliner.

5:00: My parents get up, my wife goes into our room to continue sleeping as all the lights that will be on with them getting ready since we are in the den.  My stomach is growling too.  I get some Honey Nut Cheerios, and I also get an apple cut up while watching the news as the are getting ready.  All from the comfort of my chair.

5:55: My mom head out to work.

6:10: My dad heads out to work.

6:15: I get online and start going through all my client accounts for backup.  I send out emails to everyone that needs their backup account renewed.  I get an email back from one client right away telling me to renew it, and asking me how I am feeling, I shoot back an email and update her that my neck is in pain because of the surgery I just had for the biopsy, but not too much info back just yet.

6:45: I catch up 2 days on my blog for my surgery day, and the day right after.

7:45: I start to doze off.

9:00: I wake up when my wife moves back on the sofa to continue sleeping.  I doze right back off.

10:10: I wake up, go to the bathroom again, so much fluids.

10:30: I doze right back off in the chair again.

10:40: My wife leaves for work.  My sister has arrived and has brought over a pecan pie she bought at Gambino’s.

11:10: My sister leave as she has a lunch date with a friend of hers from College.

12:00: My mom calls me to see if I am ready to go to the doctor.

12:10: We head on out the door.

12:25: We get to the parking garage and luckily find a spot right on the level we need to be on.  We walk, very slowly because of my pain, to Dr. Jacob’s Office.  When we get there we are shown to the back.  My sister is already there meeting with him for her appointment as she is going out of town next week and wants to make sure she will be well for her trip.

12:30: The doctor comes into my room.  I am not looking forward to this.  I unbutton my shirt, he empties the drain first.  He then proceeds to rip all of the tape off of my skin from my chest and neck and yanks the bandage off of the stitches as well.  It hurts like a (#$@#.  He then snips the stitches holding the drain line in and then pulls that 6 inches of tubing out form underneath my skin.  OOOWWWWW!  That really hurt!  I feel that burning for a good bit!  He then tapes a piece of gauze over the hole where the drain line was to catch any additional drainage that comes out.  He then sends me on my way and says that he wants to see me in a week to take those stitches out so I make an appointment for 3:00 next Tuesday.

12:50: We get back to the car in the parking garage and drive out of this garage and over to the garage adjacent to Dr. Veith’s office building.

1:00: I sign in at Dr. Veith’s office and pay the copay.  I then just sit with my mom and sister and talk a few different things over.  My appointment is for 2:10, we are just here early.

2:00: We get called to the back.  My weight is 272, my oxygen level is 93, my temp is normal and my blood pressure 133/83.

2:10: The doctor steps in.  He starts talking to us that the pathologist have not issued the report yet, but are pretty sure its the same Nodular Sclerosis Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. We go over a number of different options of just treating it with more chemo and if that doesn’t work go to a Stem/T Cell transplant.  I asked him about trying just the chemo first and then if that didn’t work then try the transplant, but he said that the numbers showed the longer you waited for the transplant and the more regimens you through at the body, the numbers, although not significantly, do drop for chances of remission.  After much discussion we decide that the Stem/T Cell transplant will be the best option.  I will need to come into the hospital 2 or 3 times every 3 weeks for 2-3 days out of the 3 weeks to get a continuous chemo infusion.  This will clean out my system and get me prepared for the transplant.  I schedule the first dose of this chemo to begin next Tuesday, which means I will stay in the hospital to Thursday.  The office staff will call up the insurance company and go over all the specifics with them, and then they will call me up with the scheduling for those days.  I make my next appointment to see him again in 5 weeks.

2:50: We are done talking over everything with Dr. Veith and actually heading out the door now.  He did not rush us or anything.  He answered all of our questions and could not have been more helpful.

3:00: We drop my Percocet prescription off at the CVS pharmacy that is only a block away form my house and they said it would be ready in an hour.  We head home.

3:10: I get home and I eat some shrimp jambalaya and some meat loaf.

3:45: My mom goes and gets my Percocet from the pharmacy.

3:55: My mom arrives back home with my pills.

4:15: My dad get’s home.  He has brought me a pair of sweat pants, and also a button long sleeve shirt since I don’t have too many and with all the treatments and the surgeries and not being to always be able to put a polo shirt on, this will make things a lot easier.

4:30: My mom, sister, dad and I talk about what the Doctor said and the next course of treatment we plan on doing with the stem cell transplant.

5:00: I turn on the TV and watch a few episodes of NCIS.  I am dozing in and ouf of it from just being tired and a long day to adding the Percocets on top of that.

9:00: I get up and time for me to go get a bath.  I can’t get my stitches wet, so a bath will have to do.  Just some more of a sponge bath with the dial soap since I have to be careful with what I can and cannot get wet.

10:30: I am up out of the bath.  Back to the den in the lazy-boy to relax.

11:45: I start to doze off.  My dad is laying on the couch watching the History Channel with me.

11:59: I am dozing in and out of it, another day gone…

01/16/2013:

12:30:  I am done my 2 bags of fluids and after 3 request I get the nurse to come change the IV to a hep lock that way I don’t have to carry around the empty IV bag.

1:00: I use the bathroom and fill up a full 1000ml of fluids.

1:15: I start dozing out of it.

3:30: The nurse comes around and takes my vitals.  My blood pressure is 100/60 and my oxygenation of my blood is 90%.  They tell me to put my oxygen nose plugs back in and I do.

4:00: I doze back off.

6:00: I wake up and my mom is getting her keys, I know what she is going to do, she is going to change cars with my dad that way I can more easily get into the CRV instead of the Accord with my neck.

6:15: I doze back off.

7:30: Dr. Jacob stops by to check on me.  He says he will be discharging me, and he will be leaving the pressure dressing on my neck, and that I should come see him at the office tomorrow for him to take the pressure dressing off.

8:00: I am back awake and hungry.  I wait for my food.

8:30: I finally get food.  Grits, Eggs, a Biscuit and Sasuage

8:45: Dr. Yager drops in and checks on me.  He tells me that everything is going to be ok, and they have to do second treatments a number of times.  He also starts to talk about how well his Salt Water aquariums are doing in his office.

8:55: Dr. Yager heads back to his office.

9:00: I finish up my biscuit.

9:15: My wife runs downstairs and gets some food for her and my mom.

9:25: My wife get back with their food.

9:30: Dr. Veith shows up and said it preliminary looks like it is going to be Hodgkin’s.   He says we will go over the options tomorrow as I have an appointment with him tomorrow, and he should have some more results back tomorrow for that appointment.

10:30: I get my wheel chair.

10:45: I am wheeled out to the CRV.

10:55: I am in the CRV and we are heading home.

11:30: We get home.  My mom takes off to Jimmy John’s for a sandwich for her and my wife, and pick’s up a philly cheese steak sandwich for my dad and I.

12:15: I eat.

12:45: I am laying down in with my small laptop and watching TV.

1:15: I doze off.

4:15: I wake up when my dad gets home.

4:45: I am in serious pain.  My last pain medicine was around 9AM.  I take two hydrocodone.

4:55: My mom heads out to get some ground meet for hamburgers tonight.

5:30: My mom gets back home, I am half in and half out of it.

7:00: I eat a hamburger.

8:00: I am sleeping again on the chair.

11:00: My wife wakes me up for me to take my next pain pill.  I quickly fall back asleep.

11:59: Still sleeping, can’t move too much, too much pain…

01/15/2013:

2:00: I relax in the tub, I use the Dial Antibacterial Soap to make sure my body is clean.  i will also get a shower before heading over to the Hospital.

3:00: I get out and go lay in bed and fall right asleep.

9:30: I wake up and get out of bed.  I don’t bother getting too dressed as I am not working a full day and I will be coming home soon to get another shower before heading to the hospital.

10:30: I head into my office.

10:45: I get to my office.

11:00: I finish updating a laptop for a client who dropped it of on Friday.  He needs his laptop back for the school semester starting.

12:00: The client comes in and picks up his laptop.

12:30: I start ordering different things for clients as to let them come in while I am out.  Toner, a KVM switch, UPSs, and a few other things.

2:00: I finish up ordering things.

2:36: I head on home.

2:50: I get home.

3:00: I jump in the shower.  I use the Dial Antibacterial Soap as instructed by the preop nurses.

3:15: I jump out the shower.

3:30: My mom and I head on over to the hospital.

3:45: We park on the third level of the parking garage and head in.  There is a note saying that if you are checking in after 2:30, you must head down to the 2nd floor to check in.  We head downstairs to the second floor to check in.  They ask if I am in the right spot.  I tell them I am, and that I went through pre-op yesterday and that the sign upstairs said to check in down here.  They said they then understood, and asked me to take a seat and someone will be with me shortly.

4:00: We are called to Room I where they go over all the info with me, and give me my arm band and then send me back up to the third floor.

4:15: We head back up to the third floor and check in at the nurses station in the back.

4:30: I am shown to my room.

4:45: I am given a gown, and told to remove all my clothes and slip into the gown and then slip into the bed.

4:55: I am in the bed, with just a gown on and the sheets on top of me.  My dad and sister show up.

5:05: Surprisingly my oncologist shows up. Dr. Jacob, the ENT who is doing the biopsy and getting the lymphnode out for them to do the pathology report on talked to my oncologist.  My oncologist came to go over the possible outcomes of what is found with the biopsy and a few possible forms of treatment.  He says he will see me tomorrow before I am discharged.

5:15: The IV nurse comes back, and I tell her I don’t want anything unless she has lidocane.  She tells me she doesn’t have lidocane, but she will look.  She looks at all my veins and can’t find one that she can easily stick, so she agrees with me, and will let me wait for anesthesia to get my IV started.

5:30: They wheel me to the back to the operating room.

5:35: I move myself to the operating room table.

5:40: I meet the CRNA and the Anesthesiologist.  The Anesthesiologist, Dr. T, got my IV started last time when they had issues sticking me over and over.  The CRNA gets some lidocane, and then Dr. T injects me with it.  He then takes the IV needle and starts the IV on the first stick.  I am talking with Dr. Jacob who ask if I used staples last time or stitches.  I told him that he did one running stitch and no staples.  He agrees and talks that over with the nurses.  I am talking a good bit with everyone in the operating room.  Then it is time.  They give me a cocktail sedation in my IV, and then put the mask over my face and tell me to start taking deep breaths.  Time for my Michael Jackson and other stuff to put me under and keep me under while they go to work.

7:30: I wake up.  I am nauseated and start gagging and coughing.  The nurse grabs me a small bag which I throw up into.  My neck is hurting me as well.  She throws stuff into my IV for the pain and the nausea.

8:00: They roll me back to my room.  The first person I see in the hallway is my wife who was just leaving the room.  She saw me and went back into the room to wait for them to put me in my room.

8:15: I am settled in my room.  I  start coughing again and feeling nauseated and start gagging again and spit up flem into the bucket in the room.  They put some Zofran into my system to take care of the nausea.

8:30: My wife, mom, dad, and sister are all talking, and I am half in and half out of it.

9:30: My dad and my sister leave, and my wife and my mom stay.  I am still dozing in and out of it.   My neck hurts and I can’t do too much moving.

10:00: We turn on the History Channel and watch Pawn Stars.  I eat some chicken and beef broth.

11:59: Still watching TV.

01/14/2012:

8:30: I wake up, I still feel exhausted so I go back to sleep.

9:30: I wake up again.  I am still tired, but I gotta get up, I got a few things that I have to do today before heading to Dr. Jacob for pre-op for the biopsy.

9:35: I am up out of Bed.  I let Buster out.

9:40: I get on the computer to check an email.

9:45: I let Buster back in.

10:05: I jump in the shower.

10:20: I jump out of the shower.

10:30: I get a voicemail from a client who is having some printing issues and monitor display issues.  I decide to stop by there first on my way to the office.

10:35: I am in my van on my way.

10:45: I get to the client’s location.

10:50: I start troubleshooting the issue.  First the printer was off, I turned it on.  I then tried to send a few print jobs to the printer and ping the printer, I could do neither.  I then checked the printer settings.  Someone had changed the IP Address of the printer.  I changed the IP address back to what I had originally set it up to be when I setup up the printer.  The documents that were then set to print to the printer started printing out with no issues.  I tested all 4 computers, and all of them were able to print to the printer with no issue.  I then examined the KVM switch.  It was a cheaper switch and could not handle the resolutions that the computers were trying to send to the computer and therefore the monitors kept flickering.  I told them I would order a better KVM switch to replace the one that the third party had installed.  I noticed they were also out of the extra toner for the production printer.  I asked them how many spare toners they would like to keep in stock and they said 1, so I will order one of each color to get them 1 ready to be put in.

11:30: I head out, and on my way back to my office.

11:40: I get back to the office, and I run Invoices for all the invoices that I hadn’t sent out for the past 2 weeks.

12:00: I finish up changing the payroll withholding variables in my program so that the proper amount of taxes are taken out when I run payroll from my own software.

12:30: I enter in all payments for checks that I had received over the past 2 weeks.

12:40: I head out the office and on the way to my Doctor’s Appointment.

12:45: I stop by the bank, through the drive through, and deposit the checks I had just entered.

12:50: I continue on my way to the hospital for my appointment.

1:00: I get to the hospital, again people cannot park and it takes me 10 minutes to get to the 6th level to fine a place to park.  I take the elevator down to the 1st floor, walk into the adjacent building and take the elevator up to the third floor for my doctor’s appointment.

1:13: I check in.  My mom and my wife meet me there, when I am out of it someone needs to know what’s going on.

1:16: I am shown to Patient Room 4.

1:25: Dr. Jacob arrives and feels my neck after reviewing the results of the MRI that was done on Friday.  He cannot feel anything, party because I have a bulky neck.  He will have to go over the Imagery from the MRI and Pet Scans to pinpoint where he needs to exactly cut for the lymph node biopsy.  He goes over the paperwork, possible nerves, blood vessels, etc can be cut during the procedure, possibilities of infection, scars, etc.  I sign the paperwork and then we head on out the office.  Time to go over to EJ North for pre-op.

2:05: I check in with patient registration and go sit in another waiting room.

2:10: I am called in to meet with a lady who checks over all the information, takes my $250 co-pay for the surgery, has me sign the consent forms.

2:25: I am then sends me on my way up to the 5th floor to go through all the pre-op interviews and blood work and xrays.

2:30: I check in at the pre-op desk up stairs, and then take a seat.

2:45: Still sitting.

2:50 : They call me in the back and I meet with the nurse.  We start to go over all the questions, previous health problems, pains, medicines, previous surgeries, and the list goes on.  She also takes my blood pressure and gets an oxygen reading on me, now I need to go sit and wait for the anesthesia interview.

3:15: Sitting in the waiting room.  While sitting we decide what we want for supper from Lagers a bar nearby that has great hamburgers and other meals.

3:45: Still sitting.

3:50: We are finally called to the back for anesthesia.  She asks me a number of questions too, if I have ever had problems before with surgery and anesthesia etc.  She gives me the consent form to sign for anesthesia.  She says she can go over all of the possible side affects for anesthesia, I tell her she doesn’t have to, I am signing the form either way because I want to be completely knocked out during the procedure, there is no way I am doing this without anesthesia, so I am not too worries with what else the form says, just show me where to sign for a form like that.

4:05: I am done with anesthesia, we go take a seat back in the waiting room again and need to wait to the lab area is ready to take me to do my x-rays and blood work.

4:10: The lab is ready for me.  The first thing we do is the xrays, they have me take off my shirt and put on a gown.  They then position me, and she shoots one xray from my back through my chest.  She then sets me up with my hands elevated and she takes a second x-ray from the right side of my chest through to my left.  I then throw my shirt back on and the gown in the linen bag.  I am then directed to a room where the blood work will be drawn.  The gentleman takes out 5 vials to fill with blood. I tell him where to stick me and how to stick me.  He was off by half an inch.  I showed him where he should poke, but he doesn’t want to try again, and would liek someone else come and see if they can get me.  The nurse who took my x-rays comes in and pokes closer to where I originally said the poking should have happened, and she has no issues getting the blood.  I fill up four vials in about a minute.  She then wraps my arm and send me on my way.

4:30: We are done for today, time to head back to the car.  We take the elevator down to the fourth floor, and then walk the bridge from the EJ North Building to the Hudson Garage.  There I take the elevator up to the 6th level where I parked, and they take the garage down to the 2nd level where they parked.

4:45: I am heading around in circles out of the garage.

5:00: I get home.  They are heading to pick up supper.

5:20: My wife and mom get home with the food.  I am having the Cuban Pork Sandwich.  I liked it, not that bad, I would get it again!  I love there hamburgers, and just trying a few other things on the menu, but nothing beats their hamburgers.

6:30: My wife and I head back over to the office so that I can finish up a few things tonight.

6:45: We get to the office. I send out invoices and yearly statements.  My wife takes care of sending out Tax Documents.

7:45: My wife and I head back on home, I came and did what I needed to do.

8:00: We get home.

8:15: I sit on the sofa and watch some TV with my dad.

10:00: I go and lay down in bed and work on a laptop that I needed to take care of.

11:45: I finish up the laptop and just watch some TV.

11:59: Another day gone!  Surgery tomorrow, can’t eat anything now, just liquids to 8AM.

01/01/2013:

0:00: Happy New Year 🙂  The fireworks are going out.  I take a few sips of Champagne, hopefully this year will be full of good news with my cancer being put in its place 🙂

0:10: My wife and I walk down the block and wish others a Happy New Year.

0:30: We walk back inside.  Then back into the backyard.  I throw a branch from the palm tree next door on the glowing embers to get one more flame in for the night before heading in.

1:30: The fire has died down, time to go inside and go to sleep.

2:00: I am laying in bed and time to doze off and go to sleep. ZzZzZzZzZzZ….

10:00: My wife’s alarm on her phone goes off, she gets up and starts to get ready for work.  I get up and get out of bed and let Buster out.

10:45: My wife heads out to work.

11:00: I get out my small laptop, sit in the Lazy-Boy turn on the Rose Parade and check on a few things on my laptop.

12:00: The Capital One Bowl Game starts up.  I am watching the game and on the laptop.

1:30: My Aunt Estella and Uncle Vic show up at the house.

2:00: My sister Katie and my bro-in-law Bishoy arrive, along with there dog Sara.  Sara and Buster have a great time running around the yard and house.

2:10: We exchange Christmas Presents since they were unable to come in for Christmas.

2:30: Time to eat 🙂  Mushrooms, Merliton and Shrimp, Cabbage and Corn Beef, Pork and Gravy, Baked Macaroni and Cheese, and some Red Gravy and Meatballs.  Lots to eat!

4:00: We are done eating, back to the Lazy-Boy I go.

4:45: Dessert time.  My sister made Pecan Pie for the first time.  She put in more pecans than anything else, but it tasted great and I enjoyed it!  I’ll take another one please!

5:30: I go lay in bed and get on my laptop.

6:30: My wife get’s home from work.

7:00: We take a nap.

9:45: We wake up.  I get on the computer and load up Team Fortress 2.  We are trying to figure out my wife’s Steam account login name so that we can install Steam and Team Fortress 2 on the new computer that I got my parent’s for Christmas.

10:10: We finally figure out the login name, and I start Team Fortress 2 downloading on that computer.  It will take 5.5 hours to download the 12 GB.

10:30: I start gaming.

11:59: I am done gaming for tonight.  Time to go lay in bed, get on the computer for a little bit and then catch my zZzZzZzZz’s…  Goodnight, Happy New Year!

12/19/2012:

8:05: An email wakes me up with a client following up to my email about when I will be in the office today.

8:09: I get an email from a client working on something who is having a problem with another vendor being a smart a$$.  They are complaining that they can’t do some of the work because they are Mac based and can’t open the files that he is sending them.  I sort out the issue for the client and send the documents to the vendor via my cell phone.  I try to fall back asleep, but impossible to do.

9:00: I get up out of bed after no luck slipping back to a nice sleep.  I let Buster you.

9:15: I jump into the shower.

9:30: I jump out of the shower.

9:49: I get an email from a client who is having trouble sending and receiving emails because their mailbox is full.  I tell her to rectify the situation she can delete emails in her deleted items, sent items, and inbox, or when I get a chance, I can log into the server and expand the storage area.

10:00: I jump in my van and head on over to the office.

10:15: I am at the office.

10:16: I get an email back from the client with the email issues.  She has deleted a number of items and just checking the status.  I check her email and she has deleted over half of her emails she didn’t need, and she has over half the space free then she did before.

12:35: I get an email from a vendor asking about what it would cost to setup a client with a Polycom software system.  I let them know that I still need to follow up with this with Polycom.

12:50: I work on some video transferring of a family video that was already transferred from 8mm to VHS and now the client would like VHS transferred to DVD.

2:50: I get an email from another client going over the minimums needed for another venture, and that venture will take a while to get going because of all the requirements.

3:15: I start doing some administrative work and entering billing information into the program.

6:00: I get an email from a client asking me to remove the 3 remaining PCs from the network, setup one computer to be able to be used on his home network, and extend the phone number to Dec 31.  He was also interested in the getting the server’s information wiped and setup if someone would want to buy it and wanted pricing information for the server and labor.  I will take care of all of this Thursday evening, their last full day of work in the office across the hall.

7:30: I am done here at the office for today, time for me to head on home.

7:45: I get home, and grab a bite to eat.

8:30: I am laying in bed, on the laptop, researching a few things, with the TV on in the background too.

10:30: I am done doing the research.  Time for me to relax in bed.

11:30: I start to doze off.

11:59: Another day gone!

12/18/2012:

6:37: I get an email from a client asking me if I am going to be in my office at all today.

9:00: I am up.

9:15: I jump in the shower.

9:30: I jump out the shower.

9:45: I am at the office.

10:30: I get an email from a client saying that they have not ordered the computers we talked about because they are waiting for additional funds to come in before ordering them.

11:00: I start inputting time and work for billing.

12:15: I get an email back from a client telling me that I can drop their computer back off at their office Wednesday when I will be there for another Dr. Appointment.

12:45: I start going back to more administrative work, entering  billing information, and taking breaks every once in a while to clean up parts of the office.

7:00: Enough time being at the office, time for me to go home.

7:15: I am home.

7:30: I grab a bite to eat.

8:00: I lay in bed and finish up some more billing on my laptop while laying in bed and watching TV.

11:15: I finish up the billing.

11:59: Another day done!  More administrative work done than anything else today, but a good day!

12/17/2012:

5:30: I get an email from a client updating me on her email issues being resolved.  I sleep right through this notification.

9:15: I get up out of Bed and let Buster out and jump on my computer to check a few things.

9:30: I get an email from a client checking up on me.  We reply back and forth a few times updating each other on events.

10:15: I jump in the shower.

10:30: I jump out the shower.

11:15: I head on over to my office.

11:30: I get to the office.

12:00: I start working on a few administrative things.

3:15: I get an email from a client wanting me to change the formatting of some of their documents.

3:30: I change up the document formats.

5:45: I get an email from the client telling me the drivers I installed for the scanner are working just fine and he is able to scan documents with no issues.

6:30: I am done here at the office for today, time to head home.

6:45: I get home.

7:00: I grab a bite to eat.

7:45: I go and lay in bed and turn on the TV and get out the laptop and start working on a few other things.

11:15: I am done with the laptop.  I just lay back in bed and watch TV.

11:59: ZzZzZzZz  Another day gone!

12/16/2012:

11:20: I get an email from a client who is following up on the laptop warranty repair service that needs to be done.  He is just letting me know that he is following up with Dell to schedule when the Dell technician will come out and replace his laptop motherboard.

12:00: I lay on the couch and watch the Saints play the Cowboys.

3:30: After overtime the Saints have won.

4:00: I jump in the shower.

4:15: I jump out the shower.

4:30: I head on over to my office to catch up on some administrative work and move the remaining cubicles from across the hall to my office.

4:45: I get to the office.

5:00: I start moving the rest of the disassembled cubicles over.

8:00: After moving a number of pieces and taking a number of breaks, all of the cubicles are moved over to my office.

8:15: I start on some administrative work.

9:15: I am done here for today.  Time to head home.

9:30: I return home.

9:45: i grab a bite to eat.

10:00: I am laying in bed with my laptop and the TV on.

10:15: I start doing some billing for the work I have done recently that I havn’t billed for.

11:00: I finish up the billing.  I am exhausted and put the laptop on the nightstand and just watch TV.

11:59: ZzZzZzZz…  I am sleeing by now.  Another day gone!

12/15/2012:

1:36: My business partner calls me after I sent him a message on his gmail, and we discuss a few things.

10:00: I wake up and take Buster out.

10:15: I jump in the shower.

10:30: I jump out the shower.

10:45: I get my things ready to head to my partner’s house for a BBQ he is having for another business meeting we are having for another venture.

11:00: I get in the car and head on over.

11:30: I get to the house.  A few people have already shown up, but my business partner and his other associate are not there.  I introduce myself to the few people who are there and then go to work setting up some wireless and skype access for a meeting we will be having later in the week.  I will be there but my business partner will be out of town when the meeting is scheduled to take place, so I am making sure that everything is setup and ready to go for later in the week, so when I show up then, I don’t have to do any configurations and the meeting and just begin.

12:15: Finally my business partner and his associate get back, and the various meetings/talks begin.

1:00: I finish up with the setup for the skype meetings.

1:15: I go hang outside.  The fire is going, the BBQ pit is going.

2:45: The meetings start to wrap up, and we all grab a bite to eat, shredded beef and gravy on french bread along with a salad.  Pretty good stuff!

3:30: Everyone has left the house, just Jamie and our other associate still talking over a number of things.

7:00: I start my drive home.  Everyone is exhausted from the long night they had last night and the meetings today, so I am going to head back home and let them rest.

7:15: I get on the road.

7:45: I get back to the house.  I am a little tired, I go lay in bed, grab my laptop, and turn on the TV.

8:30: I am dozing off myself, I take a small nap.

9:49: I wake up.  I check a few emails and go to work on a scanning issue a client emailed me about.

10:00: I connect to the client’s computer, download the latest drivers for the scanner they are having issues scanning with.

11:00: I am done installing the complete software package for that scanner, the computer should be good to go as far as scanning is concerned now.

11:30: I finish up a few other things and then put my laptop on the night stand.

11:59: Another day gone!

12/14/2012:

11:00: I wake up and let Buster out.

11:15: I jump into the shower.

11:30: I jump out of the shower.

11:35:  I get a call from a client who is having issues with a monitor at their office.  Another vendor came in and installed a server and used a cheap KVM to connect to the server and computer to share the same keyboard, video(monitor), and mouse.

11:40: I leave the house.

11:45: I get to the client’s location and start checking out the KVM system.  The KVM is a cheap KVM and therefore the video flashing problems would be an issue.  I try changing a few settings to correct things and it seems that the cheaper KVM might have some issues.  They are going to try to use the computers with the settings I put in.  I then resolve a password issue that was causing the two computers not to sync files to each other.  I went over some materials that I was editing for them and they wanted to see the different changes.

12:45: I am done here for the day, and I head back to the office.

1:00: I get back to the office and I start working on a computer that keeps blue screening, I have tried software repairs and a few other things and cannot get the computer to stop blue screening.  I backup all the files on the computer, and then I reinstall the operating system completely.  No more blue screens.  I then reinstall the basic programs on the computer, install all the updates for the operating system and then copy all the files I backed up back to the computer.  I did this over the course of the day.

8:00: I am still at the office.  A client calls me who is having issues with using webmail.  I get on their computer and notice that he is using the wrong fields.  I show him which fields to use and then he has no issues sending emails.

11:00: I have had enough today at the office, and I am hungry, time to head home and grab a bite to eat.

11:15: I get home and grab a bite to eat and then lay in bed and get right back on my laptop and turn on the TV.

11:59: Still on the laptop and watching TV.

12/13/2012:

8:20: An email comes in an wakes me up, but its just a vendor and I doze back off to sleep.

9:05: I get an email from a client wanting a few email addresses setup.

9:15: I get up and email back my first vendor, and then setup the email accounts requested.

9:30: I let Buster out.

9:45: I jump in the shower.

10:00: I jump out the shower.

10:15: I answer another email that came in and take care of a few quick things on a server.

10:45: I am heading over to the office.

11:00: I am at the office, another wonderful day.

11:15: I get an email from a client having troubles getting emails from a client of theirs.  I start investigating that.

12:00: I do not see any issues on the sever or any emails being rejected.  I will ask their client to email me a few things so I can check some headers and other info.

1:00: That issue resolved itself, it was probably on the third party side because I couldn’t find any issues on this side.

3:00: I get a phone call from a client who is checking up on me.  We talk for a bit about a number of topics.

3:30: Back to some work, mainly administrative, catching up on some billing and putting in info for work I have done.

6:00: I am done work for today, time for me to head back to the house.

6:20: I get home.

7:00: I grab a bite to eat.

7:30: I watch some TV.

10:00: I am off to my room to lay in my bed and get on the laptop and do some work.  Mostly administrative.  I got the TV on for some background noise.

11:50: I am done finishing up the billing, time put up for the night.

11:59: ZzZzZ.  Another day gone…

12/12/2012:

12:00 I take a few naps here and there and finally doze off.

10:00: I wake up and I am not feeling too good.  I am just going to take it easy for a little while today.  I go by my computer and start doing some work.

11:00: After a little while I feel nauseated.  I take a Phenergan and go lay down.  I knock back out.

4:00: I wake up.

4:15: I get on my computer and do a few things and answer a few emails, luckily no phone calls today.

4:30: I get a call from my partner asking me I am coming over to his house tonight for a little cook out.  I tell him I sure will, get me out the house and away from reality for a while.

4:45: I jump in the shower.

5:00: I jump out the shower.

5:15: I am ready to go.  Just waiting to see if my wife is up to coming.

6:00: I finally get in touch with my wife who has been working all day, and she is going to pass, so I head on over to his place.

6:45: I finally get there.  Traffic was horrible!  There is a fire going in the back yard and steaks on the pit.  I grab some really good salad from inside, and a nice well cooked steak from the grill.

7:00: We do some talking and business discussions.  Then we play a few rounds of darts.

10:00: Time passes by when you are having fun…  Time to head on home.

10:30: I get home, not any traffic at all smooth sailing on the interstate.

11:00: I am exhausted from getting out for once.  I go lay in bed and watch some TV, no computer tonight…

11:45: I finally start to doze off…

11:59: Another day gone.  Quick when you sleep most of the day and enjoy the few hours remaining.

12/11/2012:

10:17: I get an wake up email from a client forwarding my email address to a third party who needed his IT’s contact info.

10:51: I get an email from another client who’s computer keeps shutting down by itself every night after she leaves the office.

10:58: The third party emails me to follow up on what they are looking for, for a video conferencing system.

11:00: I am up and out of bed!!!  I have a number of emails coming in, and even though I had chemo yesterday, I gotta get up.  My hiccups just keep going.

11:05: I let Buster out.

11:10: The third party tries to call me, but my hiccups are in full swing.  The day after chemo hiccups are a killer.  Constant hiccuping, which doesn’t help the nausea effect.

11:20: I get an email from another client who can’t get to their computer remotely.  I try to remote into the computer and find that it shut itself down at 3AM, probably after automatic updates or something.  It is a computer connected via a wireless connection therefore I cannot turn it on remotely.  Someone at the location will have to turn the computer back on.

11:34: The CPA for a client can’t remote in, I remote into the computer and check a few settings and can remote in, I email the CPA back and tell them to try again.

12:00: The CPA emails me back saying they could get in.

1:00: I get an email back telling me that they do not have any “safe” lifting devices, just forklifts at the location, therefore I will have to look into renting a lift to do the wireless network access point install.

1:30: I get an email from the client with the email issues, she says she is leaving the office, and won’t be back in for a da or two so I can remote in and look into the shutdown and email issue.

5:35: I get an email from the client across the hall to remove the dns entries that I put in to block uneeded websites like facebook, youtube, and other gaming and social networking sites that employees would waste their time on instead of doing work.

7:00: I go lay in bed, just sitting at my computer for a few hours has me exhausted.

7:30: I drift off to sleep.

10:45: I wake up.  I get on my laptop, still laying in my bed, I turn on the TV, and just do some browsing and research.  I am half in it and half out of it, zoning in and out.

11:45: Still on my laptop.

11:59: Another day over…