day at "home"

Today was Katrina's first day at home and we got up and on the freeway heading to our scheduled appointment at MD Anderson Cancer Clinic. Her first stop was for fast-track blood work, next we saw Dr. Kantarjian. He went over her meds, discontinuing one. He is trying to eliminate meds that she no longer needs and might be contributing to your stomach discomfort. He told her that her next hospital admission to begin Chemo Course 3 will be on April 19 if all her blood work counts are good. Next we went to the Injection Clinic where she got Neulasta which will stimulate the production of white blood cells. The shots she got after course 1 did the same thing but were given twice a day for 2 weeks- so we were happy to simplify life a bit with a one-time injection. It simplifies her life and mine:)
We got home around 3:00 and both took a nap then made some dinner. I am still unpacking from the hospital stay and getting a med schedule in order again. Katrina got a nice walk in outside this evening and is stronger without question. Tomorrow we have nothing on the agenda!! On Thursday we go back to the MD Anderson for the completion of her Course 2 chemo. She will get a Lumbar Puncture with injection of Cytarabine. Please pray it goes well. The last one when she started course 2 chemo was painful- so she will get something to relax this time around. She will also get, out-patient, one more IV of Rituximab which runs over 2 hours if all goes well. It did the start of course 2 so we expect to be able to have it run at the same rate. We go in the afternoon so we're not sure how long we'll be at the hospital. Then course 2 will be done! Thanks for all your prayers. It has gone as expected medically and we are so grateful!
I have to share a couple of stories of how sweet so many children have been in supporting and praying for Katrina. As you have seen on the blog, and maybe facebook pics, they are proudly wearing Yang's Gang t-shirts to school. She has gotten so many darling handmade cards with well wishes and prayers. Louis told us of some 2nd grade students at his school, Farney, who held a car wash this past weekend washing cars for $3 and raised $60.00. That is a lot of hard work to bless a teacher at their school whose wife is going through chemo. Her substitute works at a gymnastics club on the weekends and those students had a bake sale. A jr. high boy Katrina used to babysit crocheted a lovely hat and sent it to her. Children are a huge part of Louis and Katrina's lives as elementary teachers and they are so touched by generous spirit of children to do so much to help them through a hard time. I know these couple of recent stories will bring a smile to your face too. It brings tears to Katrina's eyes. Lori