Kurt's Home

Kurt was released this afternoon to our surprise!  He had Aurelio's Pizza for dinner and is looking forward to Super Bowl Sunday.  Who's playing anyway?   He's thrilled to be sleeping in his own bed...Lucy, our dog, isn't as excited since she had much more room to stretch out!  I should have stock in Clorox.  I have wipes positioned around the whole house for every door knob and handle--back to that routine.

Wish him well and keep the prayers going for a healthy year.  As of now he is in remission with new cells in his body.  Thanks for your love and support. - jani

Good News/Bad News

Good news as of 30 seconds ago, Kurt's blood counts jumped up drastically, and they are talking about sending him home tomorrow!  That should be interesting.  He is very loopy and has chemo brain. Bad news, I have to reclean my house this week--germ factor--not on my top 500 favorite things to do in my life.

Kurt's latest

Well, it's been a long five days since Kurt received the stem cells at 10pm on Wed. nite. Since then he has been very nauseous with bad headaches. Yesterday he actually ate three meals and went for a walk up and down the hall. However, today he is back to square one, sleeping, headaches and feeling awful. This process can last several more days. The stem cells are currently setting up shop in his bone marrow.  

It's been a long day--I hardly remember typing the last paragraph this morning, half asleep. 

-jani

Waiting for Stem Cells

It's Wednesday nite, and we are patiently waiting for Kurt's stem cells to fly in from some unknown location. This procedure will be painless, a bag o' stem cells goes into his tube in his chest, then the stem cells "know where to go." Fascinating. Over the next week, they will monitor him to make sure his body is accepting them.

In the meantime I am drawing and painting notecards in his room and typing on the University of Chicago's family computer in his room--an added bonus when your bill is over $100,000.

Thank you Jane and Richard for commissioning me to do the paintings. They look nice on the blog, don't they?

To my artistic friends, keep on painting, writing, drawing, singing, throwing, shooting photos...creativity infuses happiness in our hearts, which we then share with those around us either through our artwork or in our spirit. Inspire. xxoo

The latest

It was a very long day. Kurt was admitted today, the hickman line (a line with 3 valves for transfusion, administers meds etc. in his chest connecting to an artery--I think) put in and we met with the transplant nurses. He starts chemo and campo?(a drug to attack Tcells) tomorrow for a week. He will have his transplant on the 21st--one bag o' stem cells that goes directly into his hickman line. It will be painless and should take over a half hour. The remaining couple weeks will be tedious waiting to see if his body accepts the stem cells from a very generous, unknown donor. We hope to find out a year from now, who it is. They won't tell us now.

I felt like I was with a celebrity when we walked on the oncology floor. All his women were popping their heads in to welcome him back. I even coerced friendly, cute Mark, the nurse to wheel him back to his room instead of "transport." Transport isn't one of U of C's strong points. It could take an hour before someone will come to wheel you somewhere. I've learned to take matters into my own hands-- when no one is looking, move quickly. Kurt's room is much larger that the last few times, which will be great when I show up with a drop cloth, paints and my canvases!

I met with Sherry at SPEX Eyewear this evening to talk about my art show hosted at their store in Hinsdale. I am scheduled for Friday, April 27th from 5:30-8:00. Please mark your calendars. I'm looking for musicians to play in the background if anyone would like to give that a shot, let me know!

Thank you to all my sanity savers--Will Wolz for snowblowing at 5 a.m. this morning AGAIN, all the ladies who have cooked for us and my bro, Joe "Uncle Buck" who will be in charge of my kids this weekend to give me some hours of hanging with the high school friends and getting some rest. And thanks to Kurt's parents for hanging with Kurt.

We have a new addition to our family that lives in the garage. It's a giant snowblower that could eat small children and animals. I can use to to clear Dominick's parking lot if I need to. It has gears and wheels the size of bike tires. I use to run up and down the drive waywith the old one--not now. It wants to spend quality time with me and go very, very slow, especially in reverse. It says, Jani, take your time--you shouldn't be dragging a 75 lb. snowblower up the driveway. Let me do the work very slowly."

Wanted: Getaway weekend

I'm feeling a getaway coming soon...Chez Carla's where I can paint, have some peace, and it's just a hop and a skip from U of C to visit Kurt--he's being admitted on Tuesday, January 13th for the stem cell transplant process.

On the artistic front, I am scheduled to have a showing in April at SPEX Eyewear in Hinsdale. Their shows are called Art and Vision. They sponsor the show, invite clients, serve wine and appetizers and display the artwork! That makes me happy!

Song of the week: Rehab by Rihanna

TTFN, jani