March, 2000 Diary Entries

3-2-00: WHOA NELLIE, STOP THE TRANSPLANT COUNTDOWN! The word is Severe Chronic Sinusitis.  This means massive blockage and infection in sinus regions which antibiotics have no chance of destroying. So I go to get Roto-Rootered and as soon as the healing process is done it's right to the Transplant.  I think were looking at 4-6 weeks if not sooner depending on how the healing goes. This is really hard on my wife, Julie, she had her mindset and now everything is up in the air again.  For me it's just another part of my life but with an ironic twist. The fact that so many people know so little of one another and now with the site and diary being read by so many people about our journey here seems to bring a lot of people closer together more so than otherwise. I guess the way I see it is I have extra time now to do more with my family which is really becoming a closer group than what we were before. I also will have a chance to eat a couple more good dinners at home with my wife and children. The menu no matter what after the Transplant won't be the same. Dates and times for upcoming events will be posted as soon as I get them, I know tomorrow I go to give blood and get an EKG done also get History for Surgery, and sign Surgery Consent forms. It's funny to me how easy this is for me to accept, I've never questioned any of this, what the hell is wrong with me? Love you all and Thanks so Much for being Here!   Peace Greg

3-13-00:   Yes I know it's been awhile but with the computer virus and all, and with nothing going on between last time and the surgery there wasn't much to say and the weather was beautiful so, what the Hell! The sinus surgery is done and gone. Things went well. It's just unbelievable what they can put up your nose! The packing was taken out two days after the surgery and I'm told to rest and relax this week, keep the sinuses moist with Saline nose spray every two hours, and take Antibiotics 4 times daily.  This Saturday I will go to the Ear, Nose, and Throat doc again and be instructed on how to irrigate my sinuses and will find out why I need to do the irrigation process, along with how the healing is coming along. Transplant updates are rough as of now. Tentative dates:  last week in March, first week of April. I'm sure more information will start rolling in as the days go by. My thoughts at this time are the surgery was not only done for necessity alone, but also for whatever reason it just wasn't time yet for the transplant! So, I will take the extra time given to me to do as much as I can around the house, spend time with my wife and children and brothers and sisters and possibly do a crazy thing or two! My mental state of mind is great, it still bothers me that I go through this like it's just a part of my life that was meant to be and from it will come the why I had to take this route on my road in life. It's true how they say, everything is so much different when you see life and love the way it is meant to be! Yes this is a most interesting time in my life, one in where you see, feel, and hear differently than what you had in the past. With this I'll leave today, I've got chicken soup simmering and a house that needs attention.  Love and Peace to you all!

3-19-00:  Well here we are back at the good news, bad news station. Good news!- The sinuses are looking good, and I am now irrigating them twice a day, ten minutes at a time. The process is simple, a salt and baking soda solution along with water is squirted up the sinuses using a baby ball syringe, for those of you who have children you know exactly what we speak of! After the ten minutes of flushing the solution through the sinuses you are then to blow out all the loose debris that has broken up in your sinuses from the flushing. It's easy and simple and there is no pain! More good news, my birthday was Saturday, and I would like to thank everyone for their e-mail cards and wishes, along with those who still do it the old fashioned way and sent cards and wishes through the mail.  My brothers Tom and Gary, along with Julia, Gary's wife, treated Julie and myself to a birthday dinner at a fine dining establishment.  I got a single candle that was stuck into each course that was served to us. The candle would be lit and all would sing Happy Birthday! My wife Julie gave me a medal to wear--the Patron Saint of Cancer Victims, whom I didn't even know existed. The Saint is St. Peregrine, who is recognized as the patron saint, because a malignant cancerous growth on his leg was cured.  A surprise gift also came from my neighbor Chris, (Optional Helper), a nice Wisconsin Badger sport shirt.

O.K. Bad news! As I type this this I am running a fever and have pneumonia symptons.  I hit the hay right after we got home from the birthday dinner, and was running a fever of 101.9, YIKES I say! I slept on and off through the night, soaked the bed from night sweats, and feel like a wet noodle! I'm going to lay in bed the rest of the day, drink hot tea, and hopefully feel better tommorow.  I know that this is not a good situation to be in, and I'll be damned if I can figure it  out.  The only thing I can think of is that I was very active this past week, inside and outside the house, with the weather not being up to par.  Maybe I caught another bug, I don't know! I"m sure I'll know more on Monday, and will report on my status then. Love and Peace! Greg

03-24-00:  O.K. Back from another hospital stay! Word is some type of infection that went to the lungs causing pneumonia type symptoms, fever, cough, and just plain old sick as a dog shit! The stability of my immune system is becoming non-existent and Transplant needs to be gotten to soon! As soon as proper healing of the sinuses is complete, we are in. I felt the sense of urgencey thru my doctors voices yesterday as I went to have bloodwork done and my sinuses sucked out, boy was that a joy! Everybody is talking two weeks, but that is not in writing. I find myself now realizing I have little time to finish the one or two things I wanted done before I begin the Transplant to do! I will be finishing shelves for storage in the basement to keep things organized and off the floor, and also do a mailbox flower bed thing out in front of the house, along with finishing off the sump pump exit area so the water will spill out into the roadway and not stay puddled on the grassy area. I always work better when I have little time to do things, hence the nick-name from my sister-in-law, "Last Minute Man" . so with these words in the book I'm off to the world of last minute wonder jobs! Love and Peace to all and thanks so much for all the well wishes and prayers. Also to all you who keep my wife Julie together Thank You! She needs you all, she truly is going through shit, and I just pray she can keep herself together..

3-30-00: The countdown is back on!  As you can see, Julie added a contdown clock to the front page of the site along with some new pictures.  She is doing a wonderful job! I've been busy putting up the shelves in the basement, along with a new mailbox post, which turned out nice and only cost me a few bucks! My fear of the sump pump always running (due to the fact that for whatever reason, we are the only ones around here pumping out water on a regular basis) came to pass as it burned up Sunday evening at 6:00 p.m. What good timing I thought. At least now I could replace it with a better pump and feel better about that whole situation when I'm in the hospital. Thank you Lord for Menard's, as I "saved big money" as they like to say.  But it also saved me from waiting till the next morning before I could buy a replacement pump. So I went to get the pump a half hour before closing time and had it in by 8:00 p.m. I am still for some reason worried about a power outage and am still looking for a backup system for the pump.  It's going to be like a $275.00 investment, but for peace of mind, a good one. Well enough of that! The admittance day is in writing and is for the sixth of April, with the Transplant on the 12th of April, which is my son's ninth birthday.  How ironic this seems. We will soon be logging in on the diary on a daily basis and providing everyone with good firsthand information and education on the Bone Marrow Transplant Procedure. Yes, this will be through my eyes and probably through some of Julie's also, depending on how things go!  We've all been waiting a long time for this and now we're almost there.  So hang on everyone and get ready cause we're going to go on a Crazy Train and I'm going to be the Engineer! Love you all! Peace Greg