October 31, 2013..  Happy Halloween!! We are pleased with my new doctor. We met with him for 45 minutes today discussing what the plan is for the near future. We were also pleased with his nurse who spent at least an hour with us when the doctor was not in the room. We were at the hospital today for 4 hours. I am now scheduled to continue with the third round to collect stem cells. Dr. Zangari said there was no reason why I could not easily collect 20 million cells. I was really thankful to hear him say that I was stable compared to the previous tests 4 months ago. 

I get the ports installed tomorrow at 10am. That will allow the chemo to be pumped in as before and will also allow blood samples to be taken easily. I posted this illustration in the blog I did in our previous visit here but I will post it again showing the positioning of the port. 

 I will start on the chemo Saturday and it will continue for 4 days. The chemo is nicknamed VDT-PACE with each letter representing a drug that is in the mixture. As before, I will carry the pumps all the time during the 4 days and they pump continuously.

I want to thank each person who has said prayers for me during this because they work. I sincerely appreciate it. 

October 30, 2013.. I got the two MRI scans done today. It took 2 hours and 20 minutes to complete both of them. I was really glad to be able to finish with one of them. I was getting pretty uncomfortable by the time it was over.

I see my new doctor (Dr. Zangari) for the first time tomorrow to review my tests from this week and  to discuss his plans for me. As I said before, the doctor I have been seeing is leaving UAMS to practice in Boston. I have no idea what Dr. Zangari's philosophy and plans are for my future treatment.This makes me somewhat uneasy. I will find out tomorrow!

The weather service office is forecasting heavy rain for Little Rock for tomorrow. They are forecasting 4 to 6 inches of rain in some locations here. There is some color coming to some of the trees here, but there has not been a significant change yet.

October 29, 2013.. I went for the PET scan today. The whole process took about 2 hours after I got there. They inject radioactive glucose, wait about 45 minutes and then do the scan which takes up the remainder of the 2 hours. It is hard for me to lay still that long. Today I got an itch on my face and could not scratch it because I could not move. Nothing like having an itch you can't scratch. It was kind of funny now that I can look back on it.
Tomorrow, I have two MRI scans with the first one starting at 12:30. 
We have said so much about how much we like the apartment, I am including some photos of the apartment that Reta made with her Ipad. I would like to be posting some photos we have made around Little Rock but we have not been anywhere to make any yet. 

October 28, 2013.. I started tests today. I got the round of blood tests drawn first thing this morning and then got the bone marrow biopsy that I had been dreading. I am always glad when they have gotten the bone marrow finished. I don't like that at all. It goes pretty smoothly until they do what they call "the pull" during the procedure.
Tomorrow the only test I have is the PET scan. It is at 2:30. I will not be able to eat anything from now until after the test is finished.
I found out last week the doctor I have been seeing since we started coming here is leaving to practice in Boston. I wish she were not leaving. We both really liked her and had confidence in what she told us. I thought it would be best to start seeing the doctor I will likely be seeing in the future so I scheduled my doctor visit Thursday with Dr. Zangari.  

We made the drive again to UAMS on Saturday, October 26th, to Little Rock, Arkansas. The trip from home to Little Rock was uneventful except for two delays due to road construction. We arrived after dark and it was raining but we found our apartment without much trouble. We are staying in the same apartment complex as we did the last two times but this time, we are in a different apartment. The last two times we were here, we had a two-bedroom apartment but this time, we only have a single. It is nice and just what we need. We actually like this apartment more than the one we had when we were here before. It is also $140 cheaper per month than the one we had before. This apartment is one of 13 that are leased in an apartment complex by the Little Rock Church and they rent them to UAMS patients. This ministry is called "Home Away From Home". I am so thankful they do this and we were able to get one of the apartments again. I just don't know what we would have done if we had to stay in a hotel room for this extended period of time. When we arrived, they had a welcome note on the table along with two goody bags filled with different items we might need. One of the items was even handmade.There was also a casserole in the freezer, and today a group from the church delivered a container of homemade soup to each Home Away From Home apartment. One of the little girls in the group had made me a card that had a prayer on it. I am so thankful there are caring people like this in the world.

Our address this time is:

Northwest  Hills Apartments
11701 Mara Lynn Road
Apartment 228
Little Rock, AR 72211

If you would like to look at the blog when we were here earlier this year you can find it at:
http://randjinlittlerock.blogspot.com/