Monday April 13

Happy to say the past few days have been quiet. Luke's initial bounce back from chemo was pretty quick. He is happy to report that he's had no pain meds for 48 hours. He has clinic on Wednesday and will get labs drawn to see where his blood counts are then he starts another round of chemo.

On Sunday Luke felt well enough to participate in the first annual asshat ugly Easter egg contest. Winning entries will be posted on the blog soon.

Kendall left on Friday and Beth assumed responsibility for Luke. Beth returns to SF mid week when full responsibility for Luke will be turned over to the 'rents.

Alex Anderson stopped by today for a quick visit. That's all the news for now. We see how the rest of the week goes.

Blood donation

Hi all-

So we are sooo excited and have had an overwhelming response to Luke's blood drive and may even extend the hours so let me know soon if you want to donate so I can let MD Anderson know if we need more time! I am attaching a link below that gives you info on blood and platelet donation through MD Anderson so you know whether or not you can donate. Also, here is the address of the facility

Lakewood Forest Residents Club
15006 Lakewood Forest Dr.
Houston, Texas 77070

http://www.mdanderson.org/departments/bloodbank/dIndex.cfm?pn=4499E730-38C1-4154-AE022E7734DF9264

E-mail or call if you guys have any other questions.

Just a quick update on Luke:
Got all of his chemo last night and this morning and is feeling pretty crummy right now. Had been nauseous and been throwing up all morning but was able to get some IV Benadryl which seems to help him more than the anti-nausea meds. He was able to lay down for his MRI which took about 45 minutes. He then slept all the way home and went straight to bed. We have been giving him sips of fluids and keeping up with the meds to stay on top of the stomach yuckies!

Please continue to keep him in your prayers, this phase is literally a PAIN IN THE ASS and creates only pockets of time where he feels ok.
Updates soon
Kendall

MAY 30TH 2009

Hey guys...on Saturday, May 30th from 8am to 2pm we are going to be hosting a blood drive at Lakewood Forest Residents club for Luke and MD Anderson. Last year alone MD Anderson had to use 121,000 packs of platelets for their patients. They need our help to stock the blood bank!

We will be giving away shirts and doing raffle entries for some pretty sweet prizes for those that donate blood or platelets. For those that cannot donate we will be selling shirts and raffle tickets and all the money will go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! I would love for you all to come out and support Luke even if you cannot donate so here is what i need...anyone that is interested in donating needs to contact me at my number or e-mail address below so I can get an idea of how many people will be donating...the more the merrier!!! Also, when you send me an e-mail or talk to me let me know what time you would like to donate so I can put you in a slot, pretty much every 15 minutes someone can donate (give or take). Their will also be opportunities for a few people to donate platelets, these are much needed in cancer patients because they help the blood clot so without them a patient can lose a lot of blood, the problem is it takes about 1.5 hours to donate so if you have the time to do it we would love to have you and we will be giving you extra raffle tickets if you decide to donate platelets!

You have no idea how much giving blood can help people so please come out, get a shirt, and maybe win a cool prize and support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! Luke will also be there and maybe we can convince him to sing a bit if he feels well enough!

Talk to you all soon
Kendall Novick
kendallnovick@gmail.com
720-841-7759

PORT!!!

I got into town yesterday and Luke got his port today and was admitted afterward to start his chemo. His port is "accessed" and working well he is having a bit of shoulder pain on the side where he got his port and a little headache but other than that he is doing well.

He starts another round of the "tough stuff" tonight so this time next week his counts should be way down and he may need another round of blood. He is literally bored out of his mind so if anyone has any amazing ideas on how to keep him occupied please let us know :)

He is being a trooper but is bothered by every beep of the IV pumps and monitors! We just got to his room for the night so are settling in for some good sleep (yeah right!) and chemo. We will just have one dose of chemo and an MRI tomorrow (to take a good look at his head since his headaches have been so bad) and then should be heading home as long as he is doing well!

Will be in touch
Love ya'll
Kendall

Sunday April 5

So far the weekend has been uneventful. Luke was back at MDA on Friday for an appointment with the neurologist and to have some lab tests. He will likely have an MRI done to get to the bottom of his headaches.

Our hearts skipped more than just a few beats when the labs taken before his discharge on Thursday showed 1% blast cells. The doctors have assured us it was normal as his bone marrow is working overtime to produce blood cells. We smiled again on Friday when labs came back with 0% blasts.

We're enjoying the sunny and cool weather by taking walks Saturday and Sunday evening. Right now Luke is scheduled to be at MDA Monday for an anesthesiology assessment prior to having a port put in on Tuesday (this will make it easier for lab draws as well as chemo....basically he won't have the line in his arm). Wednesday he has clinic and starts chemo once again.

Fighting boredom and no appetite. If anyone has a cure for either let us know.

LUKE IS COMING HOME!!!!!

Update from Spa MDA

Family and friends here is the latest on Luke: The neurologist came by for a visit this morning, his initial professional opinion was Luke's brain was off and slightly twisted about the center cortex (since we knew that already we were prudent and asked for a second opinion). In reality, Luke was likely experiencing migraine headaches caused by either chemo, his lumbar punctures, dilated blood vessels in his head or a combination of all three.

They are now trying different meds for his headaches and are cutting back on his morphine. Reducing the morphine has greatly improved his level of consciousness, Luke was on a pretty high dose Monday and Tuesday and was, when in a subconscious state (i.e. asleep), expressing some rather unique philosophies about any one of a number of topics. In addition his sleep-talking/ranting subsiding, his headache issues are starting to get under control.

Today Luke received his latest IV dose of vincristine. He will go ahead with his interthecal (LP) dose of methotrexate tomorrow. To reduce the chance of another round of headaches, assuming they are related to the LPs, they will monitor the pressure in his spinal column when they inject and will have some of his blood injected around the site of the LP puncture (called a blood patch) to prevent spinal fluid from leaking out and causing an imbalance of pressure upstairs. He won't get the blood patch until Friday so, it looks like he will be extending his stay at Spa MDA until at least Saturday. This visit to the Spa we got to meet the dimpled, world renowned 9th floor nurse Yvonne! We will miss her!

Luke's appetite is getting better (adjacent picture is some of Wednesdays lunch) and with the morphine reduced he has greatly extended his waking hours. One curious fact about the chemo Luke is receiving is he now has no reflexes in his knees and ankles. You can take as big of hammer as you want and if you give his knee a rap there is no response. We believe that his response to other stimuli is also being impacted by his chemo as he is having a difficult time responding when there is a request for silence. Father Bravo stopped by Monday but missed Luke as Luke was out getting his CT. Thought he would get back on see Luke today.