Day 16

Today I got some red blood cells, again, seems to be every other day of getting some blood product.   It helps my color and gives me a bit more breath when walking and talking.

I got a new dressing for my port today and a new needle - which I hate!  It is a one inch needle that goes into my chest, and because I am still swollen on my chest, it has always taken them at least two attempts to get it in.

Everything is still on schedule for Monday, still doing great with no fevers and no bleeding!!

Below is a great painting my son did of a rainbow for me yesterday.  I love it!

Wonderful rainbow painted by my son, Aaron.

Day 15

Today was a normal day.  I got some new platelets since my level was down to 11.  My white blood count seems to have bottomed out, which is good, because it can only go up now.

My plan is still to come home on Monday, barring anything new happening.  I am really excited about this but trying not to get my hopes up too high.  Not much changing these days, just getting the blood product as needed and continuing to get stronger each day.

Note, here is a cool link with 56 facts about blood and blood donation  Click Here

Day 13 & 14

Sorry for not posting yesterday.  I fell asleep after dinner and didn't have the energy to do it during the night.

The last two days have been good.  No fever, no bleeding!  These are my motto's I tell the nurses when they arrive on shift for me.  I don't accept any fevers or bleeding, which they love !

My white blood count seems to have leveled off at 0.4 so I'm hoping they will start the slow climb back up in the coming days.  I got new platelets Monday and new red blood cells Tuesday.  It is trending that every other day I get some sort of blood product.  Special thanks to Dina at Velocity for organizing the blood drive.  I makes me feel good to know that the blood I am using will be replaced into the system by my brave, and some scared, coworkers.

The nurses and doctors all keep saying how shocked they are on how well I am doing and they are even talking about maybe letting me go home one week early!  Praise God!
My nurse said she has never heard of anyone getting to go home that early.  Philippians 4:13
The nurses and doctors keep telling me that people have these waves where their body is up and down but I tell them I already hit my bottom so I only go up.  In sales, we never go backwards, so its the same for leukemia.
Everything needs to continue to go well during this week in order for this to happen.  Continue to pray for my bleeding to stop and no fevers.

One note, I can still have visitors now that I am neutropenic but please don't come if you are at all concerned that you are sick or have been around others that are sick.  I literally have no immune system, think HIV/AIDS if you need a reference.   It won't hurt my feelings if you have to reschedule a visit.

Finally, since I am done with my chemo for this round I can be disconnected from Wall-e for my daily "recess".  So I can walk without having to push around Wall-e and mess with all the lines connected to me.  That feels really good!

Day 12

Today they hung my last bag of chemo!!!   That doesn't really mean much they tell me, but it does to me.  Last night was good and today, no fevers and no bleeding.  I got new platelets so hopefully they last through a couple of days this time.  I am officially neutropenic today which is defined below from cancer.com

Neutropenia is an abnormally low level of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell. All white blood cells help the body fight infection. Neutrophils fight infection by destroying harmful bacteria and fungi (such as yeast) that invade the body. People who have neutropenia are at increased risk for developing serious infections because they do not have enough neutrophils to destroy harmful microorganisms that cause disease. Some degree of neutropenia occurs in about half of people with cancer who are receiving chemotherapy, and it is a common side effect in people with leukemia.

 I will likely get more red blood cells tomorrow which will help me feel better and be less out of breath.  They carry the oxygen in your blood so they are very important.  My white blood count which was so high when diagnosed is now almost zero at 0.6 thanks to the chemo.

My best friend from high school and college, Jerry, came to see me today.  It was great catching up with him.

Please continue to pray for no fevers and no bleeding.  The doctors keep telling me it will get worse, but I keep telling them "No, I will only go up from here".

Josh

Day 10 & 11

Saturday was a hard day.  I didn't sleep well at all because I had a fever and very uncomfortable.  My temp was around 101.5 and they gave me some medicine to take it down so I tried to go back to sleep.  About 3 minutes later, I almost passed out, started sweating like crazy, and was shacking.  I could barely call the nurse!  Three of them rushed in and took great care of me.  Nurses really are the ones that heal you.  The whole day my head hurt like a crazy hangover and it was difficult to walk.   They did a whole work up on me to ensure I don't have any viral or bacterial infections which came back negative.  I am now on antiviral and antibiotics continuously since I have had a fever. My spirits were down and the only thing I could do was look to Jesus to help me through.  I had no strength on my own.

Saturday night was much better. I rolled over to go to sleep around 9:30 and felt my shirt was wet so I touched it and it was blood coming from my port.  I was all down my chest and stomach so they came and cleaned me up and did my blood work at midnight instead of 4am so they could order platelets earlier.  This morning my wonderful nurse Holly cleaned it all up.  My platelets level was at 8, the normal human is 250-450 so I probably used all 8 of them to stop the bleeding.    Here is a picture by brother took before she cleaned it up.  WARNING, only click it if you want to see gross blood.  Link
My head felt much better today and my fever was very small so overall a much better day, even with the bleeding.  My perception on life is definitely changing!  :)  Each day I am praying for no more fever and no more bleeding!


My brother and sister-in-law and their son came down this weekend to give my parents a needed break from watching the kids and running around.  Thanks to them for their time and support!!

Funny note, the antiviral medicine I am on is Valtrex.  You know the STD one with all the commercials about herpes and with such happy people.  They said it is really good at getting other viruses and such but it makes me laugh each day when I take it.  

Day 9

Hello Everyone!  Another busy day at the Pucci hospital room.  I got two units of blood that helped me feel better!!  They did some more work on my port today so I figured I would educate everyone on what one is.  A week an a half ago, I had never heard of one!

From Wikipedia:

A port consists of a reservoir compartment (the portal) that has a silicone bubble for needle insertion (the septum), with an attached plastic tube (the catheter). The device is surgically inserted under the skin in the upper chest or in the arm and appears as a bump under the skin. It requires no special maintenance and is completely internal so swimming and bathing are not a problem. The catheter runs from the portal and is surgically inserted into a vein (usually the jugular vein, subclavian vein, or superior vena cava). Ideally, the catheter terminates in the superior vena cava, just upstream of the right atrium. This position allows infused agents to be spread throughout the body quickly and efficiently.

 So they can just hook up my meds and chemo every day to my port and it places it all directly into my vain above my heart.  They can also draw blood from it too, so I don't have to stuck so many times.  Today they had to change out my needle going into the port and clean up all the "oozing".  Three sticks later in my chest I am up and running again and with no "oozing".

What is in my chest

How it goes into my veins.  They entered my vein on my neck.

More

I was able to see Natalie and Aaron at the hospital chapel.  They came separately which was great so I could spend alone time with them.  It is amazing how much they have grown in just a week and a half.   One more picture below to symbolize how the Lord always has, currently is, and will forever be my strength.

Day 8

I started day 3 of my Chemo and 1 week in the hospital today.  It was a very busy day because my port into my artery was "oozing" blood since my blood doesn't have much left in it.  They cleaned me up well and gave me some platelets this afternoon to try and give me more blood clotting power.

My parent were able to come see me today which was great to see them again.
Lots of love from my Velocity family, with meals, visits, and cleaning house and such.  The outpouring of love is amazing!  You guys rock!

Special thanks to Dina!  She gave my kids a rocking day at her house. This is priceless for a Daddy missing his angels.  

Natalie with her cupcakes at Dina's

Aaron showing off his painting

It was a hard day today emotionally, thinking about the kids
Tomorrow is another day.  God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow and he will give me what I need for each day.

Day 7

My Oncologist gave me a great analogy for Leukemia so I figured I would do best to try and explain it here along with pictures. .

The normal bone marrow is like a healthy garden, full of all sorts of vegetables and making lots of different types of fruits like red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, Neutrophils, and many other cells our bodies need.

Healthy bone marrow garden with a happy lady

Lots of healthy cells from the bone marrow

Then with Leukemia your bone marrow plants lots and lots of weeds which is the white blood cells that are mutated.  So the body cannot make enough of all the other cells it needs because all it is doing it pumping out messed up white blood cells.

Bone marrow making only white blood cells (but bad ones) and a happy Leukemia lady

The Chemotherapy will destroy the garden killing everything, all the good health plants and the bad weeds.  After they do this they want my garden to come back by itself to make a healthy garden.  They will kill the entire garden a few times to ensure there are no weeds anywhere that could grow again.

Bone Marrow after Chemo.  Nothing there but ready to grow

They will do a bone marrow biopsy at the end of the Chemo see look directly into the garden and see what is growing.  Hopefully this helps to illustrate the situation better. It has helped me understand all these crazy terms.

Quick update:

• Yesterday I gained 4 lbs!!  Crazy huh?  That is from the Chemo and all the liquids they are pumping into me 24 hours a day.  
• I will get two bags of blood today because I am very anemic since my red blood count is half what it should be for a male.  This should make me feel better.  Interesting to note, they had to kill all the white blood cells in the donor blood because I don't need anymore than I have.  Like killing all the weeds in the neighbors dirt before putting it in your garden.  Donating blood is so important!  Without it, I would be dead.  
• My white blood count is dropping, as it should because of the Chemo.  
• Platelets are dropping too, so in a few days I will get some fresh ones.   
• I feel ok, tired.  Taking lots of naps and walking as much as I can.  

Day 6 update

Spooky night time Wall-e

I am watching you Josh....

Day 6

I am copying my wife's post from Facebook, she did such a good job so I don't need to do it twice!! 

My wife is amazing!!  I love her more and more each day.  

More good news! We talked with the transplant doctor today. He was very knowledgeable and gave us the most information we have received thus far. I took 3 pages of notes! So to give you the short version:
He said this is the best kind of leukemia to have. They have know about this specific type since the 70's and are still treating it the same way today as they did back then meaning that it responds to treatment well. Josh will be on chemo 24 hours a day for the next 7 days. After that, they watch for infection, do blood transfusions if necessary, etc. Day 14 they will do another bone marrow biopsy. If it comes back clean, he will be in remission. A few weeks after that, he will have consolidation which is basically another week in the hospital where they do four 30min rounds of very strong chemo over a 7 day period. If after that, he comes back clean, he will be cured! There is always a chance of relapse, and if that were to happen, that is when a bone marrow transplant would be done. But we are praying against that in the name of Jesus and say he will be cured after the induction phase. If and when he stays relapse free for 2 years, he is cured for life and the leukemia should not come back. And I asked again if we needed to worry about the kids and he said no this is not genetic, it is basically a case of bad luck.So prayer requests:
*He is having a blood transfusion tomorrow, so pray that goes well.
*There is one mutation that they are still testing for called the ckit mutation. We do NOT want this. We should know that in the next 2 to 3 days.
*That his treatment is by the book and he is leukemia free on day 14 and cured after the consolidation phase and this nasty disease will be gone forever!
*That the side effects of chemo will not be bad.
THANK YOU again for all the prayers,love, and support! It has been such a blessing and makes this situation much more bearable.

My Friend Wall-e.  He goes everywhere with me.  He loves me.  

Day 5

Wow, what a busy day .

• Last night I had a chest X-RAY - All clear
• They did a Sonogram on my heart - All clear
• This morning my WBC rose to 79.2 and my platelets dropped to 36.  HGB was low at 8.7
• Because of the low platelets they gave me some platelets that had been donated so I could have my surgery and not bleed out.  You never realize how important blood donation is until you need it yourself!  
• I had my port put in and I came out of that surgery just fine..  I have sore neck where they cut into my vain and a sore chest but otherwise I am very happy to have this new easy way to give me my medicine and take my blood.  It looks like I was in the gang fight up in Waco!  
• Then the oncologist came by and told us they really good news that I have M2 8 21 AML.  He said if you were to put a line down the middle of Leukemia, with one half being the bad kind and the other half being the good kind, mine is on the good side.  Thank you Jesus!
• He conferred  with MD Anderson in Houston, and the University of Washington in Seattle and they both did not have any investigatory drug for this subset or anything fancy they would do for the first "introduction" phase of the Chemo.  There are many phases and right now I am just starting my first.
• So based upon that for the next 3-4 weeks we will be staying in Austin.  
• If I need a bone marrow transplant I will move to MD Anderson in Houston for that.  
• I start Chemo at 10am tomorrow and will have it given to me at 10am and 10pm every day for one week, until next Tuesday. 
• Special thanks for all my family and friends for the help with the kids, food, transportation, and for making me feel loved more than I deserve!  

Hearing an Oncologist say, I have good news.  Is a great thing to hear!  

Josh

Day 4

Another fun day today and more good news: My WBC went down today!  This can happen and could go up tomorrow but everyday it goes down is better than it going up.

Tomorrow is a big day, I will get my port and all the details of how the next weeks will look.  I am excited to get started.  Platelets are low so I am praying they bounce back up before tomorrows procedure.

Asia and Europe Help - my blood is drawn around 4am CST so a prayer for me around this time would be great.  All of you will be up or ending your work days around this time.  I appreciate the help!  

My mother and father in law, David and Gina.  Such a big help with the kids and at the house with McKenna.  Thanks for all your help!!

Day 3

Great News!  Today I found out the coffee in the break room is better than at Velocity!   This is a big deal!  

Today was a fun day with my family.  My brother Tony and his family came for awhile and took care of the kids for the whole day.  My parents and McKenna's parents are both here and that is such a blessing to have them near by.  

My white blood count continues to rise but steadily and it has not jumped any of the days I have been in the hospital.  My platelets are steady as well so we need to keep them above 50 to avoid a blood transfusion on Monday.  

After Monday is done I will have a much clearer picture of the weeks to come and will be able to take visitors more easily.  

Aaron, Taren, Natalie (getting me good), Gianna

Day 2

Today I found out they draw blood at 4am everyday!  They are obviously liberals! :)
I had a bone biopsy this morning taken from my hip bone.  Immediate results confirmed AML but it will take a few more days to determine the subtype.

So for the next two days I will be hanging out in the hospital , eating as much food as possible, and having fun before the work starts on Monday.

On Monday they will do an operation to insert a port into my chest do they can give me the chemo directly into my articular veins.  By Monday they will have the full results of the biopsy and from there they can make a decision on the path forward.

The outpouring of love has been unimaginable and I am truly blessed to have such great family and friends!

View of downtown Austin from my room  

Josh

Day 1

Today I was diagnosed with AML Leukemia.

• On Monday I went to get my eyes checked and get a new glasses.  
• During the retina exam, my optometrist noticed a Roth Spot so he encouraged me to see my GP  ASAP.
• My GP doctor did great job and ran many blood tests and ultimately referred me to an Oncologist.
• I saw the oncologist immediately on Thursday and she admitted me to the hospital in south Austin.  

Those are the facts.  Facts only tell part of a story- I am strong, loved by my family and friends around the world, generally healthy, and most of all - I have a God stronger than Leukemia and in the business of healing.  

Stay with me during these next weeks as I will update everyday on my victory over Leukemia.

Josh