Never a dull moment!

Sorry for the long silence on our blog, but it's been nice not to have any leukemia news to report!

Kevin has continued on his maintenance protocol, with daily oral chemo and monthly IV chemo. Overall, he has handled it pretty well. He has no complaints of feeling ill or nauseous. The biggest problem is the chemo-related fatigue. Almost every day he needs to nap and a few days a week he spends the whole day in bed. The fatigue is unpredictable and frustrating for Kevin, because he otherwise feels pretty good. His last bone marrow biopsy at Johns Hopkins in May showed no leukemia, so the chemo seems to be doing it's job.

Because his fatigue has been so erratic, Kevin made the difficult decision not to return to work just yet. It had been his hope to return to work in mid-June, after a month on the maintenance regimen. But after much discussion, we both realized there was no way Kevin could be functional for 40+ hours a week, especially with his physically demanding job. Dr. Strair suggested that his body may adjust to the chemo after 4-6 months and he may gain more stamina. Kevin's going to revisit this issue with his employer in September, based on how he's feeling. In the meantime, Kevin does have days when he feels well enough to work out in our Christmas tree fields. He's been able to mow, spray, and tend to his trees, hoping to gain back some muscle strength and stamina. He tries to stay out of the soil, as there are real concerns about fungal infections because he's immuno-suppressed. I'm sure Dr. Strair would prefer he had a desk job, but there is an immense mental/emotional benefit for Kevin in doing something he loves. So we try to balance precaution with good mental health!

Now, in the never a dull moment category....

Two weeks ago Kevin had spent the better part of three days in bed, exhausted from the chemo. One early morning, while I was out exercising, he woke up feeling much better, had a wave of nostalgia come over him, and decided this would be the day he would try to ride his unicycle on our gravel driveway. The one he got for his 12th birthday. On his second attempt, he fell off, landed on his ankle and broke it in 3 places. Luckily, Drew was outside with him and was able to get him the phone to call me. After a trip to the ER and 3 visits to the orthopedic office (because we haven't spent enough time in medical offices this year!), Kevin had surgery to repair his ankle last Wednesday. Needless to say, he has provided comic relief to his doctors and nurses. It's the first time Dr. Strair has had a leukemia patient who broke his ankle riding a unicycle, go figure. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and blaming his questionable judgement on chemo brain.

So Kevin now has a plate and 5 screws in his ankle. He will be in a cast for at least 5 weeks and then off to physical therapy. Of course all this is complicated by his leukemia. Because he needed surgery, Dr. Strair pulled him from chemo for about 3 weeks. This makes me nervous, but we need to do all we can to prevent infection. Because of the leukemia, Kevin is also at a higher risk for deep vein thrombosis from being immobile, so I have to give him daily injections of a blood thinner until he is out of the cast. He returns to have the cast and stitches removed on Thursday (he'll be recasted). If all looks good, we are hoping he can restart chemo on Friday.

Hopefully, there's a lesson in all this: next time Kevin wakes up from a multiple day chemo stupor, he decides to shoot hoops instead!!

Here's the ankle in question and the 35 year old unicycle: