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Tina's Journal
Well, I probably had a September 11th like every other American-a very strange day, indeed. The day the U.S. shut down. My main concern that day was that my husband, who has quite a bit of knowledge of the Middle East and who is also a gunner in the Air Force, would be sent over there some time soon. I was not incorrect in my fears. 2 weeks after the attack, my husband was sent away. That, in and of itself, was a bad time. Little did we know what was coming...
October 25, 2001 – I have heard from
Greg a little here and a little there. I
might get a brief phone call or e-mail but, as a military wife, I am used to that. Today he called me at work to tell me that the doctor
over where he was living was sending him home because he had some bruising on his legs. “Don’t worry”, he kept telling me. “I’m working on getting home within 72
hours.” Since he was supposed to be home
“soon”, I decided to take the next day off work to clean so that when he did get home
I could spend the weekend with him.
October 26, 2001 – I had made plans for tonight to go to a Niceville High School football game, (which they won, by the way). By the time I got home, there were 4 messages on our answering machine and two were from Greg. Thank God he called me back. He has been transported from wherever he was to a hospital. The doctors where he is now are saying that, from the blood tests, it looks like he has Leukemia. I was to call the Med Group Commander here and tell him what was going on. When I heard the word “Leukemia”, I won’t say that I was fine but I didn’t cry until I actually said the word “Leukemia”. I am still expecting Greg home within the next couple of days.
October 28, 2001 – It doesn’t look like Greg will be home this weekend, or any time soon for that matter. He definitely has Leukemia and they are working on getting him to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington D.C. for testing as soon as they can. My plan now is to get to work and get everything caught up so that when he comes home I can take some time off.
October 29, 2001 – Boy, am I out of the “know” on all of this cancer stuff. The guys that work with Greg are working vigorously to get me out of here and on to Washington to be with Greg because he will, apparently, be there for a while. I will be leaving here tomorrow morning -- so much for catching up on work. I’ve got to go finish packing now.
October 30, 2001 – I do have to say that with all of this that is going on in our lives, I was not the least bit anxious about the airline situation or flying to Washington D.C. When I got to Atlanta the gate for my Washington flight was blocked off and they checked our I.D.’s and tickets before we even entered the gate then again when we got on the plane. I cried, almost, the whole way to Reagan National but I was trying to get it all out so that I could be strong later on when I needed to be. I got to the TLF on the Army Post, dropped off my stuff in the room, and went to the hospital. I’m ashamed to say that I totally lost it when I saw Greg. Not that he looked bad but it’s all just so unbelievable.
November 1, 2001 – I spent Tuesday night at the hospital with Greg and he got to come over to the TLF with me last night. Boy, was yesterday Halloween already? This is so very overwhelming to all of us but the shock and bouts of crying have become less frequent. Greg should be starting chemo tomorrow and his family should be here within the next couple of days. His brothers have both been to their doctors to get tested for bone marrow compatibility.
November 2, 2001 – Greg started chemo this afternoon. He is, basically, surgically attached to his IV pole for at least the next month. His family got here today and I lost it a little when I hugged his mother. It is nice not being the only one at the hotel anymore.
November 3, 2001 – Chemo is wearing Greg down a little bit. I’m beginning to feel a little cold coming on which is NOT good because when Greg is neutropenic, he can’t have me around if I am sick.
November 5, 2001 – Greg’s family got their blood taken today for HLA testing. His brothers already got their doctors to do it but, apparently, all labs do the testing differently and since they are here it’s just best to go ahead and do it here. It will be very interesting to find out if Greg has a match in either of his brothers. We, also, all got to meet with the doctors so that Greg’s family could ask any questions that they may have.
November 6, 2001 – Greg’s oldest brother and his wife are leaving today and they are leaving their daughter here with “Grammy and Gramps”. She should be a good distraction while we are away from the hospital.
November 7, 2001 – Greg’s youngest brother and his new wife are leaving today to get back to work. Everyone had extended tickets thinking that Greg had a bad prognosis but after talking to the doctors we are all pretty confident that Greg is going to be fine. Most of the doctors just wanted Greg’s family to be here to see him before he starts looking rough.
November 8, 2001 – We leave the army post almost every day and with the traffic here a quick trip to the grocery store could take 3 hours. These people here drive so crazy…worse than anything I’ve ever seen. We saw a woman who had just hit a small bushy tree in the median. First of all, with all of these crazy drivers here, what’s a tree doing in the median? Second of all, how in the heck did she jump the curb and hit tree in the median. Must have been her unlucky day because there was only, like, one tree within a 5-block radius of the tree that she hit and that was where her car jumped the curb. Go figure.
November 11, 2001 – I am definitely getting a cold.
November 12, 2001 – Well, today’s Greg’s 30th birthday and he has been sick as a dog, all day long. He wasn’t looking forward to turning 30 anyway.
November 13, 2001 – Greg’s old boss who is stationed at the Pentagon came by to see him today. Greg wasn’t feeling good and I was laid up in bed with a cold. Funny thing about Jim coming by to visit, he was supposed to be retiring soon and we were supposed to be coming up here for his retirement ceremony. Well, we’re here but Jim’s not retiring and we wouldn’t be able to go if he were. Hopefully we will be able to make it up here when and if he does ever get to retire and we will all be healthy.
November 17, 2001 – Greg’s parents left this morning. It was a pretty sad departure because, first of all we thought that Greg would be on the upswing before they left and he isn’t and secondly, I’m here all alone now. Hopefully everything will start going good with Greg and we will both be able to leave soon.
November 22, 2001 – Well, today is Thanksgiving and they had a big dinner in the cafeteria at the hospital. It was nice and there were a LOT of people. They wheeled a TV with a VCR into Greg’s room so we watched a movie. Unfortunately, Greg wasn’t feeling good enough to leave his room to go the cafeteria. I am supposed to leave in a week but I don’t think that Greg’s counts are going to come up enough for me to leave. I’m not leaving until he has had his next Bone Marrow Biopsy AND the results come back because they will tell us whether or not he is in remission. Since I wasn’t able to be there when he was told that he had Leukemia, I definitely want to be here if they tell him that he is not in remission.
November 24, 2001 – My aunt and uncle from New York were able to come down for a few days during Thanksgiving Break. It's nice to have a reason (and means) to get downtown to do a little sightseeing. Here is one of the pictures that we took of me, my aunt, and my cousin at the Lincoln Memorial.
November 26, 2001 – Well, I changed my ticket from Thursday to Sunday. I have found that I have something to look forward to every day. If I am home by 6, I can eat my dinner while watching Buffy. I know that it’s crazy but with all of this uncertainty and craziness, it’s nice to have something to look forward to and lose myself in every day. I am just too corny.
December 3, 2001 – Greg’s counts still aren’t rising but we have faith that they will come up eventually. It seems like I’ve been here waiting for his counts to rise FOREVER. There are so many people out there who are waiting, along with us, for the counts to come up. I can't believe how much support we have. Every time I turn around I'm adding another e-mail address to the "update list". You just never know how many people out there are truly on your side until something like this happens but it HAS to get better, right? So far the hardest thing about all of this has been the not knowing and not being able to make any short-term plans, let alone long-term plans. There are very few people that can anticipate all of the stuff that you have to go through when dealing with this type of thing. The only way that anyone could know what to do and how to feel is if they’ve gone through it before. It’s a definite life’s experience. Up and down, up and down…
December 4, 2001 – I called Carolyn this afternoon to make me laugh. She can always make me not just laugh but cry laughing and I needed that right now. It’ll be nice to see her again.
December 6, 2001 – Christmas is right around the corner and I just can’t seem to get into the spirit. I could, if I had the motivation, start some on-line Christmas shopping but my heart just isn’t in it. They are selling Christmas cards at the shoppette but I don’t think that I would touch them once I bought them. This is usually my busiest time of the year with all of the Christmas crafting that I do and I think that in 6 months my brain will miss the fact that I missed out my Christmas crafts. I will just have to start crafting for next Christmas early.
December 7, 2001 – Greg’s numbers are finally good enough to do a biopsy today and we are all so excited. This is what we’ve been waiting for. They are allowing me to go in there with him and videotape the whole thing. Cool!!
December 9, 2001 – Christy came over to see Greg today and she took me to Taco Bell for Greg. He’s still having trouble eating but the Taco Bell helped. The doctors aren't real picky about what he eats He’s doing better other than that.
December 12, 2001 – Greg is so bummed that I’m leaving before him. I feel bad but I’m leaving on Thursday and won’t get home until Thursday evening. He should be home on Sunday some time so I will have time to get home and clean a little. We haven’t been in our house in the last 45 days; I can just imagine what it looks like.
December 13, 2001 – I’M HOME!!!
December 16, 2001 – GREG’S HOME!!!
December 19, 2001 – We are leaving today to spend Christmas week in Biloxi. Greg will be able to meet his doctors and we will all be able to give some of our money to the casinos.
January 1, 2002 – We are leaving today for Biloxi, again. Greg has a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning, first thing.
January 2, 2002 – Greg was admitted today and his next round of chemo will start tonight. I have begun working on the web site.
January 7, 2002 – Greg is done with chemo today and will be released from the hospital for the time being and as long as he remains well with no fevers, etc., he will get to stay “released”.
January 11, 2002 – YEA!!! I finally got the web site uploaded today. I’m very excited about that. There's nothing new with Greg. He’s still feeling almost totally normal.
January 22, 2002 – Well, we are going home today, believe it or not. Greg had few, if any, side effects. There were some minor aches, pains, fatigue, etc. but that might have just been from getting old (lol) and not from the chemo.
January 25, 2002 – I have spent the last couple of days getting household things in order. I will be going back to work on Monday, January 28, and Greg starts his next round of chemo February 4. He wasn’t originally supposed to start until February 11 but his doctor was VERY happy with his counts today so he gets to start early which means that he should be done with all of this early.
February 4, 2002 – Phew!!! What a weekend. Greg left yesterday so now we're all alone -- him in Biloxi and me in Florida. He had me boo-hooing a bit yesterday when he left but I think I'm better now. I'm just really getting scared now. After the consolidation chemo, he will have to go have his blood tested about once a month and those tests will be the biggies to make sure that he stays in remission. I have confidence, especially since the chemo isn't affecting him like it does most people but there's that little bit of fear that gives me a knot in my stomach every time I think about it. I've just been keeping myself busy with Microsoft stuff. I can definitely waste a whole day with my computer. Oh, yeah, we received a gift last Tuesday. It was from Christy from the Marrow Foundation (yet another gift from her). It was a 2002 1/24 scale, new paint scheme, AUTOGRAPHED, Jeff Gordon car. It is way too cool. I'll have to take a picture.
February 6, 2002 – Well, I had a doctor's appointment today and asked if they could draw some blood for a CBC test, just out of curiosity. I can't wait to get the results back.
February 8, 2002 – There was a message on our answering machine yesterday from the hospital. My lab results came back and, apparently, I have high cholesterol. I will have to go in to see just how high so I made an appointment for next week. I called Greg today after work to talk to him before he went to the hospital for his last 2 infusions of chemo for this round. He's doing good. We are just missing each other, but that's normal for us. I didn't write anything in the journal yesterday because I was busy working on another web site (curious? Check it out -- Click here). I am really enjoying all this web site stuff but it can sure keep you busy.
February 11, 2002 – Ooh, Monday, I'm so glad it's over. When I got to work this morning I actually thought about the fact that today was the day that Greg was supposed to start his chemo. I am so thankful that he got to start early and is already done with it.
February 15, 2002 – It's finally Friday. I went to my doctor's appointment yesterday and my cholesterol really is high (I'm embarrassed at the number). They were able to retake my blood today so I will know for sure if my numbers were totally accurate. I'm now spending my free time planning my new diet. There was a message on the answering machine for me to make an appointment with a nutritionist. I've got to go call Greg now. I'll try to write more later.
February 18, 2002 – Well today is President's Day Monday. I've been eating my no/low cholesterol food all weekend and walking on the treadmill every day to try and raise my HDL. I have been researching cholesterol, metabolism, etc. but I need to find out what percentage of cholesterol and saturated fat I can have based on the amount of food I normally eat. I will find out tomorrow what my new numbers are and when I can take the test again. I may have no choice but to start taking the pills because we are thinking that it may be genetic since it is so high. Hopefully the numbers from the second test will be low enough that I'm not too embarrassed to share.
February 22, 2002 – Other than the fact that my cholesterol is high and I've had to start watching my diet real close, everything is good. Greg is home and doing good. He didn't have to get counts read today, he's giving himself his antibiotics, AND it's Friday. It almost couldn't be better? We are doing good and Greg won't have to deal with chemo again until Monday, March 4. I have to go to a diet and nutrition class on Wednesday which should be interesting.
March 5, 2002 – Well, it's been a little time since I've written. I've been really good on my new low cholesterol diet. I have another appointment coming up. It's a one-on-one with the dietician which should be very interesting. I can't wait to get my cholesterol rechecked. I'm anxious to see if what I've been doing is working. Greg left yesterday and has been doing really good so far. I talked to him today and he sounded really good on the phone.
March 14, 2002 – I will be leaving for Biloxi tomorrow morning to be with Greg and I can't wait. He should only have to be there for another week. He is still sounding upbeat but he is very bored. I have been doing pretty good on my new diet. I will bring my "new" food with me. I have been watching EVERYTHING very closely (daily intakes (calories, carbs, cholesterol, total fat, sat. fat, etc.), weight, exercise amount, etc.) and I hope to have this whole thing figured out very soon. I have had to do a little research on something other than leukemia. While Greg is writing his Leukemia book, I will be busy with my cholesterol-lowering book:)
March 17, 2002 – Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone out there. I am now in Biloxi with Greg and we are both relieved that I am here. Days are going by a little quicker for him and he's stopped going quite so stir-crazy. He's still doing good; no infections, no fevers. I am still keeping to my diet-dinner tonight is mahi-mahi with steamed veggies-and I walked about 2 miles today. I was afraid that being here would unmotivate me but I'm forcing myself to get out and walk. Greg found out this morning that Lt Col Tatum had an abnormal biopsy last week and will be back in Biloxi tomorrow to start chemo again. I want them to know that their family has been and will continue to be in our thoughts and prayers.
April 8, 2002 – Well, I've been getting pressure to write in my journal since I haven't written in a while. I am doing fine. My cholesterol is much lower (but still high). I can't believe all of this chemo is almost over, it is so refreshing to be able to finally see the light. I hope that this is one chapter we will be able to close the book on and never open again. We will have to sit back, when all of this is over, and breathe...Phew!! Greg got to come home this last weekend. It was nice and good to see him but he had a bit of a stomach ache. Things like that are very hard for me because there's ABSOLUTELY nothing that I can do for him. We have a meeting Tuesday evening at work and, after that, I'm off heading off to Mississippi for, hopefully, the last time.
April 15, 2002 – We are so, so close now. Greg's bone pains are the first good sign that the end is truly near. We are looking so forward to getting back to normal. We have just recently been discussing moving into a new house which is very exciting. Kind of like starting over in a new environment.
April 16, 2002 – O.K., everyone out there, just think of it...It's the first week of July and you are having to pack...AGAIN. Even though you have been having to pack up a lot lately, this is one time that it's O.K. (actually more than O.K.) because you are heading for the JULY DAYTONA RACE...Pit passes and all!!! We absolutely can't wait. That's the news for today and very good news indeed. Greg talked to his dad this morning and found out that his dad got us tickets. Thank you guys again.
Everyone else out there, take care. Greg is doing very good today. We are so close. Thank you ALL again. We shall be back to normal very soon. P.S. I have a very good friend from high school that asked me to alter some pictures a little as kind of a practical joke. What a better way to play the practical joke than to post the pictures on the internet!!!:) View them here.
April 22, 2002 – Well it's back to work for me. I have been going to work, on and off, while Greg was getting his treatments but now it's time to get back to normal, totally. Greg started getting a slight fever last night, that gradually got worse as the night went on. When he got up today he had to head off to the hospital instead of going to work like he had planned. I know that he is so sick of hospitals and, at this point, it would be so easy to try and shrug it off but he's been very good and he knows what's best for him in the long run. Hopefully they will figure out what's wrong with him this time and fix it as easily as it can be fixed. We are, both, so ready for all of this to be over. My next journal entry will be letting everyone know that we have won the lottery:)
April 23, 2002 – You may notice that the update date on the home page is today. There are no new charts uploaded and no new journal entry yet. I mainly wanted to get the information out about the bone marrow donor registration drive that will be taking place here locally. We will definitely do journal entries this evening some time. Just to keep you all posted so far, Greg got a phone call early this morning (about 4 a.m.). The culture results came back and he definitely has something. They are not sure what but are pretty certain that it is a staph infection. They stopped the original antibiotics that he was taking orally and so far today he has gotten vancomycin. It looks like he will be getting cefapime and some blood. This is definitely not the final outcome just what they are looking at so far. They haven't even talked to his doctor at Keesler yet so we'll see.
More April 23 – O.K., well, another update. They will not be giving Greg cefapime or blood today. They are giving him only Vancomycin intravenously. He will be able to do it at home. I guess there is more than one type of staph infection and if Greg has one certain type in his hickman they will have to remove it (we are crossing our fingers that that doesn't happen). It would be nice to be rid of the hickman but not until he's done with it. That's all for now. He has to do the Vanc for 14 days, twice a day...yikes, huh?
May 7, 2002 – Greg is finally done with his antibiotic which is wonderful. It wasn't that much of a hassle, just an inconvenience. By the time he got his morning dose in, half of his work day was gone. He is much happier now that it is over and he is feeling much, much better. I have been viewing the upcoming biopsy with a very optimistic outlook; so much so that I almost forgot that there could actually be bad results from it. I, actually, just came to that realization that I hadn't prepared myself in the event that the results don't come back like we want. I am to that point now but just barely. I still believe that everything will turn out great and this biopsy will only confirm that. Have a good week and enjoy this beautiful Spring weather.
May 14, 2002 – Greg's Bone Marrow Biopsy was today and we got the preliminary results back (click ----> here). GREAT NEWS!!!
June 6, 2002 – If you have already read Greg's journal from the yesterday, you know that I fared pretty well in Shreveport on Memorial Day weekend. I got on this one dollar slot machine that another woman had been at awhile and won $200 almost immediately. Then I went over to another machine (always a corner machine) and hit 3 different times on the same machine for a total of about $1450. All-in-all when I cashed out my 10 buckets of dollar coins, it was $1517. I was one happy camper that night. Then, as Greg mentioned, we went to Biloxi and gave some of it back. Not nearly all of it...not even half of it. We still both came home with smiles on our faces. It was perfect timing for that, too, because we are now in a moving phase. We have been in our current house for about 6 1/2 years and are ready for a bigger house and yard. I will write more about all of that later. It is definitely giving us both something else to focus on and look forward to. We are very excited about the possibilities.
July 5, 2002 – It is going to be a busy weekend for us. Click here for Daytona updates.
August 21, 2002 – Hello, Hello. Hopefully everyone reading this is happy and healthy. This month is already slipping by faster than I can catch up. It's hard to believe that we are so close to September already. September can ONLY mean one thing...FOOTBALL!!! Thankfully it looks like the Bills might get something going this year. I never thought that I'd be rooting Drew Bledsoe on but he is now my quarterback and I am confident. On to our health issues, there are none. Greg is doing great; gaining plenty of weight and going TDY (that's temporary duty assignment for all you non-military folks out there). The great thing about him leaving is that he is healthy enough to leave. You can pretty much bank on the fact that the docs wouldn't have let him go if they were in the least bit worried. We are still looking for a new house and while he is gone I work on finishing touches to the old house so that it will sell quicker.
November 15, 2002 -- Well, what can I say, it's a Friday after a short week, pay day, and we're totally in our new house so there's Bills football Sunday on channel 710. Greg's journal entry for today ended on a low note so I decided to brighten up the day by letting everyone know that we closed on our old house yesterday and have furniture coming to our new house next week. There's so much work to be done in the new place but we are both looking forward to being settled in and unpacked. It is a very exciting time for us now. We just can't believe how much has transpired in the last year. I can't say that I'd take back a minute of it if any our experience has helped just one person it was worth it all. I hope that everyone out there reading this is doing well and have a great weekend.
November 14, 2006 -- Unbelievable that it's been almost 4 years since I've written. I've been keeping a private journal since January 2003 but thankfully there hasn't been a reason to write in this one. Greg is not only doing fine, he's doing GREAT!! October 26 marked the 5-year-from-diagnosis date and he's still kickin'. I'm writing right now to let everyone know how excited I am. Yesterday I received a phone call from the Bone Marrow Registry. I may be a match for someone. I was freaking out a bit and I got choked up a little while I was on the phone with Catherine but, after sleeping on it, I am so excited and I really hope it all works out. I'll definitely keep everyone posted.
November 15, 2006 -- I made a few calls yesterday about this whole donor thing. I ended up calling Catherine back to get information that she had already given me but I was in such shock that I didn't remember. She let me know that the patient in need of the transplant is a 1-year old male with ALL. That just added to my excitement, actually. It would be awesome to be able to help this family out. When I receive notice about the next step, I'll write again. Catherine said it could take up to a month.
November 28, 2006 -- Well, my girl just called me back. I knew a phone call would be good news because Catherine said if I was not needed to proceed further, they would just send a letter. At this point I will be going to the hospital on Monday to give another sample for them to test. She said the results of that could take 4-13 weeks and, again, if I am to proceed further I will receive a phone call and if not, I'll get a letter.
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