Day +9

Feeling pretty run down. Right in the middle of where I am supposed to be at worst. I don't really feel too bad, just very tired.

A Madrigal Group from Wisconsin Lutheran sang and it was very nice. I am not sure whether it was a brother or a father or what their relation is, but the patient was sitting near the front and the visitors came in late. Two people in front moved so that the visitors could sit by the patient up front. The "brother" sat next to his "brother" on a too small couch and listened together to the music. That made me feel really good. It made me think of all the people who have sat with me through all the difficult times. Thank you everyone for staying by my side through this experience, I know I am a better person because of it and because of you.

T

Day +8 ... Packer Gameday!

The counts are at zero and the headaches and stomach pains continue. I did get out for quite a bit of walking today. I think knowing how bad my lungs are, and how bad they can get, keeps me getting up ad going for walks. I feel overall very lucky just having to deal with the headaches and joint pain. I know I have had some EXTREMELY rough times in the past, but some of the others on the BMT Unit are having a tough go and any thoughts and prayers could also go out to those people. I now include them in my thoughts before bed. It would be very easy to sleep all day, watch the Packers perfect freakin' season, and just try to relax, but is that what the Packers would want me to do? NO! It is such an exciting thing to watch your favorite team dominate week after week. In sadder news, we find out Ryan Braun may have run into the steroid monster, instead of the Pixar Beast. Although he claims innocence as well as the test being linked to a number of false positives. It makes me sad and I also question myself, if this is some other guy on some other team, I am saying to myself, "Yeah, whatever, you know what you out into your body. You can never let your guard down when the stakes and the label of steroid user are so high." But man! Its Ryan Braun. Clutch. Fun to Watch. Young Gun. Milwaukee Hero. I am being a hypocrite, but I am going to give Braun the benefit of the doubt and wait to hear more and get more information. In other news, all the Sidney haters will be chirping again with the Kid taking 2 games off to rest. They haven't said concussion symptoms have returned, but small headaches may have come up. All I know is, he is a tremendous talent and incredibly fun to watch. Hockey is a better sport with Sid the Kid playing. The Homestead Hockey boys came out great with 2 wins over the weekend. One win coming over 3rd ranked Marquette. Keep up the good work guys, there is always room to improve.

As a quick end to this week and a strong start to the next, I hope everyone is happy and healthy. Make sure to bundle up as COLD COLD COLD is soon to hit. Miss and Love my girls at home...12 days down, possibly 12 days left in the hospital!

Love,
Tony Navarre

Day +7

So far today has been a good day. I don't feel quite as sick as I did last night. Still the headaches, stomach aches, and knee pains....but they are all manageable with some medication and rest.

Congrats to Homestead Hockey on a two win weekend...great win over #3 Marquette and conference rival WNS Storm. Keep it rolling guys!

Sorry for the short blog tonight....exhausted and going to turn in a little early. Have a good night and I hope that everyone is happy and healthy!
T

Getting things figured out! This is a silly Blog

Counts down to zero...lets start pumping some of those healthy white blood cells out there. Crazy how exhausted I am today. Probably over tired and feeling weird with the drugs in my system. I did go for a couple of long walks, which went a little better. My knee is still very sore, but they have some ides on how they may be able to work with that. I do need to be ready to come back. Come back to teaching, coaching, and playing in the mens hockey and soccer leagues, softball...all that fun stuff. So I made a comeback commercial in my mind about coming back to the new OIC!

Dominate the Mens League at Ozaukee Ice....I have a tagline/intro that I have been putting together for the boys over at OIC.

Start: Very quiet music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9hGHnXPEi4
I roll up to New OIC in my fly new Bentley that was given to me by Tenacious D for rocking so hard against Leukemia. Some rock opera starts softly in the background.
Just as the music get faster, the cool movie voice guy says...." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QPMvj_xejg
"Theres a NEW RINK."
(BOOM BOOM: explosions of noise and excitement)

"There is New Ice" (BOOM BOOM: A Fireball that looks like an Emperor Penguin)


And now....after returning from the far reaches of the earth to collect a dolphin's tears, an ice diamond from the center of a glacier, a black widow spider who can speak her name but we can't understand it cause its spider talk, and finally a piece of moon rock from the moon...you have

THE Same old Navvy!!

Oh well, all joking aside, I still have really bad stomach cramps and am getting some pretty good headaches due to the anti-rejection drugs. Making me feel pretty tired.

Good luck to all those with games and plans this weekend, I hope they go great...by the middle of next week, I should be on the road to recovery!

Day +6

Well, the truck hit last night. I figured if I was getting hit by a truck, this friendly smiling red truck is as good as any. Gradually as the day wore on, I got more and more exhausted. The cramping in my stomach made it hurt to sit or move...so I retired to bed earlier than usual. The headache struck around 6:30 after my dinner of a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich, apple sauce, and cranberry herbal tea. By 7pm I was in bed for the night with strong cramping in my abdomen, and a sinus headache...you know the ones where it hurts to move your eyes around so you twist your whole body hoping that will help, but really that just makes your stomach feel worse? One of those. Needless to say, I was not sleeping well, so the nurses gave me some pain meds for the stomach and headache, and also an anti anxiety medicine designed to keep me relaxed and support some sleep. The problem with that was, they are both relatively strong medications and with my lung history, they were worried about oxygenation, so I ended up on a small amount of oxygen through the night....just to be on the safe side. Today, I am going to do the best I can to get out and walk, staying active is the best thing for me, and really try to push through the next 4-6 days. Again, it is great to her from everybody through the day, all those warm fuzzies build up and keep me going.

Thank you everyone! Tony

Congrats to my buddy Clark on their new puppy....Raji. Clark knows how to pick a name!

Counts Dropping

Day +4 saw a very large drop in blood counts and I am now considered neutropenic. This is how it should be. I am at my highest risk for infections now until my counts begin to recover, and this time, when my counts recover, they will recover with healthy bone marrow cells from the transplant. With any luck, Leukemia will be a thing of the past for Mr. Tony Navarre. WOW! I have noticed a significant increase in my exhaustion, and naps during the day do not do to much to still feeling tired by bedtime. My stomach is still sore and bloated from the amount of steroids they had to give me. Another unfortunate problem has been my knee. After I woke from the coma in April, I had a large calcification on my left knee. I was unable to move the knee at all, and through some hard work from my physical therapist, Lisa and Laurie, I gradually got the majority of movement back. However, since I have been in the hospital for transplant, the knee has reared its ugly head. It has been incredibly painful and to make matters worse, walking is essentially the best thing I can be doing at the moment. Kind of a rock and a hard place situation. Need to be walking, very painful to walk...oh well, I guess I'll have to Favre it out and make it through the next few weeks. Pain killers anyone? The nice little side effect of the pain killers is that it has helped to calm the stomach issues a bit. The GI tract suffers A LOT because of the rapid turnover of cells from cancer and the pain killers has helped to ease some of that pain...everyone is thrilled about this blog, I can tell. Regardless of all that, things are supposed to get worse for about a week, and then begin to return and feel better. So this may only be the beginning. However, compared to some of the other in the BMT Unit, I have been very lucky. The attitude that I have taken is this...basically, nothing can be as bad as the first 2 months of this disease. The aches and pains are nothing compared to not moving, not talking, not breathing and the 12 or so chest tubes. Keep a positive outlook and push through the hard part and there you have it. I have been able to keep busy by reading and my appetite has held well enough although I am down 5 pounds since Wednesday. That isn't too big of a deal as long as I can get the calories that I need to make sure I can heal. Thank you everyone and I'll keep you posted on how things progress...you are all fantastic. I appreciate all the texts, emails, and notes....brightens up my day!

Day +3

Like the Packers, I am still trucking. Today was much like yesterday. I did get out and do another 2 miles of walking, although my knee has been very sore. Tomorrow, I hope to get out of the room a couple more times, but the tired feelings are really starting to take hold. I am supposed to really get hit by it by Thursday or Friday. My PICC line dressing was changed today as well, so that all looks good and clean.

Adeline is doing better and is at home with Molly. Thank heavens.

Thanks to all of my friends who put up with my facebook requests for silly games and what not, gives me something to stay occupied with while I am here. Also getting a good amount of reading done, so thanks again to my family for my Kindle, it is working great.