Tuesday, July 17, 2018

7/17/18 Back to Houston next week...we hope

     Yesterday we got a call from the research coordinator who said that after consultation with the main doctor for both studies, that Gabrielle should continue with her plans to be in the second study.  Main concern is that the first study involves a long period of time in which she doesn't get any treatment at all, and he didn't want her to have to go too long before having some sort of intervention.  Possibly down the road, she may be a candidate for the first study again, but for now, it's the check point inhibitor trial.  
     Plan for now is to return to Houston on Monday, July 23, have several more days of testing and then get an infusion of the check point inhibitor later that same week (most likely Thursday, but maybe Friday).  Home on Saturday.  However, before we take a trip down there, they want us to get some preliminary labs here later this week to make sure that her liver an blood counts are within the right parameters for the trial to proceed.  That happens this Thursday at the UW.  In particular, they look at things like platelets, neutrophil counts and liver function tests...all of which have been impacted by her cancer and/or treatments in the past.  
      So, we're hoping to get the green light after the testing.  We don't want to wait till we get all the way down there and then get told to head home due to abnormal labs.
      In the meantime, she has finished her two rounds of antibiotics, but is still on the blood thinner.  Appetite continues to be marginal at best.  I made her a great Caesar salad yesterday for lunch, and she promptly looked at it and said, "Don't get mad, but I don't think I can eat this now."  That would have been fine, but then she added, "or ever".   Happily, Daniel wasn't so discerning and snapped it down like candy when he got home.  And who could get mad at Gabrielle anyhow?  As long as she gets her chores done on time.
     She really wanted applesauce, but we didn't have any, so I smooshed up three apples, tossed in a little Martinelli's and cooked them down to a soft sauce, which she did like.  So yesterday's tally, food wise was: half a bagel, two scrambled eggs with cheese, and the applesauce.  Oh, and for dessert, she had the top half of one of Renée's birthday cupcakes...the side with the frosting on it, of course...eaten just the way she likes to eat maple bars.  By the way, Happy Birthday to Renée!  She is...?? years old today (being a gentleman, I won't say her age...but I can tell you that I became a dad in 1988).  
     Speaking of my cooking, I had a real bang up day yesterday.  In addition to making the aforementioned "inedible" Caesar salad, I made some kettle corn (did this after Daniel came home and saw that the package we bought at the Edmonds Sunday market had somehow dwindled to nil), which was a big success.  Also the applesauce.  However, my best culinary adventure was cooking some egg whites on the dash of my car.   It was a tad toasty yesterday, and I wanted to see if my car was as good as an oven.  Here are the before and after pictures, you decide:



Look mighty tasty, don't they?  And it only took an hour and a half to cook two of them.  Next up, chocolate chip cookies?  Oysters?  Salmon?  You may not want to ride with me in my car for a while.  Right now, it sort of smells like sulfur.

Hoping to update you once we get to Houston.

Chef Steve signing out.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks Steve for the update - I will continue to pray for Gabrielle's blood count to be just the way they need it so that she can do the trial. Really appreciate the family updates! 😘🙏

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  2. Lots of thoughts and positive prayers for next round to really be affective.
    Love
    Aunt Ginny💒😉

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