Happy Anniversary…#2
Happy Stroke/Leukemia Diagnosis Anniversary! It has been 2 years and we are continuously grateful to ALL the doctors and staff at Northwestern and RIC for putting Brad back together again. Though we can do without the weekly blood tests, mounds of pills, surprise opportunities to visit the ER, scary CTs and MRIs, and the occasional week long stays at Prentice…we are managing and Matt has his daddy to be with him and believe me, I am super grateful because anytime Matt needs to go to the bathroom in public, I send him to the ‘Men’s’ with daddy while I eat my food while it is hot.
We celebrated last night at Benihana and had a great time! Now I am off to put plastic on my bedroom windows to keep the winter cold air outside.
Back Home
Brad came home today and feels better. They are still waiting for results of lung infection, but it is nice to have Brad home.
October 9th
Still inpatient and waiting for diagnosis and treatment for pnuemonia. Brad does feel better and his white count has improved. Speaking of improvement…there have been a few changes at Prentice since we were last inpatient. They now have a night time ice cream cart for patients, a daily fruit and muffin snack tray, a violinist playing in the lobby, and a new family/overnight/shower room. So good bye to my days of washing my hair in Brad’s room sink and hello family room:)
I Spoke Too Soon
Well, if you read the post before this one, I blew it. Things WERE going well until Brad spiked a fever and has been inpatient since Monday night. Brad has had a crazy, bad cough for almost 2 months now and his last blood test showed a BIG drop in his white cells. So when Brad spiked a temp on Monday, we came to the super-crowded ER( must have had something to do with the full moon.) Even though he was labeled as a red patient(which means he should be at the ER, which is a step above yellow-which means ‘yeah you are most likely sick’, and then below that is purple-which means ‘well, you MIGHT have something wrong with you’, and last is green-which is ‘what are you even doing here? Were there no good Tv shows on tonight? Just take a Tylenol or use a band-aid and get cable TV.’) it took us a while to get into a room.
The docs are trying to figure out if Brad has a bacteria and/or fungus infection in his lungs. They had to do a bronchoscopy today. Yikes and yuck! They put a scope up your nose and down into your lungs. They shoot saltwater into your lungs and suck it back out. They try to get a little gook out with it so they can culture it. Brad was a bit nervous about this, as I would have been as well. It sounded MUCH worse than the xray of my uterus that I had on Tuesday. Brad’s test was done on the 9th floor at Feinberg, which for those of you lucky family members who visited Brad on his stroke/brain surgery day, that was the same floor. And yes, the family waiting room still looks messier than my son’s room. I taught school with the daughter of the nurse that helped during the procedure. This made me feel better and hopefully the morphine made Brad feel better.
Brad’s white count is higher today. It is a 0.7 which is much better than a 0.0 on Tuesday. We hope that this keeps increasing. Brad has a nice view of the city/lake facing north on the 16th floor. And….he is in no way too sick to participate in the Lazzari family football pool this Sunday. (My picks are already in!) I think I will use my winnings this week to pay for my food bill at the Prentice cafeteria. They had a baked potato bar last time for lunch. Yummy!
September 30
I’m not sure if this site is checked by anyone since there have been no major Brad developments, which is a very good thing! Brad seems to be doing well on his chemo. He continues to keep up his own work-out-therapy at the Y and is busy with work and being a dad. (Whereas, I am keeping up with my own taffy-apple-eating therapy.)
Matt has started school and brings home some nice germs everyday. He has had a few colds/coughs but nothing major. Must be the flu shot and all the bubble gum he chews that drives away the bad stuff!
We are enjoying the fall with a few planned get aways and some exciting Sunday afternoons of football watching in hopes of winning the family football pool. Hope all you families are well.
July 18-Doing Well
Brad, Matt, and I are doing well. We enjoyed a nice vacation to California and have had not medical excitement for a while. Now we have a different black cloud over us called’ Everything Has To Break At Once’ black cloud. I guess it could be worse but seriously the air conditioning, refrigerator, modem, garbage disposal, and power window in our car! I am considering becoming Amish so we don’t have these issues any longer.
Sadly though, we did sell our lake house in Wisconsin. It had a good 6 year run and we had many fun times on the lake there but we need to get a bigger place in Chicago and will use the funds from that to help.
Enjoy your summer everyone.
Couples Quality Time
Some couples like to ride bikes together…some travel…some sit on the couch and watch TV…but we in the Lazzari house spend quality time at Northwestern’s Emergency Room.
Brad has been in the ER twice in the last 2 weeks. He is better now (until I finish him off for good, of course.) Brad was treated for a stomach bug on Easter weekend and he was evaluated after he had a seizure last Friday. So…like how does one land in the hospital so often?? Dumb-bell-ness!- definition: 1)letting bad stomach pains and bathroom trips go for too long before telling your doctor
2) not taking your evening dose of anti-seizure medicine because you fall asleep on couch watching TV.
So, don’t get a case of dumb-bell-ness and pay attention to yourself.
On a cooler note, my old ladt momself went to see Britney Spears in concert this week.
Feeling BettER
April 2
So…the TV show ER has a series finale tonight and you know what I think— Good Riddens ‘you always make me cry and depress people show.’ There is a reason why I have stopped watching ER and tonight I got another dose of ‘boo-hooing’ Well, just a few seconds and then I moved on to my Payday candy bar!
So Brad had a test a few weeks ago and it was negative for leukemia. Woo Hoo!! We celebrated the happy news along with Matt’s 3rd birthday. Matt had a party at Pump It Up. It was great…Everybody- adults and kids had a fun time jumping around. However, there were a few elbow burns and bruises…but I am healing well.
Oh and poor Great-Grandma Elsie, she fell and had to get her hip replaced. I am telling you, if your last name is Lazzari, you are screwed.
We Love to Freeze
That is what we Chicagoans MUST like since we have been having a super long and cold winter. God Bless People’s Energy for keeping my house at a toasty 74 degrees. I love it!(and am paying up the wazoo as well…but TOTALLY worth it!)
But you see…we Lazzari’s LOVE to pay bills…especially medical bills. Matthew has recently cut his eye falling off a chair at Dunkin Donuts and required a trip to the ER for some very expensive glue. Followed the next week by having that crazy croup again. So he is following in his father’s footsteps of meeting his yearly health insurance deductible early out of the gate(but is doing and feeling totally fine now AND got accepted to our 1st choice of pre-schools).
And me…well I like to pay a different kind of bill…a restaurant bill!! That is a WAY better use of our funds. Especially since last week was Restaurant Week in Chicago. Brad and I ate steaks at David Burke’s Primehouse and Ruth’s Chris with all the other meat sinners on Ash Wednesday and a lenten Friday. And it was D-to-the-licious people. A way better way to stimulate the economy than hospital bills.
Brad is doing well. He has a bit of a cold/sinus infection but doesn’t everyone in the 606– zipcode region have one too?
Brad has been busy collecting loose change from his kind coworkers to donate to the Dr. Jessica Altman Research fund. He is very proud to help her to help others. There is info about her fund a few posts below this one.
Hope all your families are well and warm…if not, drop by and you can soak up some of my People’s Energy heat.