Gary Bonjour 1951 – 2008

Yesterday, Gary went fishing. The home nurse, Diane, showed up for Gary’s weekly check-up. What a wonderful nurse! She drove to Gary’s fishing location and did the check-up there. Gary’s blood tests came back with good numbers, especially the platelet count…54. The vascular catheter will be removed! It is a handy device, but there is a risk of infection if not maintained properly every day.

Gary is still having pain in his feet and legs. He has extreme dry skin. Supposedly caused by the chemo. His appetite is starting to return. We went shopping and he picked out some of the groceries…cocoa krispies, instant potatoes, and indian corn candy. Is that stuff even considered food? The nurse told me that I was not supposed to nag at his food choices until Gary had a good appetite. I’m thinking that his appetite is real close to “good”.

Gary also bought shot gun shells. He is eagerly looking forward to “opening day”. Quack! Quack!

-Patty

As our family was blessed this week with great progress in a loved one’s cancer treatment, another family did not receive the best news.

A friend of mine, Brittney Mann, was diagnosed with colon cancer almost two years ago at age 24. She celebrated a brief period of remission, but the cancer returned aggressively and has not responded as hoped to the latest treatments. If you have a few moments to read her story and leave a word of encouragement to Brittney, visit her website here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/brittneymann

-Alicia

It has been 32 days since Gary had his stem cell transplant. Today the news is all good. The pain in Gary’s legs is subsiding. Losing 24 pounds of water weight this past week was a big help. Gary’s blood counts are holding. The platelets are now at 39…the magic number is 50. I hope that Gary will reach that number by his next appointment, Oct 22. The doctor will be able to remove his vascular catheter on that date. The catheter is a wonderful device, it allows health care workers to administer certain meds, IVs, or draw blood with out the use of needles.

Gary is still planning on going through the second transplant. At this time, we have no dates except three to six months. We will have a better idea after his bone marrow biopsy in a month. Gary is bank fishing right now, enjoying this glorious fall day. He is anticipating his return to work in a few weeks. Wow!

-Patty

Randy writing this update. Gary is feeling better every day. His blood platelets, the slowest recovering aspect of his chemo treatment, are on the rise. The measurement is 33, a vast improvement over the 13 count of last week. 50 is the number the doctors are looking for. The doctors said Gary would feel better as his blood counts improved and this has turned out to be the case.

Gary spent yesterday fishing from the shore at that secretive fishing hole, the Thompson causeway. Fishing does a body feel good…well, a Bonjour body, anyway…so an outing is good therapy! Enough blue gills were caught to feed the family at the upcoming Sunday dinner and birthday celebration for Ray, Sarah, Patty, Alicia and Tony!

Off to Chicago on Monday for another checkup. I’m thinking about borrowing Dad’s 12 gauge autoloader to get a little respect on the Kennedy expressway. Chicagoans’ driving is as crazy as their politics.

-Randy

Mom and Dad will be going back to Chicago on Monday for a checkup and will go once a week for the next several weeks.  Mom said that the second transplant will happen sometime in the next three to six months, depending how things go.   We had originally thought it would be sometime in late December or early January.

Dad is slowly starting to feel better.  His kidney function has much improved and he has begun losing some of the water weight accumulated from the weeks of IVs.  He still is dealing with nausea and lack of appetite and energy.  He’s not up for company yet, but is already talking about having a family fish fry sometime soon.

- Alicia