We made it over to the MIRT to see Dr. Balogie for our 8:00 a.m. appointment about twenty minutes early. The doctor made it in to the office at a little after 10:00 a.m. They told us that he had an "emergency" conference call. Tanner was the second patient he saw so it wasn't too bad once he finally made it.

Since today is the day before Halloween, most of the staff were all in costume and they were playing movies in the waiting room and had treats, pop corn and soft drinks. They came into our exam room and told us that we could go out and "party" in the waiting area until the doctor got there and they would come out and tell us when we needed to go back to the room.

We went out for a while and watched Pirates of the Caribbean. Tanner really enjoyed it for a while then all of a sudden you could see when the energy level just dropped. He told me he was ready to go back to the room and lay back down.

Dr. B came in and you could tell he was a little surprised about how "down" Tanner is. He really thought he would sail through this round of chemo/stem cell - especially since the chemo was only for one day. The thing is, Tanner's system is already so compromised that it didn't take much to just wipe him back out.

Tanner told him that it kind of hurts when he takes a deep breath so the doctor listened to his chest and told him he didn't hear anything that indicated pneumonia and that he thought it was "all good". He aslo said Tanner should be able to come home by next weekend and scheduled a discharge appointment for him next Thursday.

The thing that kind of worries me is that when Tanner had pneumonia before after he broke his leg, they didn't hear anything when they listened to his chest. They found it when they did x-rays of his chest in the Emergency Room.

Dr. B said now that his sysem is all supressed it would be a good time to do another MRI because it would have better films. He said he would like for him to have another MRI of the spine area and they are supposed to schedule one for tomorrow. Then, next week we go back to see one of the other doctors while Dr. B is out of town and if all of his counts are up, they will dismiss him to go back home for another break.

This break most likely will be for a month and then he will need to come back for his consolidation chemotherapy - which is the chemo that is at about 70% of the normal strength. Most people can go through the consolidation chemo process in about two weeks - and many people only have to have one consolidation but others have to come back and do a second. It's one of those things that we will have to wait and see when the time arrives.

I'm going to try and make sure that they make the consolidation time early enough that he can complete the whole process and be back home in time for Christmas.

It would be so sad to have Christmas away from home!! But for Tanner's health, I guess we will do whatever we have to do. Dr. B asked Tanner if he minded having another MRI and Tanner said, "I think I would do just about anything you told me I needed to do." You could tell Dr. Barlogie was touched, but it's true, we have put our trust in this man and I know that he's doing everything he can for Tanner. As he left the room he hugged me and held my hand and then he turned to Tanner and hugged him and told him "I love you" and Tanner told him "I love you too". As corny as that sounds, it's so very true. You can tell he does what he does because he genuinely cares about his patients. He hasn't hesitated in Tanner's treatment because of our insurance problems. He's put Tanner's well being first before all other issues and I will be forever grateful to him.