January 13th - 17th: Escape from Childrenz

SATURDAY, JANUARY 13, 2007 10:26 PM, PST

Bold Break-Out at Bay Area Hospital

Oakland, CA

It was a brazen escape, pulled off even more amazingly in the light of mid-day. No one saw it happen and by the time administrators was alerted it was too late. Keith Kelley, a repeat patient who had been sentenced to Childrenz for his sixth cycle of chemotherapy and was to serve 5 days of hard induction in the heavily fortified 5 South unit, escaped today one day short of his release date. Kelley is accused of 'crimes against cancer cells' and seems to have no compassion what-so-ever for them. 5 South is a unit reserved for only the most hardened oncology patients and is patrolled by dozens of guards posing as doctors, nurses and PCA’s.

“This is a state-of-the-art facility. No one has ever escaped from Childrenz...until now that is” proclaimed the front desk ambassador Imin Shock. “ This incident has the potential to tarnish our unblemished reputation for never having had a patient leave our facility early.”

It is still unclear exactly how he pulled it off, but police investigators suggested Keith might have been assisted in his break-out by one or possibly two outside collaborators. A cookie container brought by acquaintances of the Kelley family in Orinda two days ago contained a nail file that was seen lying next to a ventilation grate that had been chiseled open. Other evidence at the scene included a Michigan cap and a tuft of cat fur also found near the grate, suggesting that Keith’s notorious brother and somewhat rotund cat might have been in on the caper as well.

“Everyone knows Keith’s one tough dude…..and so it’s no surprise he’s flown the coop. He’s a free bird now. I’ve always felt that no walls and no one could keep him penned up for long.” explained Dr. Cydorak who operated on him last December to remove a tumor and a couple of lead slugs from his abdomen.

Officers at the scene cautioned that he could turn up anywhere. “He should be approached with caution. Don’t let that cute little bald head fool you. This is a kid that can make an upside down smile frown. I’ve never seen anyone else who could do that.”

Mr. Shock stated that Childrenz is going to take a long hard look at their ventilation grilles so that something like this doesn’t happen again. It is possible that the unit will have to shut down temporarily to fix this problem. "In that case, when he's recaptured, we'll just have to ship him down to Packardz. That place makes Childrenz seem like spa by comparison". Packardz has been undergoing a lengthy re-construction program, including sealing up all of their ventilation grilles. "It's gonna be the new Rock" he offered, making a not so veiled comparison to the famed rock outcrop in San Francisco Bay.

Loiters Wire Service

SUNDAY, JANUARY 14, 2007 10:24 PM, PST

“I want baked beans for dessert” Keith

Parent’s Note:

Suddenly he’s eating like a horse. When we got home from the hospital yesterday the first thing he wanted was a bowl of chili. He ate two bowls. Hamburgers, fries, turkey, stuffing, coffee cake, hot cocoa, soup, toast and yes baked beans….lots of them…even for dessert.

Now we’ve been doing this chemo thing for a while now, but this is the first time that I can recall that his appetite actually improved after chemo. It's a mystery.

Go figure....

MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 2007 10:24 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

Before reading the rest of this entry, a collective knocking on wood might be in order.

Keith is having such a smooth recovery from chemo this time it’s remarkable. He hasn’t looked green around the gills at all since arriving home on Saturday and is eating and drinking well. I would have to credit the overnight hydration system and the continued antiemetic regimen that we are sticking to as well as Keith’s own fortitude for the success so far. There’s probably a medical reason that I don’t comprehend to explain it but so far this is the easiest of all of the cycles he’s had to date. I guess we thought there would be some kind of cumulative effect making each successive cycle more difficult to tolerate.

His lab results from today look quite good in most categories and his ANC is in the 9000 range, but it should be a matter of hours from now that he spirals downward toward neutropenia. He has started GCSF (neupogen) in anticipation of the dive but it will likely take a couple of weeks of daily GCSF infusions for him to recover to ‘normal’ levels. We have noticed that this recovery time has lengthened over the course of the five previous cycles as the doctors predicted.

Sometime in the week of February 5th, he will be subjected to the full barrage of diagnostic tests to determine the status of his disease and his medical team will huddle with all of this information to lay out the plan for going forward.

But right now he looks good and feels good and that makes all of the Kelleys feel good.

___________________

Just noticed the web counter just rolled over 25,000 visits to this site. Thanks for stopping by and checking in on Keith.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2007 10:24 PM, PST

“Dad, you really need to post this recipe on the website – it’s so good” Keith upon bobbing up for air as he inhaled his dinner tonight.

Parent’s Note:

I hate to sound like a broken record, but Keith had another good day. That makes it three days straight since his brazen escape from ‘Childrenz’. It’s amazing what a good ol’ jailbreak will do for your spirits.

Since there isn’t really anything more I can think of to say about Keith other than he’s dying to get the expansion pack for WoW that has apparently ‘just shipped’, how about some really useful information.... (our motto here at the editorial department is ‘if you don’t have anything to say, add a link to a recipe….):

Penne with Pancetta and Tomato Cream Sauce

(we swapped arugula for the basil)

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2007 09:41 PM, PST

Yep……. Uh Huh…… The pink bucket.....It’s Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak.

Parent’s Note:

Okay, so maybe I was a bit overconfident. Maybe I should have started last night’s entry out with a “knock on wood” invocation. Maybe I thought Keith was going to catch a break finally.

Almost as soon as soon as last night’s entry was posted, Keith started to feel, well….. the way you would expect to feel after having poison injected into your body for 72 hours straight. It’s nothing he can’t manage, but it’s no fun at all.

Add to that, our one lane street is being ripped up to replace a sewer main so in spite of the USPS’s claim that “neither rain nor snow, nor sleet, nor dark of night shall stay these couriers from their appointed rounds” the mail wasn’t delivered today. I suppose sleet combined with road construction isn’t an impediment listed by mail couriers as necessary to overcome. So guess who was expecting to get guess what today (hint: rhymes with NoW)…..and guess what didn’t arrive….

We are confident tomorrow will be a better day.

January 9th - 12th: Chemo Cycle #6 - Scott Lends a Hand (and an Arm)

TUESDAY, JANUARY 09, 2007 08:31 PM, PST

“Ok, so if something bad is going to happen to me, give me at least 2 days advance notice so I can plan my activities” Keith’s admonition to his parents

Parent's Note:

This statement was precipitated by a somewhat frank conversation with Keith discussing what activities would most likely happen in the coming weeks and months. We have been careful to be honest with him yet trying not to overwhelm him with too much information. A one-day-at-a-time approach if you will. I have to admit I laughed out loud upon hearing this gem, but later I was taken with mixed emotions of both sadness and admiration that someone so young should have to think in such terms and yet has the ability to express his feelings so maturely. I guess we will need to shift to a two-day-at-a-time approach from here on.

As advertised, Keith and Josie headed off to Children’s mid-morning and knocked off a string of appointments. The first was with Dr. Sydorak, his abdominal surgeon, who praised Keith’s recovery from his tumor removal as nearly an A+ effort. Later he provided blood samples for genetic testing and had a heart echo scan. For dessert he was admitted to 5 South to begin hydration and his next chemo cycle. Gee, what a fun day. Still all indications were that he was chipper pretty much the whole day.

Scott had a big day as well. I picked him up after school and we drove to Children’s to visit Keith. But before we went upstairs, we checked in at the oncology clinic where Scott bared his arm and provided three vials of blood to be sent along with Keith’s to Stanford to determine if he is a possible bone marrow match. It seems after all of Keith’s stem cell harvest attempts (three), there are just enough cells to perform a single transplant, but no back-up supply in case a second rescue procedure is needed. Interestingly there is only a 25% chance that the two are a genetic match. Apparently for parents and relatives the percentages plummet to very small numbers. It would be wonderful to have the safety net of a match, but we aren’t counting on it.

In our house, Scott has earned an honor bead for offering himself, literally, in any way he can to help his brother.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2007 08:44 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

Keith spent a relatively quiet day in his hospital room except for one excursion across the street to have another audiology test performed. One of the possible side effects of his aggressive chemo regimen is that it can lead to hearing loss, hence the frequent testing. So far he still seems to be hearing just fine (….ok, my take is that not having a thick matt of hair covering his ears probably doesn’t hurt either).

Around mid-day he returned to his room, the IV tubing was rigged up and the three-day chemo drip commenced. The only other event of note actually just occurred as I was writing this entry. Keith was a not-too-happy recipient of a finger prick glucose test. Seems he had been consuming mostly sugary foods all day and the doctors busted him. The decree went out - no more pop tarts for the rest of the night.

Fortunately his finger is not seriously disabled, allowing him to resume his laptop gaming with unfettered gusto....

THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2007 11:07 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

Keith is about half way through the last of his six conditioning cycles of chemotherapy now. This is a repeat of the Cytoxin / Doxorubicin / Vincristine combo that he has received three times before and he has been tolerating it so far.

These are always hard days. Hard because the chemo and antiemetics take their toll on Keith’s energy and mood, hard because family is separated and hard because, let’s face it, the hospital just isn’t a fun place to be despite the best efforts of the medical staff. He was feeling a bit melancholy today, not able to see Scott and of course he misses Kirby and his friends.

We have known from day one that there is no easy course to a cure and we are ready to endure whatever our doctors recommend as the best path to beat back this terrible disease. Still, after all that Keith has been through so far, indications are that the most challenging days probably lie ahead of us. So as that time nears, we find ourselves torn with emotion yet grateful for all of the support we have been given and thankful that research and advances in medicine have allowed us the opportunity to step forward with hope and firm optimism.

He should finish up this cycle mid-day on Saturday so with a home hydration set-up and any luck Keith will be back to Kirbyville 94563 that same evening.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 2007 09:44 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

The highlight of the day for Keith was having Scott visit after school. Keith was a bit tired from the medication but enjoyed watching his brother play WoW. I’ve posted a couple of photos to the album from today.

About 14 hours left of induction as this entry is written and the plan is still holding for a Saturday escape. Keith gets a bit ornery when the nurses give him his Benadryl / Reglin combo because it knocks him out right away and he’s asleep for hours. He was particularly unhappy to hear that the afternoon dose was going to be administered just before Scott was due to arrive at the hospital, so we talked the doctor into giving it to him early. Keith got his Benadryl ‘nap’ in before Scott arrived so disaster averted. The anti-nausea drugs are doing their job so far, so no complaints from me.

The pink bucket is nowhere to be seen.

January 1st - 8th: The Mysterious Missing Tooth

MONDAY, JANUARY 01, 2007 09:34 PM, PST

“An old poet said, 'It's better to go to the Rose Bowl and lose than not to have gotten there at all.'” Lloyd Carr

Parent’s Note:

Personally, I still believe Keith and his cap played a key role in getting them there. Still, it would have been nice to notch a win. In spite of the numerous block M sightings reported, including schools of fish and cloud formations the Wolverines just didn’t bring enough today to pull it off.

More importantly, Keith enjoyed another feel-good day and got together with his friends for most of the afternoon. Tomorrow it’s off to school for Scott and off to Lucile Packard for Keith for his pre-op physical.

Vacation is over, time to get back to work.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 02, 2007 09:27 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

Our first visit to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital of 2007 was uneventful. Keith passed his pre-op physical with flying colors, although he has been encouraged to eat as much fattening food as he desires in order to put a little weight on. So tomorrow’s bone marrow harvest procedure at Stanford should be almost an exact repeat of November 14th’s routine including setting the alarm for 3:30 am so that we can be first in line at the registration desk at 5:30. Ugh.

Keith has been through this once before and so there is much less mystery surrounding the procedure and his recovery routine. He seems so cheerful in general, and only gets moody when we talk about all of the treatment procedures remaining (so needless to say we don’t dwell too much on it).

Ann and Don need to head back home to Michigan soon after we leave for the hospital tomorrow and we will miss them greatly. We hope they are able to return soon.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 03, 2007 08:41 PM, PST

“I really think everyone should have some of this stuff” Keith offered this recommendation - visibly glazed over after receiving some very potent “happy” medicine just before entering surgery.

Parent’s Note:

In many ways today was a re-enactment of the events of November 14th right down to the “Are you sure you are scheduled to have surgery here today? – I can’t seem to find a record….” and “I don’t have an insurance pre-authorization on file – you’ll need to sign this financial responsibility form…” All this while Keith lay comfortably curled up on a couple of chairs in the waiting room at 5:30 am.

Apart from the administrative glitches, everything else seemed to go more-or-less smoothly and Keith was his usual remarkably brave, uncomplaining self once again. The surgery went fine and we met up with him in recovery. He woke up quite comfortably and without much pain at all, but after a while his eyes got wide and a look of terror crossed his face. “My loose tooth! It’s not there!”

Sure enough, one of the three loose teeth in his head was missing, causing quite a stir amongst the nursing staff, who proceeded to call the anesthesiologist, who then quickly showed up concerned that Keith might of inhaled it during the operation, and ordered a chest x-ray – stat - to find out if he did or didn’t, causing Keith to freak out as he envisioned the possibility of having to stay overnight to find and possibly have said tooth ‘extracted’ from a place where teeth aren’t customarily extracted. The x-ray technician rolled up the mobile x-ray machine, situated Keith a bit and zapped him. When the film was processed it confirmed that the missing tooth was……..phew!, not inside him. So somewhere in a lonely corner of one of the operating rooms at Stanford Medical Center is likely a small, well worn baby tooth, unnoticed yet longing for a Tooth Fairy appearance nonetheless. A few laughs and a few wiped brows and Keith was soon on his way to the Day Hospital where he spent the next few hours under observation. It was quite a sight to see him being rolled down the long public hallway between the Ambulatory Center and Lucile Packard flat on his back on a gurney while thumbing a GameBoy between his hands held high above his head the whole way. “Thumb therapy” we quipped as we greeted the nurses at the Day Hospital.

The rest of the stay was uneventful and we were eventually discharged, driving the 56 miles back home to Orinda on pleasantly uncrowded freeways for a change.

Keith feels fine, albeit a bit stiff, and has only needed one Tylenol so far – and we had to force him to take that one.

Just another day in the life of Keith.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 04, 2007 09:34 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

Today Josie transported Keith 112 miles to and from Stanford just to have his dressing removed. Granted it was a very large compression dressing, fondly referred to in our house and by the nurses as a butt pillow, that wraps around the full width of his backside. Let’s see, that works out to about 2.8 miles traveled per square inch of dressing removed. It took 30 minutes of patient prodding just to loosen all of the sticky stick’um holding it on (granted, it could have been removed faster with one robust yet excruciating rip but Keith requested the slow water-torture approach).

While loosening the bandages, Keith’s nurse Karen must have tripped his talk button, asking him a seemingly innocent question about World of Warcraft just to take his mind off the task at hand. Well, now this is a subject that Keith happens to know something about in the same way Edward Teller knew something about the hydrogen bomb. Keith launched into lecture mode and he proceeded to explain all of the ins and outs, nuances and strategies of WOW for the next half hour or so until the nurse pried the last bit of dressing off his hairy backside. Voilà, fini.

A brilliant piece of nursing distraction strategy I must say. Or in eBay feedback terminology: Effective communication, careful (un)packaging A++++

FRIDAY, JANUARY 05, 2007 10:29 PM, PST

“Ok, I’m ready to teach one of you how to play World of Warcraft” Keith, tossed a look at Josie and me. “Who’s it gonna be?”

Parent’s Note:

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. I spent an hour and a half on the couch with Keith advising me on the necessary aspects of the game, from creating a character to battling Thistle Boars and Webwood Venom Spiders. In exchange for my superlative combat skills, I received some ragged leather boots and leggings that I think really accent my green hair nicely. My character is a Night Elf Druid named Zephlon and by anyone’s appraisal he’s one baaaad dude. Well, at least I think he is. Keith, good sport that he is, offered a few encouraging words when I leveled up and turned in a couple of quests. The rest of the time he was yawning I’m sure.

Anyway it was fun to have the master teach me a thing or two.

/LOL

SATURDAY, JANUARY 06, 2007 10:55 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

A quiet weekend pattern has set in and no medical events to speak of. Keith feels good and his backside is almost back to normal after surgery on Wednesday. We took the opportunity to give Keith a physical workout of sorts by taking him to the UC Botanical Gardens in the hills above Berkeley. A beautiful day to be outside and Keith was quite interested in the whole experience but especially with the many varieties of cacti and carnivorous plants.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 07, 2007 10:35 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

A fun day for both boys. Keith was invited to a friend’s house, and reported back later that he had a lot of fun exercising his friend’s two guinea pigs “Snicker Doodle” and “Tiddly Wink” in their back yard. Scott was invited along with his friend to go ‘bouldering’ at a local rock climbing establishment. His fingers were throbbing afterwards but he was able to complete some challenging climbs.

As Keith was getting his Broviac dressing changed tonight we noticed the old dressing was a lot more difficult to get off than it has been lately. Keith was complaining that it was pulling his hair. Hair? What hair? Upon closer examination we were surprised to notice the beginnings of fine little hairs on his body and head – even short little eyelashes. It’s been six weeks since his last chemo cycle so I suppose it makes sense.

Sadly, we are expecting a call from Children’s Hospital requesting Keith to check in for his sixth cycle of chemo sometime this week, so whatever hair is pushing it’s way out is probably in for a bit of a nasty surprise.

So speaking of hair, I’m reminded of one of my favorite adolescent silly poems fashioned by George Carlin. Thanks to a quick Google search I was able to recover it for your enjoyment. And while I love Keith’s bare head, as far as I’m concerned when he gets through all of this he can have “hair down to there” for all I care.

.

Hair Poem--George Carlin

I'm aware some stare at my hair.
In fact, to be fair,
Some really despair of my hair.
But I don't care,
Cause they're not aware,
Nor are they debonair.
In fact, they're just square.

They see hair down to there,
Say, "Beware" and go off on a tear!
I say, "No fair!"
A head that's bare is really nowhere.
So be like a bear, be fair with your hair!
Show it you care.
Wear it to there.
Or to there.
Or to there, if you dare!

My wife bought some hair at a fair, to use as a spare.
Did I care?
Au contraire!
Spare hair is fair!
In fact, hair can be rare.
Fred Astaire got no hair,
Nor does a chair,
Nor a chocolate eclair,
And where is the hair on a pear?
Nowhere, mon frere!

So now that I've shared this affair of the hair,
I'm going to repair to my lair and use Nair, do you care?

MONDAY, JANUARY 08, 2007 09:19 PM, PST

Parents Note:

It was a long day at the office for me today so unfortunately I can’t give a detailed first hand report of Keith’s day but he seems to have enjoyed himself and feels good as well. I did take his lab draw this morning and the results came back as expected – good enough to be admitted for cycle 6 of chemotherapy at Children’s. So tomorrow morning Keith’s busy schedule will include a post-op check up from his tumor resection surgery, yet another special genetic blood test that is needed by Stanford in advance of the autologous bone marrow transplant (BMT), followed by what will likely be a 4 to 5 day inpatient admission and what should be his last chemo cycle before his BMT procedure at Stanford later this month or early February.

We are working to prepare ourselves for the logistical challenges of the BMT, as Keith will be required to spend upwards of two months away from home – one month inpatient at Stanford and another month after discharge in an accommodation within 20 minutes of Stanford. And this assumes no complications.

For anyone who would like to know a bit more about this procedure, the following link will take you to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital site.

Bone Marrow Transplant (Autologous)

December 24th - 31st: The Whoville Feast

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2006 11:14 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

Just a few last minute preparations but otherwise we seem to be ready for Christmas festivities here in Orinda. Besides the usual gift exchange, food will be the dominant theme culminating in a feast that would make all of the Whos in Whoville cast an envious eye toward our table.

Keith hung up his stocking for Kirby and the gleam in his eyes as he imagined how much Kirby was going to enjoy his gift in the morning was quite evident. In a way I suppose that is the same feeling we all seek on the eve of Christmas as we take the time to appreciate all the people that enrich our lives.

In that spirit, all of the Kelley’s extend a Merry Christmas to all of our friends, especially so in a year when our friends and family have been so caring and generous toward us.

Be safe and enjoy.

Spot Quiz: What did the Whos in Whoville feast on in 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas?'

Answer (in binary code of course)

01010100 01101000 01100101 01111001 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 00100000 01110011 01110100 01100001 01110010 01110100 00100000 01101111 01101110 00100000 01010111 01101000 01101111 00101101 01110000 01110101 01100100 01100100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110010 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01010111 01101000 01101111 00101101 01110010 01101111 01100001 01110011 01110100 00101101 01100010 01100101 01100001 01110011 01110100

MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2006 11:04 PM, PST

“This meat is exquisitely done” Keith

Parent’s Note:

And not only that, the root vegetable gratin, tomato pudding, home-made rolls, applesauce, and salad were good too. Simply put, it was a great feast.

Kirby scored a cat-nip filled snowman, a set of “bizzy” balls, a sparkly thing on a stick, a peacock feather and some fancy feline treats all stuffed into a new knit stocking (which by the way is larger than any other in the household) with the words “I’m a lucky cat” on it. As much as Kirby appreciated all of the loot, his most favorite treat was a small morsel of canned tuna mixed with water. He meowed loudly and his tail twitched constantly as Keith carried the bowl down the hall to his dining area.

Keith and Scott had a great day as one might expect with gifts to open. But more importantly, Keith was really feeling good again physically with few lingering effects from surgery on the 14^th.

What a great Christmas present that is for us.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2006 09:18 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

A quiet day and a quick journal entry tonight. Keith and Scott both had friends over in the afternoon, so a lot of laughing and giggling emanating from the rooms where they were playing their games.

Tomorrow, if the storm hasn’t washed the roads out, we’ll try to get out and stretch Keith’s legs a bit – we don't want cabin fever to set in....

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2006 10:30 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

This has been such a great week for us and especially for Keith – mainly because there has not been a lot of medical news to report. It doesn’t necessarily make for great reading but who cares as long as Keith is feeling good. He has been enjoying playing games and hanging with his brother. And yes, the roads were clear and we motored off to the mall to buy some shoes and a sweatshirt for the boys. Keith put some mileage on his legs and was rewarded by being able to spend some gift money at the game store.

At dinner tonight we were discussing how this website has been a great tool for us to stay in touch with our friends and family. And also how great the ‘Charlevoix’ community has been in supporting us through so many journal entries. To all of you who share a Charlevoix bond and to our wonderful friends a special thanks.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2006 11:05 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

Today was a carbon copy of yesterday, except we didn’t get Keith out of the house. He was very happy to stay at home and play video games with his brother thank you very much.

When I asked him on our 1 to 10 happiness scale what today measured he answered “good”. Ok, so it wasn’t the numeric answer I was seeking, but he explained later that it was great day.

This was a lab draw day, and the first in a week. When the results were returned it showed Keith’s platelet level to be above 300! This is the first time since his diagnosis in August that he has broken through the magic 300 level on his own (300 and above is considered normal). Armed with this information, Josie has been encouraging Keith to wiggle all of his loose teeth and get ‘em out of there ASAP!

Keith is sitting with me as I finish this entry and offers the following input:

Pink Mink
Purple Nurple
Green Spleen
Blue Stew
Red Bed
Gray Neigh
Black Snack

I then offered the following input:

Time for bed......

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2006 10:42 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

Today was a ditto of yesterday’s carbon copy of the previous day.

Keith’s Michigan cap is in full preparation mode for the Rose Bowl game. Rumor has it that the team is sending a covert contingent of coaches and physical therapists to our house in the next day or two to put the ‘cap’ through the necessary exercise regimen and to review the latest playbook strategies. There was some talk of sending the cap to the Claremont Hotel and Spa for a long weekend of therapeutic treatments, including fashionable brim curling and logo embroidery enhancements, but due to the recent series of small earthquakes (3 to be exact – all of which we felt) that occurred directly below the Claremont over the past week that plan has been scrapped – too dangerous. The cap will spend 24 hours in a maize and blue hypobarric compression chamber receiving purified oxygen harvested from mid-field at Michigan Stadium while listening to piped-in recordings of Bo Shembechler’s best locker room motivational speeches.

USC simply doesn’t have a chance against the ‘cap.’


Keith thought a few more words added to his phrases would help...

Pink Mink Stink Drink
Purple Nurple Surple Flurple
Mean Green Bean Spleen
Chew Blue Gnu Stew
Red Fred Bed Head
Gray Sleigh Neigh Spray
Black Quack Snack Pack

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2006 11:13 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

Today was a reenactment of yesterday’s ditto of the previous day’s carbon copy of the day preceding it…..with a couple of exceptions. Keith had a school friend over and they had great fun together for most of the afternoon and later a couple of friends and their families were over with their boys so more time for fun and games. A very social day of sorts for Keith, but unfortunately Kirby spent most of it cowering in the back hall closet, especially when the drum set became the focus of activity.

Not necessarily Keith related, but an interesting aside….Yesterday I took Ann on a day hike in the nearby Diablo Foothills Regional Park to test out my new digital SLR camera. It was a beautiful day, lots of interesting fauna – quails, and hawks as well as a small herd of cattle munching the new grass alongside the trail. A beautiful and dramatic landscape and some decent photos were captured but we later realized that Ann’s new cell phone had somehow slipped out of her pocket at some point along our trek in this huge, wide-open space. Armed with a challenge, and undeterred by the insanely small odds of recovering it we set out again today determined to find it, intermittently pausing to call her phone and then listening for some sort of faint ringing response as we re-traced our path. It reminded me of NASA trying to communicate with one of its lost Martian rovers. Eventually we successfully ‘pinged’ it and there it was, recumbent in a tuft of grass none the worse for wear despite its overnight camping experience. Even more remarkable, it was not sullied by one of the multitude of fresh cow patties dotting the grassy landscape.

Tomorrow is tree dismantling and decoration removal day along with further preparation for Monday’s big game at the Rose Bowl. Keith continues to feel great and seems very happy.

Reality makes its appearance again soon though, as Keith will have surgery again for a second bone marrow harvest at Stanford on the 3rd of January. It’s no fun, but we've been through it once before so it should be less of a surprise. This will be followed by another round of chemo, his sixth cycle, at Children’s Oakland sometime soon after. Then we head back to Stanford later in the month or possibly early February to undergo the actual bone marrow transplant procedure. More on that as it gets closer.

Best wishes from the Kelley's for a happy New year to all.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2006 11:23 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

I won’t start this entry by saying that today was a replay of yesterday’s reenactment of Friday’s ditto of the previous day’s carbon copy of the day preceding it. So instead I offer a simple checklist of Keith’s activities today:

Slept in ‘til 9 ü (ahhhhh…)

Pet Kirby ü (purrrr…)

Logged on to WOW ü (must level up…)

Pet Kirby Again ü (meow…)

Still Feelin’ Great ü (yeah…)

Showered & Changed Broviac Dressing ü (zzzzzzz…)

Visited Friend’s House ü (let’s go play WOW…)

Made and Ate Sushi ü (yummm…)

Visited Neighbor’s House ü (I have a video game…)

Rose Bowl Readied "The Cap" ü (on three, hut one…)

Determined to Stay up ‘til Midnight ü (we’ll see…)

Determined to Beat Cancer in 2007 ü (absolutely…)

December 18th - 23rd: Won't My Guts Spill Out?

MONDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2006 10:13 PM, PST

“Wait, if you remove that dressing, won’t my guts just spill out?” Keith making sure the surgical resident knew what she was doing before his outer dressing was removed this morning.

“There must be an airspace left over from where my tumor was removed, because when I walk, I can feel my insides move around.” Another gem uttered as Keith was getting ready to leave the hospital.

Parent’s Note:

My theory that Monday’s are productive days as days go in the hospital was borne out today.

Around 7 am this morning Keith’s surgeon, Dr. Sydorak, stopped by the room to check in. Of course Keith was still sleeping but I was awake getting ready for a day at the office. So the doctor and I chatted a bit and he asked how Keith was feeling; the usual stuff. After a while asked if Keith might be interested in going home today. Instantaneously we both saw Keith’s eyes pop open and a wide smile cross his face.

“Well, it will depend on whether or not you can take pain medicine orally or not so we can be sure you will be comfortable at home.” countered Dr. Sydorak with a feigned look of seriousness.

It was pretty clear to me that Keith would be willing to swallow the nastiest stuff ever used on Fear Factor just to get out of the hospital a day early. Apparently his acting skills honed in last year’s “Honk!” production paid off and the discharge papers were prepared in short order.

So if you recall yesterday’s journal, we were anticipating a Tuesday discharge, even that being a day earlier than the Wednesday discharge we had anticipated prior to surgery.

Well forget that, he’s already home!

It just goes to show: Keith is an odds-beater extraordinaire …….

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2006 11:23 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

Apologies in advance as tonight’s journal entry is a bit lame.

I left the house for the office before Keith was awake and when I returned he was already asleep in bed so I cannot relay a first hand account of his day. What I can offer through Josie is that as of mid-afternoon he had not asked for any pain medication and was feeling pretty good overall. The only incident to speak of was an unexpected sneeze. Ouch. It just goes to show how we take for granted the muscles necessary to produce a sneeze.

Otherwise all’s well.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2006 10:29 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

A quiet day for Keith – sedentary for most of the day, not much of an appetite, but restoring his energy reserves nonetheless. He says he feels better today than yesterday so a steady recovery so far.

Apart from not having water service for most of the day because of a water main repair in the neighborhood, perhaps the most exciting event was a small earthquake around dinnertime centered a few miles from here in Berkeley. Earthquake

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2006 10:15 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

The winter solstice is upon us and another good day for Keith. He’s very much on the mend. The day began with blueberry pancakes – what better start is there?

Later in the morning Josie and Annie accompanied Keith to the clinic at Children’s Hospital to have blood drawn (ten vials) in preparation for his next procedure at Stanford just after the New Year. With appropriate seasonal spirit Keith once again donned his Santa hat for the visit making everyone at the clinic smile. He is scheduled to have another bone marrow harvest so that there will be a back-up supply of stem cells for his bone marrow transplant. An insurance policy of sorts. The results of his lab tests all came back very positive. He has plenty of white blood cells, platelets and hemoglobin to go around.

The Christmas spirit is becoming more evident around our house. Besides the Great Barrier Reef tree and a gingerbread house that the boys decorated, we now have lights ablaze on the outside railings, lots of tempting cookies and candy floating around the house and a very positive sign indeed: Keith wants to get out of the house and go shopping for gifts for his family including, of course, Kirby.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2006 10:28 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

01001011 01100101 01101001 01110100 01101000 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100111 01110010 01100101 01100001 01110100 00100000 01100001 01100111 01100001 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101111 01100100 01100001 01111001 00101110 00100000 00100000 01010100 01101111 01101101 01101111 01110010 01110010 01101111 01110111 00100000 01110111 01100101 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01110000 01101100 01100001 01101110 01101110 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01101000 01101001 01101101 00100000 01110011 01101000 01101111 01110000 01110000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01001011 01101001 01110010 01100010 01111001 00101110

.

Having trouble reading binary code? Ok, if you really need help, copy and paste the code above into the translator located at the following: Binary

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2006 11:45 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

The Christmas spirit was in the air and Keith felt like getting in touch with his inner-shopper today so he climbed in the car along with Scott, Annie, Don and myself and we headed off in search for the purrrr-fect gifts for Kirby. Needless to say I think Kirby will be very pleased with his presents on Christmas morning. Apart from doing a good thing for Kirby, Keith did a good thing for himself as well just by getting out of the house and giving his legs a little workout.

December 14th - 17th: Bye Bye Tumor

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2006 10:41 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

I could draw this narrative out and bury the one bit of information that you want to know somewhere toward the bottom of this journal entry, but that wouldn’t be very nice. So here it is right up front: Keith is tumorless and doing great.

Now rewind for the chronological details.

Wake-up

8:30 am. 36 hours since his last solid food. NPO since midnight. Amazingly still in good spirits right up to gown time. 10 am and Pre Op is ready. Feeling a little sad now. More releases to sign. Keith climbs into the wheelchair. “Do you want to wear the Santa Hat?” “Sure.” Lots of cheers as he rolls past the nurse’s station and into the elevator.

Pre-Op

10:15 Holding area is very small. Dr. Sydorak greets Keith with a big smile. Keith tries to smile, but it’s hard. Keith asks: “Are you going to make sure that you put intestines back the way you found them?” Big smile from Dr. Sydorak. “Of course.” The anesthesiologists give Keith some Versed. Feeling much more calm now. “See you soon.” In exchange we get a beeper.

Post-Op / Recovery

1:45 pm. Dr. Sydorak explains to Josie and me that the operation went according to plan and Keith did great. We join Keith in recovery - a large bandage over his left side, still groggy and quite sore. He asks: “Did they save my kidney?” “Yes they did.” A sigh of relief. Keith is rigged up with a ‘magic button’ allowing him to administer his own pain medication through his central line.

Back Upstairs

to the same room we stayed in last night. No PICU. Keith tries to sleep – it really hurts to move and talk. So we’re quiet. Later Scott, Annie and Don stop by to greet Keith – still very quiet but happy to see them nonetheless.

A long day in a long journey. And a very good day indeed.... even though Keith might not think so right now.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2006 10:04 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

It’s pretty late here at the hospital and Keith is awake, comfortable and watching a movie on his portable DVD player. From what I can tell he is feeling much better tonight than this morning and certainly much better than last night at this time. He hasn’t had to use the ‘magic’ morphine button for about nine hours and he even managed to get into the bedside chair while his linens were changed. It hurt but it was good for him (so they say). Still not any real food intake since Tuesday pm but there is an inkling of an appetite starting to re-emerge.

We really appreciate all of the well wishes in Keith’s guestbook yesterday. Thanks for taking the time to write so many notes.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2006 10:04 PM, PST

“Whatever you do, don’t make me laugh. I don’t want to blow my dressing off.” Keith

Parent’s Note:

Keith is feeling soooooo much better today. All of the Keithianisms that we have come to love started to re-emerge during the course of the day including his trademark upside-down smile-frown that he later improvised into a new variant: an upside smile-frown-smile. As far as I know he is the only human and possibly the only mammal that can do it.

The first attempt to get out of bed this morning was aborted when he got twisted around, causing him a lot of pain (he points the finger squarely at me for that one). Later with Josie he allegedly got out of bed, walked around the room and then out into the hall for a quick lap.

He felt so good that wanted his computer on his lap for the first time since the operation and after reading a few emails he came across one from Annie that featured photos of polar bears and a penguin video. The ‘blow my dressing off’ comment came after watching the video, the link to which I provide for your entertainment in the event you haven’t already seen it. Evil Penguin I suppose my brothers might both draw some similarity between themselves as ‘victims’ and me as ‘perpetrator’. 'nuf said.

.

As far as in-hospital television programming, no Food Network this time around. It seems Sponge Bob is more entertaining (and I would have to agree). Finally, his appetite is returning, and he was given an upgrade from clear liquids to a soft foods diet. Keith interpreted this to mean sushi. So tomorrow he gets sushi from our spic ‘n span new Safeway, replete with a sushi chef who will soon enough come to recognize Keith as one of the store’s premiere customers.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2006 10:47 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

In general, not much seems to happen around here (CHO) on Sundays and today was no exception. Keith sated his sushi appetite and managed to increase his overall food intake from yesterday’s levels substantially. A couple of laps around the hallways on the 5th floor under his own power, IV pole and all, and that pretty much sums up the highlights of the day. The nurses at the station over at the oncology unit always like to see Keith and invariably ask how he’s doing. I offered that he’s just not the same anymore without his tumor….

Hopefully Monday will bring some real productive activity. Keith is more than willing to give up his bed for someone else who needs it more than he does and would happily finish mending at home. We’ll see. My money is on a Tuesday discharge.

I snapped a couple of photos of Keith today with his current beads of courage inventory and I'll upload one of them soon. Heather had asked for a picture to post in the hallway on the “Beads of Courage” board. Compared to the last photo taken with his beads back in September I see three primary differences: 1) More beads. 2) Less hair. 3) Closer to being cancer free once and for all.

December 12th - 13th: The Long So-Long

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2006 08:21 PM, PST

Parent’s and Keith’s Note:

Keith and I decided that for tonight’s journal entry we would test your powers of observation. For those of you familiar with the popular children’s series “I Spy” this will make perfect sense. For those of you that aren’t, you’ll catch on pretty quickly, we’re sure.

Look carefully at the photo of the top of our 'Great Barrier Reef' Christmas tree and see if you can locate the following items. There are many undersea creatures to be found and be assured many more lurk in the branches outside of the field of view of this picture. Go to the photos page and click the link to enlarge the photo.

Good Luck!

A Prickly Blue Puffer
A Jiggly Jellyfish
A Fish with a Brushy Tail
A Colorful Sea Horse
2 Octopi Twins
A Lemon
A Pear (actually a rear view of a cat ornament, but it looks the same)
A Squiggly Orb (looks like a sunburst from the top)
A Green & Red Acorn
An Octopus “Star’
A Lobster
A Golden Pinecone
Corn on the Cob
A White Sheep (rear view)
A Polka-Dot Orb


Sorry, the only prize this time is the satisfaction that comes with completing the challenge.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2006 10:18 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

Keith spent quite some time admiring the lighted tree and shared a long so-long with Kirby this morning just before we headed off to Children’s Hospital. Josie is just recovering from a mild cold and reluctantly stayed at home. So it was just the two of us navigating the registration process, getting situated in a room and spending the remaining day here prepping for Thursday morning’s operation. The primary purpose of being here the day before is to clear Keith’s digestive track. As many of you probably already know there is something called polyethylene glycol and electrolytes solution (PEG), a liquid pleasantly referred to as an ‘evacuant’ that does just that but requires drinking quarts of the stuff. If you have followed this journal you probably also know that drinking medicine is not one of Keith’s favorite things to do. He has been trying his best to get this horrible beverage down but not able to swallow anywhere near as much as the nursing staff wanted him to.

Dealing with this liquid has been so hard for him that his social worker, Heather, actually stopped by and gave him a special courage bead for having to deal with it. He also picked out another special bead in advance for tomorrow’s surgical procedure. These are very beautiful hand blown glass beads donated by glass artists and all very different (I winked and asked if by any chance they had an undiscovered Dale Chihuly bead in somewhere there …..) Most are marble sized with some larger, some smaller. He spent a lot of time sorting through all of the beads and finally picked out a small yellow one with a few red spikes on it. When I asked him why he singled that one out he replied: “Because it is what I think my tumor probably looks like.”

Later the surgeon stopped by to check in on Keith and ask a few questions. Keith had a few for him as well, like “What kind of stitches are you going to use?” and “Do I really have to drink all of this stuff?” Answer 1: I’ll use the kind that melt away on the inside and we won’t need any stitches on the outside – we’ll use a special kind of tape instead. Answer 2: Naw, just drink what you can and if you can’t drink any more that’s ok with me. It was as if the weight of the world had just been lifted from his shoulders. Happily on with the surgery.

Apart from the ‘evacuant blues’ he has been in great spirits and has been wearing his Santa hat on the several occasions we have left the room. He was given a special ‘pass’ to the teen room so he took his favorite video game there and we played it on a large flat screen display where everyone could watch him publicly thrash me as his character pummeled my character over and over. And over. Later we watched a mandolin duet strum a few pieces outside of our room in the hallway.

About the same time Keith heads down to surgery Keith’s grandparents Annie and Don will be boarding a plane to San Francisco. The operation may take somewhere around six hours plus or minus so they might actually be in California before he is out of the operating room. He is very excited to know they will be here soon.

So as they say in the biz, all systems are go. Keith is cool as a cucumber and brave as a….(struggling for an appropriate simile here) a tiger?, a lion?. Not good enough. How about brave as a Keithanator.