O.K. so here's the scoop...First of all, Mike is great! We're still out of the hospital, he's eating real food (well, junk food anyway...), no fevers ( as my Bubbe would say, "poo,poo"), and no fainting!

Now for the rest of the story...Mike will be lucky if he doesn't spend the next few months locked up in another 10x10 room, this time courtesy of the Houston P.D.! You may recall that I blogged that the Greenes and the Praws were coming to visit. Well, Sandee and Brooke and I trusted the guys to keep an eye on Mike during his "day treatment",(oh Lordy, big mistake...) and we went to the galleria for two hours. Only two hours...during which time Ike managed to convince the adorable young nurses that the three of them (Mike, Joel, and Ike) were PORN PRODUCERS from L.A. We're told that the girls became quite excited and began questioning when they could audition (I don't want to know what Ike said--or did...with that question!) Brooke and Sandee and I were cracking up while they told us the story, Now, though, I 'm waiting to get a summons for sexual harassement. This is "Bush" country after all(pardon the pun)...(and, pardon the President). People don't take too kindly to corrupting their innocent little girls (remember all the travelling salesmen jokes? Weren't they all in Texas???)

Nonetheless, we already miss them! It was so great having friends from home. The people here all are very nice, but they just aren't YOU! Mickey and Joan are coming Monday, so we won't be lonely for too long!

Love and hugs to all of you! Happy Halloween!!

Hey everyone...it's me, Pam...We're sitting here counting down the minutes--and I do mean MINUTES--until we check out of Chez M.D. Anderson. They are actually letting us go "home" (well, Houston home anyway). Mike feels well, he's not passing out, and everyone knows I'm about ready to "murder" someone if they don't let me out of here soon!

We're looking forward to company from home this weekend when we welcome the Greenes and the Praws to Houston; it will sure be nice to see a familiar face that isn't wearing a white coat!Even though Mike shouldn't be in crowded and closed places, we can get out and drive around or take walks in the beautiful fall weather. It's amazing how quickly the weather changed from HOT and MUGGY to cool and breezy. It's wonderful to be outside...actually, I guess it would be wonderful to be outside in a f#*#@&*! blizzard compared to beinf cooped up in a hospital room, but hey, who's complainin?! Not me!

My reactions to your blogs....Phyllis, CALM DOWN!! Actually, blogs aren't private property. Anyone can post in any blog. If we don't want it, we just erase it. No need to put out a "contract" on undesireable bloggers! Besides that, the rest of your blog was great!

Neil--as usual, your song was hilarious (after Amy reminded me what the tune was...)
Your messages continue to entertain us, and your concern touches us. I keep accusing our daughter Amy of having a "crush" on you; your sense of humor really cracks her up! She should only have suffered through growing up with you like we did, then she would REALLY know just how much funnier (o.k., and more sensitive and thoughtful) you've gotten in your Old" age...

To everyone else...thanks for continuing to follow our progress, whether you post on our blog or not (although, we really wish you would say HI from time to time...) We may not post as often as we used to, but you are all in our thoughts and hearts. And, it does mean a lot to us that you
continue to be concerned about Mike's progress.

We're taking reservations for November...anyone interested in coming? We could use a little "insulation" between us from time to time...How many of you have spent three months in a ten by ten room with your spouse and a t.v.? Yea, I thought not!! All things considered, we amaze ourselves...we still like each other!

55/45/61

More up's and downs for our treatment. Things are still moving forward in a way that doesn't surprise the MD Anderson staff - - doctors, nurses, specialists - - the path we're taking to our goal of getting out of here in time for baby is not a straight line to Pam and me.

The leader of my primary team has agreed that we can go home AGAIN this week [as long as nothing unexpected happens] and she is the final say on that, and most every thing else.

The team is starting me on some steroids which I'll be able to do at home or during my daily out patient treatment. I may run for governor if I can learn to speak with an accent and I continue to use the gym. There is a gym for us to use here and one at our apartment.

The hospital people are still holding on for a world series win.

54/46/62


Apartment - - N0
Hospital - - Si


SHIT!

I had a little fever at the apartment and our instructions are to go to the ER asap, day or night if my temp was over 38.0 . . . impressed that we use centigrade? The temp threshhold is 101 F.

They put me in an ER room for a couple of days. ER rooms are very highly secure. No bath rooms, guests have to go into a specialty family room where guests look into the patients room from a closed room and talk to each other with an intercom. The whole thing is very spooky.

We couldn't get our computer activated until we mover to a regular room, just an hour ago. So we were incommunicado for a few days. We hope to get another chance to get out of here this week.

The fever was .5 to high for a couple of hours then they found otherthings to deal with, like retaining lots of fluids. They've been giving me lasix, just like the race horses get. For more info on lasix ask Ivan. It makes me pee like you can't believe. I never thought I'd be asking for a catheter, but it saved my sanity & kept my bed dry. [I think Pam might think this is to much info, so I'm sending this without her input.]

Believe it or not, this sequence of events is the rule rather than the exception. The Doc's tell me that I'm doing fine and things are moving along fine. I'm not sure about you, but I would think things would be going well if we could stay at the apartment for more than three days at a time.

More to come

HOSPITAL, NO!
APARTMENT, SI!

Hi y'all...we're bloggin-in early this time so that you won't complain that we're creating unnecessary concern out there in blog-land. Mike is doing quite well, other than when he writes a "creative" blog that even I don't quite understand, but Hey...at least he's awake and alert enough to be writing anything! He really is doing well, though. He looks awake and alert, and he knows where he is and who the president is (I tried to convince him that Bush was impeached while he -Mike--was out of it, but he wouldn't buy it!) He is able to trot around two laps of the eleventh floor at a pretty good pace, faster when he needs to pee. He is still sometimes sleepy, but nothing like last week! We can't wait to get out of the hospital, and we both know that this time he is realy ready to be out!

Carol and John were here for the weekend and it was great to see them and have a couple of days more like real life. ( In answer to you, Neil, we are keeping track of who comes when so we don't have "accomodation problems". When are you coming? By the way, I agree with Phyllis, Neil, your blog a few days ago was really touching!)

We love that you bloggers react and respond to each other! This really is a "cool" way to communicate!

Hopefully we will be sprung from here on Wednesday. Steve will arrive on Tuesday (right at rush hour, bless his heart...), just in time to help me carry all our crap in to the apartment and fix some stuff. (Whoever thought that the words "Steve" and "fix" would EVER be in the same sentence!?!)

That's all for now...we miss you ALL and look forward to seeing you soon, either here or there!

46/54/70

We love you all. The prayers, wishes of good karma, positive thoughts .. and especially the little positive thought about me that slips out when you're doing almost anything. We appreciate it more than you can ever imagine.

stardate 45/55/71 [some people asked to have the countdown back]

This town is baseball crazy. The first series the Astros, won by the Astros the hospital was bezerk. When we went for a walk early this morning, yes kids Pam went for a walk early in the morning, at least half the staff were wearing Astros gear or at least baseball gear. I don't plan any medical issues between 3&7 central time. Actually, we were able to get a hall pass for this evening. Pam & I will be going out for dinner with John and Carol. My first trip not teathered since our illfated TRIP 1 leaving Anderson.

We did have a private Shofar blowing by the Chabad Rebbe. It was nice to know that all of you were hearing the same shofar sounds wherever you were, that we heard here in Houston

The Rudman clan is doing well,we've still got a ways to go, but now its only recovery from the transplant. Keep those prayers coming in. Your blogs are always a treat for us to look at.

Go 'Strows [that's Astrows to you city folk]

Mea culpa!! I'm the guilty one for creating turmoil out here so no current blogs. Let me get you up to date. I'm really doing well.

As you know we were leaving the hospital and ended up back here [this is a clue] at MDAnderson. I had abunch of things come up and all seem to have resolved themself, with a little help from our medical friends.

We're about to give moving out another try. The unusual blood pressue issues that have bothered me have pretty well been resolved.

We haven't said much about the medical care and treatment we have received. Pam and I have been thrilled with the care we have been getting. A wonderful example of the treatment we've received happened on Yom Kippur. Pam saw the doctor who is in charge of my primary team and asked if Amy could call the doctor [by this time the entire hospital knows Jody is preggers and Amy is a nurse] Dr Hosing asked instead for Amy's number, called her right away and had a very good conversation. Amy told us that the Doc was not condescending in the least, was very informative and gave Amy all the time she wanted.

From a patient's and a very actively involved spouse's perspective, they've been all you could ask for.

Now, we can get along with JUST recovering from a bone marrow transplant.

Hello to all of our Blogging-friends, new and old!

Please forgive us for not blogging-in for the past few days; fortunately it's only because we got lazy, no other reason. Mike continues to get better slowly. He hasn't had any fevers, and they have started him on some medication to keep his blood pressure from falling too low when he stands up, so he hasn't fainted for a couple of days (thankfully, because I'm not sure my back could take catching him too many more times!) Wait a minute, now I'm wondering if Mike told you that he was fainting, so to fill you in on the short story just in case, Mike started getting dizzy -and actually fainted a few times - after standing up from a lying down position. They started testing his blood pressure when he was lying, sitting, and standing up. The differences were astounding; for those of you that understand blood pressures, his was actually high lying down, l60/95, sitting was 120/80, and standing could be as low as 90/60...and boom went Mikey! So, they're giving him a drug to keep his pressure up, but then they have to watch how high it gets because they were treating him for high blood pressure not too long ago! So far, the plan seems to be working.

Mike still isn't eating much, but he is trying to drink a couple of fortified calorie drinks made into ice cream milkshakes,and yogurt. I try to find things that might interest him and occassionally I find something that attracts him, like some chinese rice that he took a few bites of. I still believe that he would feel better quicker if he had more nourishment, but I'm tired of badgering him, so we'll see what happens. I won't let him waste away, so don't worry. And PLEASE DON'T SEND FOOD thinking that it will entice him to eat it...it will only entice ME to eat it, and as it is I need Handicapped sized doorways to get my butt through!!!

The plan is for us to check out of the hospital Monday evening, and finally move into the apartment that we rented in August! After that, Mike will return to the hospital daily (not so often as he gets stronger) for out patient I.V. fluids and/or tests. He probably will be at the hospital for 4-5 hours each day. After his appointments, we're looking forward to being able to take some walks, and drives (if we get our car, or maybe rent a car...)so we can see what Texas is all about. For the last few days the weather has been terrific, cool and breezy. Unfortunately, it probably won't stay that way long.


There's some concern about the fact that our apartment is on the second floor. Since Mike started fainting, the doctors have been pressuring us to move to a first floor unit. Unfortunately, because of all the hurricane refugees, there aren't any vacant units available. So, we're on a wait list, and until then we are practicing getting up and down stairs. And, Mike promises to go down the stairs on his tushy if need be, if he's dizzy. He and the physical therapist practiced one day when he got light headed.


We may not BLOG every day, since our life has become rather mundane. We really do enjoy your messages, though. Your trips and exploits are interesting, and often funny. Even your poetry is amusing! And, all of it reminds us that there really is a world out there, with "our place" being kept warm and ready for our return. In the meantime, we're open for visitors, so if your travel plans include Houston, just let us know what dates you have in mind. Our Doctors said that as long as Mike's immune system is reasonably strong (it is!) and our guests are healthy, it's fine to have company. And it really cheers Mike up when he hears that we might have company! So, as long as you aren't ill, and you haven't recently been around people who are ill, or who have been exposed to something that incubates, we'd love to see you! Just give us a call so we can check dates (so we don't get bunches of people at the same time. We want you individually, so we can "savor" your company!)

So, that's all for now. We miss you, and love you all. We wish you a happy, HEALTHY, prosperous, fun, and love filled new year...and we plan to be there to share it with you!!

The Chabad Rebbe came in today and blew the shofar for all of us. It was really nice to have a private shofar blowing just for our immediate family - - Me, Pam, Jody and Amy.

One of the things I noticed during our visits to MD Anderson clinic [before checking in] is that there are signs all over the place saying that no matter what your native language is, there is an Anderson person who can speak in your native language. For a while I thought that was an overstatement. The longer I'm here and the more doctors and nurses I meet I'm convinced this is a mini united nations. Doctors and nurses from all over the world, speaking every dialect you can imagine.

This hospital doesn't take a wait and see approach with any infection. Because the patients have surpressed immune systems, you can't let something get going or they may not be able to stop it.

It was wonderful to have the girls with us today. They've gone to our apartment for the evening and will come back sometime tomorrow. Its fun when Jody is lying down and says "He's kicking" Amy, Pam & I pounce on her belly to try to feel him. So far only Amy has felt the kid move.

Pam & I go for walks a couple of times a day. We don't get very far because we walk in loops on our floor.

Oh, I forgot to tell you one of the useful side effects of of the drugs I get. Some thing, maybe more than one thing, causes my hands to shake. Its been very upsetting to me when everything I pick up shakes. But, ever resourceful, I found that if I put the toothpaste tube in my very shaky left hand, the toothpaste spreads itself on my toothbrush.

I'm still teathered to an IV stand for antibiotics and the like. Until I can be completely removed from the IV I fear I'm to continue as an inmate here.

Happy New Year to all of the Jewish persuasion. You know who you are.

My contribution to keeping this place jumping has been to passout. I've had a habit of passing out 3 minutes after I got up to go to the bathroom or anything else. They have been trying new medications, I'm hopeful the new meds and other procedures will keep working. With my new found freedom, Pam and I walk laps around the building a couple of times a day.

We're thrilled because Jody and Amy are coming to visit tomorrow for a couple of days. We'll spend the holidays together. Our dinner tomorrow night is being sent over by the local Chabad Rebbe's wife. He stops in to see me for a few minutes every week.