Still Struggling

Matthew went for chemo today (3 weeks later) and his blood counts didn't make the cut.  His platelet count was 49 (100 is goal), white blood counts were low, and red blood counts were marginal.  The doctor attributes this to the chemo and trauma to the body in general.  They put him back on steroids and told him to come back next week.

In general, he is doing Ok.  He is tired a lot, but does not feel any worse than he has.  He is able to do things around the house (today he was mowing the yard and painting some old flower pots).  I know he is anxious about the time this is taking though.  

Ok...this slide show is long (like 6 minutes), but it is of all the family pictures we took during our Family Photo shoot in December--you know there are lots of us, therefore, a lot of pictures. 

Haluska Family Pictures 2011

New Schedule

Mathew did get chemo today, but it did require some hoop jumping.  When he went to the office they decided to send him to the hospital to have his platelets tested.  This allowed for a more accurate count (remember the platelet clumping throws his counts off).  His platelets were still low, but since they were in the 70's, they went ahead with the chemo.  Based on the last two rounds, they also made a decision to change to a 3 week schedule.  They said that finishing the rounds was more important than the time period, and each time it has taken at least 3 weeks for his platelet count to come up to a reasonable level.  If he can stick to this schedule, he will finish his chemo mid-April!  Three down five more to go!

Holiday Recap

The holidays have come and gone.  Our family was fortunate enough to be able to be all together for Christmas.  We had Christmas all together here in Dallas.  There were 12 people here in the house.  I don't know how my grandmother did/does it.  (She had eleven children)  Matthew (along with Mom, Dad, Jeffrey-who flew in to Houston, and Isaac) came in Thursday afternoon.  Friday, Matthew and Jeffrey took Evan, Isaac, and Claire to play Putt Putt golf.  Saturday, Matthew spent some time with the kids making a gingerbread house.  The video is a view of the finished product. The video is courtesy of Emily.You can hear and see some of the Christmas morning chaos in the background.

Monday after Christmas we got together to take family pictures, which was a gift from the kids to our parents.  (Putting everybody together in color-coordinated outfits could be a blog post of its own).  After pictures, we came back for some left-overs, and then they took Emily to the airport and headed home.  They headed home on Monday because Matthew was scheduled for chemo on Tuesday morning.  Unfortunately, his platelet counts were in the 40's again, so he was not able to get his treatment.  They gave him another steroid pack, and he will go back again tomorrow.

In other news, when Mom and Dad are able to get back to New Jersey--which will most likely be the end of next summer, they will be putting their house on the market.  My Dad has accepted a job with a new company call Sterling Smartware Solutions.  A big part of the decision to take this job was based on the ability to work from where ever he chose to live.  So, when the house sells, my parents will be relocating back to the Brazoria County area.  He is currently continuing to work as a contractor for the previous company as well. 

I will do my best to try to update tomorrow.  If you are interested in Hebert family happenings, you can check out my family blog at   katehebertfamily.blogspot.com