[Nfbf-l] latest Caring Bridge entry for Jim Ellsworth

[Sherri]

I am passing along this update. If you guys would like to post, please go to 
the mobile site. It's easier. http://m.caringbridge.org/

Here's the update.

a.. Moffitt Update
Written 4 hours ago

Hi friends and family,

Sorry for the delay in updating. We had labs and a visit with Dr. Sotomayor 
when we received the unsurprising news of admittance last night. We were 
told that we would receive a phone call when our room was ready so we opted 
to go have dinner at Chili's and found dad a new Otterbox case for his 
iPhone at University Mall. We came back to Moffitt since we hadn't heard 
from them and waited around for another good 4 hours before finally 
receiving word that the room is ready. We got up here and settled around 
930-10pm and were told chemo would begin at midnight. This is our first stay 
at Moffitt so Kim and I decided to stay here until all was underway and we 
could meet his tech and nurse for the evening. Kim and I left around 12:30 
this morning and were back around 11.

Dad had a touch of nausea in which the nurse gave an extra dose of 
medication this morning. His color is a bit rough and his hemoglobin level 
is at 8.7. Usually by this point we are headed to the infusion center for a 
transfusion so it's a bit odd for us to not have heard one was going to 
happen. The nurse last night estimated he would be able to be discharged 
either late Thursday night or Friday depending on what works better for us. 
Dad seems to like the food better than at St. A's and overall is in fairly 
good spirits although very tired. It's so funny the different protocols here 
vs FL Cancer. There are some things they get up in arms about that the team 
in St. Pete doesn't, but I digress.

The chemo is given every 12 hours and on the last day he will be given the 
other two drugs prior to discharge. It's been midnight and noon and we are 
about to go into bag 3 of cyclophosphamide tonight. It does look like we are 
back into having to go to appointments three or so times per week. They very 
heavily monitor blood counts here and we will have to go in twice a week on 
top of the Rituxan regiment and Neulasta injections.

He just finished dinner and Kim and I showered him with Moon Pie's today 
from Cracker Barrel so he was one happy camper. For anyone looking, he is in 
room 418, but he has mentioned that it is hard to text or talk because there 
is always someone coming in to change a bag or take vitals.

Jennifer