Merry Christmas to All!

Just wanted to wish everyone a very merry Christmas!

Now that all the chaos is over, and I can't sleep on this Christmas morning, I wanted to send out my thank yous to everyone that made Leo's memorial such a success. I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family that were able to make everything go as Leo wanted it to. Some of you may know that Leo had me plan all the details of his funeral several months ago, so when he passed on Saturday, Celeste and Christine were there immediately to make everything happen just as he wanted it. After we finished business at the hospital, we spent the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday booking places, hammering out details, just doing everything so that Leo went out in style.

To the project management committee: Celeste and Christine-you guys are awesome. I know how exhausting it was and how difficult it was to plan such a sad event, but you got the ball rolling like no one else could.

To the pinoy snack committee: Patrick-what can I say? Everything was AWESOME! You really out did yourself and I can already tell that Jun is right there behind you patting you on the back for a job well done! All the pastries for both evenings of the wake were such a HUGE hit.

To the floral committee: Arvin-beautiful, just beautiful. Every last orchid and every last lily...just as Jun wanted it. The arrangements were beyond my expectation-thank you so much.

To the dessert committee: Octavio, Marissa, Fevin and Myleen. Everything came out perfect. I am still in awe of the beautiful Bears cake! I know that Leo was looking above with a huge "hell yeah!" for that cake. And all the other pastries were just as awesome-thank you for being such wonderful friends!

To the audio visual committee: Octavio and Fevin-Thanks for putting together the wonderful slideshow of photos that we showed for the three days. I still cry when I watch it. It was such a beautiful tribute to a wonderful person and I think that everyone that saw it felt the same way. Thanks also to you, Fevin, for your amazing negotiating and interviewing skills in getting the photographer and videographer. Those guys were awesome and now I know how a movie star feels! Thanks also for putting together the programs for the funeral. Good thing you don't sleep much....There are just not enough thank yous for what you've done for me. :)

To the thank you card committee: Sheryl-I LOVE, LOVE LOVE the cards you chose.

To the IT support committee: Andrew-thanks for making sure our wi-fi was at top performance so everyone could get all their things done. :)

To the posterboard committee: Marissa and Vanessa-wonderful job on the photos. I'm so lucky to have such crafting experts on my side, especially during a crafting emergency such as this one! The posterboards came out awesome!

And of course, thanks to everyone for attending the services and paying your last respects to my wonderful husband. I can't say it enough. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I already have the photos from the wake and funeral. But there's over 600 of them, so I will go through and pick out my favorites to share. I'm also uploading the photo montage that Fevin and Octavio put together for those that weren't able to come to the services. It's a great collection of pictures of Leo with family and friends. It's about 30 minutes long.

Merry Christmas again to you all. It will not be a great Christmas for me, as I can already feel the emptiness of Leo being gone, but luckily I have my family and friends to help fill that void. Thank you all so much.

Details for the Wake and the Service

Thank you to everyone for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

Visitation will be at Willow Funeral Home:

Monday, December 21, 2009 5:00pm – 8:00pm
Tuesday, December 22, 2009 3:00pm – 8:00pm

Willow Funeral Home
1415 West Algonquin Road
Algonquin, Illinois 60102
847.458.1700

We will meet at Willow Funeral Home at 8:45am before heading over to the church for the funeral mass:

Wednesday, December 23, 2009 10:00am

St. Catherine of Siena Church
845 West Main Street
West Dundee, IL 60118
847-426-2217

There is a reception immediately following the services:

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Biaggi’s Ristorante
1524 South Randall Road
Algonquin, Illinois 60102
847.658.5040

The fight is over.

Leo's fight with Leukemia ended this morning around 10am. The last week has been horrible for him. They were able to control the bleeding, but were not able to drain the fluid that was collecting in his lungs, so he was having a more and more difficult time breathing. He was going back and forth from the ICU whenever his heart rate would increase. On Friday morning, I got a call from one of the doctors on Leo's oncology team saying that his heart rate was really high again and his breathing was very labored. I made an attempt to rush to the hospital, but was stuck in downtown traffic. Thanks so much to Fevin for giving me the advice to ride on the shoulder with my hazards on, as this got me through the worst part of traffic. As I was waiting in traffic, his doctor called again and said they couldn't control his heart rate and breathing pattern, and he was estimating that Leo had 24 hours to live. He was about correct, as this was around noon on Friday.

We are so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family that showed up to the hospital that night. Leo was on the bi-pap machine but on some morphine to make him comfortable. So many friends and family came by that night to see Leo and have some final words with him. He was still responsive to people as they spoke inhis ear. His eyes still opened as they heard familiar voices. We took over the entire 6th floor at the hospital. Thank you so much to everyone and I know that Leo appreciated seeing everyone for one last time. He saw the girls and smiled at them all and the girls all said their goodbyes to their dad in their own way. Most stayed until around 2 that morning and a few of us stayed the night. Around 9:30 in the morning, his doctor spoke with me and said that the oxygen machine was not helping him anymore and we could take the mask off at anytime, but that he would be gone soon after. We stopped the machine around 9:40 and he was gone around 9:45. It was horribly difficult in ways I cannot explain, but Leo was ready to go and was just so exhausted. He is finally at peace.

We are making arrangements for a wake for this Monday and Tuesday and a funeral mass on Wednesday, but we're still confirming plans. I will post the arrangements at some point tomorrow. Thanks so much to everyone for your calls, texts and IM's. I can't respond to you all now at this point, but know that all your kind words will help me and the girls through this difficult time. I hope to see most of you in the next week to pay your final respects to my wonderful husband. Take care and I love you all.

Visitors

Just because so many people are asking, I just wanted to let you know that Leo can have visitors, but as before, if you are sick, or have any sort of cough, cold, sniffle or fever, please stay away. Also, if anyone is pregnant or might be pregnant, you cannot come to visit either as Leo has a virus that if pregnant women are exposed to it, might have some bad effects.

He is out of the ICU now, so the visiting rules are not as strict. Visiting hours are generally 9am-9pm. No kids, no flowers or fresh fruit.

Thanks again for all your support.

Out of ICU

Leo at U of C is like "Where's Waldo?", you can't keep track of him because he moves around so much! After all the craziness of yesterday, he has been fairly stable today and he was moved back to the oncology unit, but still constantly monitoring his heart rate and oxygen levels. He has to use the bi-pap machine for a couple hours each night so he doesn't have strain that much. He's been breathing today fine with just an oxygen mask and it's not nearly as labored as it was yesterday. They have increased his medication to help drain the fluid around his lungs and in his whole body and he's significantly less swollen than he was yesterday. Plus we've requested never to be assigned that nurse that upset him in the first place. So let's hope it's all good news from here on out.

Thanks to everyone that was praying and sharing your thoughts throughout the day. Sorry I couldn't get back to everyone. But I got all your messages and I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family. Thanks so much!

Back in the ICU

Leo has been having a difficult time breathing over the weekend, likely because of all the fluid that he's been getting (medications, platelets and blood). He is really swollen, but the bigger concern is that there is fluid collecting around his lungs that is making it very difficult for him to breathe. Throughout the day yesterday, I was having conversations with a lot of doctors to make sure there were aware that Leo does not want to be intubated. They will all follow his wishes, but were very concerned because he was really struggling to breathe. they had also started him yesterday on low doses of Morphine to help with his breathing.



So around 9pm last night, he was struggling an extra amount to breathe and his heart rate was in overdrive. It seemed to me to be triggered by this nurse that was being kind of snippy with him (really...if you don't like people, you shouldn't be working in a job where you help people all day. But that's just my thought.), but they could not control his heart rate and his oxygen levels were dropping quick. It was very scary, because in a matter of seconds, there were 4 doctors, 4 nurses and a chaplain that had rushed into the room to get things under control. Given the do not intubate instructions from us, they tried a bi-pap machine on him instead, which is a machine that is used by those with sleep apnea to help them breathe. It's basically like an oxygen mask on steroids. It forces the oxygen into his lungs so that he doesn't have to work so hard physically to breathe. The mask got his breathing under control after a little while, but his heart rate was still quite high. They did an EKG of his heart, an x-ray of his lungs and a million other things to see what was going on. They admitted him into the ICU immediately and he is here now until his breathing is under better control. I'm still waiting for the doctors this morning to see what they've found over night. I will be sure to keep you posted as I learn more.

Better

Today was a fairly uneventful day (thank God!!!!). Leo's counts are holding ok. His hemoglobin dropped a bit, but nothing crazy, so he needed 2 units of blood today. The doctors aren't too concerned about the drop and they think the bleed has been controlled pretty well. Leo is pretty swollen from all the fluids he's getting and they have at least allowed him to start drinking water today, which is good. They are going to start him on some IV nutrition in the next couple days to help bring his strength up. They can't do it right now because he doesn't have enough IV points. By the way, he's got the three IV's in his central line, 2 in his arm and one in his neck. And that's not enough. Amazing. Just goes to show really how much medication he is on. He is still not taking any of his pills in fear of irritating anything, so they're just giving him anything they can via IV.

The best news of today was that the girls were able to see Leo in the hospital. U of C has a VERY strict policy that they've implemented form his last stay that no kids under 18 are allowed to visit patients. But I think that since Leo's case was deemed fairly urgent, the doctors made an exception to let the girls see him. So they hung out there most of the afternoon. He slept through some of it, but I know that he truly enjoyed having them there and just holding their hands and hearing their voices. I'm glad they had that opportunity, since I don't think they will let the girls come back. So it was a good day.

Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed their weekends. Leo's out of the ICU and I'll take that as a success. Let's hope it's not much longer after this. :)

ICU Day 3

Sorry I couldn't post sooner. There's just been so much that's happened the last couple days. So when they did the endoscopy on Friday, they confirmed there was indeed internal bleeding, but there was so much blood that had already pooled in his stomach area that the doctors couldn't tell exactly where the blood was coming from. So there was nothing they could do to stop the bleeding, since they couldn't tell where it was coming from. After the procedure, he threw up again and continued to have bloody stools. The transfusions continued. I think the grand total for the day was 8 blood units and 8 platelets. But as the day went on, his counts were still not recovering. They were actually all dropping. Since Leo was being pumped with so many fluids, he has become very swollen and is having a very difficult time breathing and talking. Since his counts continued to drop, something else had to be done. Around 9pm on Friday, they took Leo to have another procedure where they make a small incision towards the top of his leg and inject a dye that was supposed to show where the bleeding was. They couldn't exactly determine where the bleeding was happening, but we able to place clips in various areas around his stomach in hopes that this would stop the bleeding. He was in this procedure for about 4 hours, so it was 1am by the time he got back to the ICU. After the procedure, he vomit blood again and was even more short of breath. But since the color of the blood seemed like old blood rather than bright red, that indicated that it was old blood that was already there, rather than a new active bleed. Leo was able to maintain his counts throughout the night with only a couple platelet transfusions and no red blood cell transfusions, which was good news. Through most of Saturday, he was able to keep his white blood cell count at 5.5, his platelet count was in the upper 30's and 40's and his hemoglobin count was 10.5. Since he was able to maintain his counts, the doctors decided to release him from ICU and admit him to the oncology unit, not on the transplant side, meaning that the girls will be able to visit him sometime soon.

So maybe that was more information than you needed to know, but it's what's been going on the past couple days. Thanks so much to Celeste, Glenna, Allan, Griselda and Patrick for coming by to visit today. It really means a lot to Leo knowing that he's got such great family and friends that are there to support him when he is at his lowest. Thanks so much. He can take visitors now, but as always, not if you're sick, coughing, sneezing or sniffling. Thanks!

Bleeding

Yesterday was a really tough day. They have transfused 6 units of blood and 6 units of platelets and his counts are still not holding. He is still vomiting blood and has bloody stools, so that means that there's still an active bleed going on somewhere inside him. The needed to do the endoscopy yesterday, but since his platelets were do low, they didn't want to risk the procedure. As a precautionary measure, they put an IV into his neck because all his otherIV's (the three in in central line and the one in his arm) are being occupied. He didn't want the IV in his neck, but at this point, I think it's essential. Overnight, since he lost so much blood, they decided to do the endoscopy this morning (they're actually doing it as I type this) despite the low platelet count. They are hoping to find the source of the bleeding and stop it the best they can. They just started the procedure, so I will be sure to keep you all updated as things develop.

Prayers please.

ICU

This morning, Leo threw up a whole lot of blood and they brought him in to the ICU. Their fear is that the bleeding they corrected last week has returned, but at this point, they are just trying to stabilize him since all his counts dropped as well. He is getting 4 units of platelets and 4 units of blood today to replenish him. They are trying to get his platelets high enough so that they can do another endoscopy like they did last week to see what's going on in there.

He'll likely be here at least a few days. I will keep you posted.

Good and Bad

We'll do the good news first. Leo's counts have been increasing pretty well the last couple days. As of this evening, his WBC is at 10.5, which he hasn't seen in FOREVER. He hasn't needed any blood transfusions, as his hemoglobin count has been maintained pretty well. He' still getting platelets, but not nearly as frequently as he was the past week.

Ok-now bad news. Leo fell today and hit his head pretty hard. I think there's actually a dent in the wall in the bathroom. He was immediately taken for a CT scan and they saw something different on the scan that was not previously there, so they're worried there might be some internal bleeding. They are going to re-do the scan tomorrow morning to see how it develops, but are giving him extra platelets today in the event there is some bleeding. Since his fall, he's been feeling extremely dizzy and is being closely monitored. He's exceptionally fatigued after the fall and can no longer get up from his bed, so is requiring much more assistance from the nurses. So we will have to see what happens over the next couple days.

Thanks to everyone that celebrated Claudine's 4th birthday with me this weekend. It was tough for her to have to celebrate her birthday without her dad there, but she still had a great time. :)

Bleeding Stopped

Just wanted to post a quick update that Leo had the same procedure today where they insert a camera down his throat to have a look around. The good news is that the bleeding has stopped. It seems as though the bleeding was coming from his stomach. But what's important is that it's stopped now.

Now the doctors just have to deal with the colon infection and sinus infection. Updates to follow.