Love and Cancer in the Time of Coronavirus

We’d been dealing with the pandemic just fine.  After all, we knew how to quarantine.  This is less challenging than Jeff’s 100 days of isolation when we cooked everything he ate, never ate out, cleaned daily, sanitized all surfaces.  Now when we go for walks, we both wear masks.  This pandemic thing is a piece of cake.

Early on Jeff dug out a full case of 120 N-95 masks from a shelf in his shop.  He dusted the box off and our son Keith took it to St. Mary’s Medical Center where it was received with amazed gratitude.  Jeff worked on projects at church because he could be there alone.  He finished a kitchen job he’d started BC (Before Coronavirus) and then completed projects around the house and worked some here and there. 

Each week of quarantine seemed to have a theme shared instinctively by family and friends.  Clean out closets week, puzzle week(s), bake-bread week, call friends week, freak-out week (Week 6).  During the yellow (second) phase of reopening we began to see the grandchildren again and Jeff resumed his Monday and Friday Grandpop Days.  I was working at home, Jeff was keeping busy, we were faring just fine.

Jeff’s hematology oncology appointment set for March – his first ever annual appointment - was postponed to May.  It was done via BlueJeans Videoconferencing, no travel to the city required.  I popped into camera range to say ‘hello’ to Dr. Porter.  Jeff said he couldn’t believe it had been over a year since they’d last seen each other and that he missed their more regular visits (as if they were social occasions!).  Since Jeff’s blood counts were all within normal range, Dr. Porter said, “See you next year.”

As the summer progressed, though, Jeff was napping even more than usual and feeling “not quite right”.  He realized he was overdue for a physical so he made appointments for labs and a visit with his Primary Care doc, Dr. Li.  After his lab work was done, Dr. Li’s office called to ask if Jeff could come in sooner than scheduled, the next day.  Jeff figured Dr. Li wanted to make a golf date for the day of the original appointment (cynic!).  I thought if that was the case, the appointment would be pushed out, not moved forward.  Ugh.

Unfortunately, Dr. Li believes Jeff is having a relapse of AML and needs to return to Dr. Porter.  Jeff’s red and white blood cells and platelets are below normal range.  Jeff shared this news with obvious disappointment but, as always, he was upbeat and finding humor where he could.  “I told Dr. Porter I missed him…”  Another family member has an unfortunate cancer diagnosis, too, and Jeff said he didn’t want her to “have all the fun”.

Dr. Porter’s nurse, Heather, called the next day.  Dr. Porter is away this week but will see Jeff on September 1st.  It will be an in-person visit with blood labs taken upon arrival which will give more information about what is going on (which mutation?) and guide next steps (targeted therapy?).  Penn issued a special pass for me to accompany Jeff to this visit.

Our family can’t help wondering what this go-round – in the time of coronavirus - will entail.  For me, I hope that some drug, perhaps one fast-tracked by the Moonshot Initiative, can be given in pill form at home and thus avoid having to go to the hospital for treatments.  Kim offered to attend the doctor's appointment virtually and she may provide a hang-out place if I have to drop her dad off for appointments and then stay away until he is finished.  Keith has offered to take his dad for infusion treatments, if they become necessary, since we won’t be able to recruit lots of family and friends to help as we did in 2011.  Kerry and Theresa discussed how Grandpop Days with the girls may be able to continue throughout treatment because at least one of them will be working from home to see to the girls’ virtual school lessons anyway and Grandpop, if he feels well enough, can take the 3-year-old into another room.  My sister wonders whether Jeff’s doctors will recommend he quarantine because his white blood count is low.  And for all his joking, I think Jeff is concerned about treatment side effects.

It is possible that his blood counts are continuing to drop or perhaps knowing he isn’t well is making him feel less healthy.  He is fatigued but, as in the past, there is no pain. Waiting is hard but not so hard as the first time around.