Post-Transplant Day +35

Last week I had frank discussion with the nurse practitioner (Steve was there) about his lack of motivation, low energy and abysmal diet. He was spending too much time in the recliner and just not eating and drinking enough. (He'd lost a total of 18 pounds) I was concerned that he was going to spiral downward if something wasn't done. She talked about some medicine she could prescribe to help Steve to eat more and told him how important it was for him to get up and move around. He agreed to try harder and postponed taking the new med's.

This past week Steve doubled his daily intake of food and drink (about 700 to 1,000 calories) and made sure he spent more time out of the recliner. We have both seen an improvement in his energy level and in how he feels. He certainly looks better! "In and Out" has seen a lot of us in the last week. Yesterday we saw the nurse practitioner again and she remarked at how much better he looked. His blood counts are good, but his m-spike was at 1.3 (Same as it was pre-transplant :-( She said it will sometimes go up before it will go down. They will do a bone marrow biopsy in February which will be more conclusive so and we've decided not to worry about the m-spike (cancer number) for the time being.

Thank you for your prayers and please add Daisy, Hayden, Natalie and Rosemary to your list.

God bless you and have a safe and happy new year!

Day +23

Hello Everyone. We celebrated Steve's birthday this week! I bought one of his favorite cakes, a white chocolate raspberry buntlet from the "Nothing Bunt Cakes" store. Unfortunately he didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped. Although his appetite has somewhat increased the cake didn't taste very good to him and he didn't feel like eating a whole lot of it. Although he has been eating a little more each day and the taste of food is improving, how ever so slightly.
This week his red blood cells and platelet counts were good but his white blood counts and ANC (0.8) took a dive. So he's back on the neupogen shots again. I was not excited about giving the shots but I told him that I was grateful for what the neupogen does for him. He's still on the anti-nausea pills, but they are contributing to his fatigue. The days are long as we wait for him to gain strength and energy. And it's hard to sleep at night, for both of us.
But we are resting in the Lord and thank him each day for the life we have and most importantly for the hope we have in Jesus. Be sure to give your loved ones a hug and tell them how much you love them. You never know what tomorrow will bring.

Merry Christmas
Isaiah 53

Day +16

Hello Everyone! It's so good to be home. Steve is still feeling very tired, is not eating or drinking very much (Less then a baby bird!) and still having nausea and vomiting. So they arranged for a home care nurse to come out and start him on daily i.v. fluids for a week, beginning Wednesday. The nurse then showed me how to do it so she wouldn't have to come every day. Prayerfully by next week Steve will stop getting sick and his appetite will come back.

He keeps asking "When will I feel better?" I have told him his recovery will take a while, it may take several months before he begins to feel normal. But he is so eager to feel good and go back to doing everything he likes to do. It's hard for a man like Steve to just sit around. He has never been lazy and loves to keep his mind and body active.

Please continue to prayer for both of us. Also pray for our friends, Natalie, Ray, Kryslynn, little Hayden and little Haven.
God is good all the time, and all the time God is good!

Going Home!

Ever since Steve found out his blood counts were high enough for him to go home, he's made sure to tell every doctor that he saw, that he was ready to go! Even though he had to pass a few So I'm sure w tests first and begin eating. He even discussed with one doctor about how leaving at certain times would be better for us so we could avoid all the traffic on the 405. LOL! So I'm sure you can tell by the smile on his face that he is one happy guy!

Hopefully we'll be home by 4:oopm.......and will continue to keep you posted on his progress. As I said before it will be many months before he is fully recovered. He's going home with the same immunity as a newborn baby.

Day +11 Good News

Around here transplant day is considered a patients new "Birthday". In fact they gave us a cake to help celebrate the new day. Unfortunately neither one of us felt like eating it. The day I've been anxiously waiting for was today. Today's blood counts brought definitive proof that his stem cells have grafted and are doing their job, creating new blood! I am so relieved. It's not that I felt the transplant wouldn't work. I just needed to see tangible evidence that it did. He still has a long way to go before he is fully recovered.

His ANC and white blood cell counts increased dramatically from Saturday to Sunday. The WBC went from .83 to 2.55 and the ANC went from 0.4 to 1.7! He is no longer neutropenic and that means he could have gone home except for what happened on Friday, and his lack of eating.

On Friday night Steve experienced a new problem, Supraventricular Tachycardia. Well not new. If you have been following the blog since the beginning then you know that this happened once before on New Year's Eve of this year. They ruled out heart attack, pulmonary embolism, fever, etc. after they gave him a drug called metoprolol which regulated his heart rate. He's now receiving it twice a day to ensure his heart rate continues to be stable. He's still on the heart monitor and he'll need to have a few more tests to make sure his heart is okay. So now to eating. He's eager to get home and feels that he'll do better over all if he's at home and he can eat the food he likes. I would like to see him prove he can eat and eat enough before he goes home. Please pray that we will be of one mind on this. I feel we both need to be ready and not be anxious to do anything until the time is right. And most importantly I want to honor my husband's desires and not let fear get in the way.

Day +9

This is the view we have from Steve's room. I took this picture last week after the rain. Once you experience what it likes to be confined day after day you learn to appreciate having a view like this. There are some rooms in this wing where all you see is another building. Thankfully we have the benefit of seeing the sunset every night and when there are clouds across the sky it's even more beautiful!

Steve is still extremely tired. His counts are still low and he feels really crummy. Its hard for him to muster up the energy to do what the doctor's ask him to do, walk the halls and get out of bed more often. At times it seems he's beginning to improve but I've learned that he will have good moments in between a lot of bad ones. So until we see a real significant increase in his counts he's going to feel lousy. He's fevered twice over the past few days so they started him on more antibiotics, this is standard protocol. They also took a chest x-ray and found some fluid gathering in his chest so they pulled back the i.v. fluids and spoke to him about the importance of walking, taking deep breaths and sitting up in the chair (or he can get pneumonia). As you can see there is lot a patient is required to do in order to avoid serious complications. But when you feel this sick its just not easy.

Blood Counts

12/3/10

WBC 0.23

Hemoglobin 9.2

Platelets 21,000

ANC Zero

12/2/10

WBC 0.15

Hemoglobin 9.3

Platelets 3,000-they gave him platelets

ANC Zero

Day +7

Steve's still feeling the same as he was on Monday. Not eating and barely drinking, and now we are seeing more problems with his mouth. He did take his bath yesterday but he still hasn't left the room to walk. His counts have continued to drop each day, we are hoping to see them come up soon. That will mean his stem cells are producing new blood and he's on the road of recovery.
I just wish he would feel like eating. It doesn't help that his taste buds are shot because of the chemo. It could take months before food taste like it should.

Counts for the past 2 days

12/1/10

WBC
0.11
Hemoglobin
9.6
Platelets
16,000
ANC
Zero

11/30/10

WBC
.08
Hemoglobin
1o
Platelets
35,000
ANC
Zero