As Alice has already written, yesterday was the Big Day. The doc said it'd be rather anticlimactic after everything so far...and he was right. Except for the hullabaloo with the singing and the hat, it was pretty uneventful. However, it truly is the first day of the rest of my life. Too bad I slept through a fair amount of it, catching up from the previous night.
A whole immune system to grow. I haven't had to do that since I was a newborn...and even then I had some help from my mother.
Today, I woke up to pill delivery around 6; laid around for about an hour and breakfast showed up. Ate it, put some clothes on and got on their stationary bike for 30 minutes. It's been awhile since I was allowed to work up a sweat so this felt great. Of course, I felt like stopping after 10 and 20 minutes but just kept going. The shower following it was absolutely wonderful...another first, the dressing over my venous catheter didn't need to be covered.
One interesting side note, I got a visit from the dietitian. It seems that starting Wednesday I was supposed to be on a special low bacteria diet. They never told me and the menu choices stayed the same. Starting this afternoon apparently things change. On the other hand, I was told about a stash of "Mighty Shakes" in the kitchen.
My appetite is still good...they say that'll change in the next few days as the blood cells plunge.
As everything else goes around here...we'll see what comes next.
Thanks for taking part in this.
Jerry
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
A Birth day, of sorts
Jerry was given his stem cell transplant today. The staff treats it like a birth day, with hats and balloons and everything. Sure wish I could have been there for the party! I know Jerry will fill in all the pertinent details.
I packed up some of the scrumptious dinner our generous neighbor brought me yesterday (I will likely get three meals out of it - quite a feast!), the afghan I'm crocheting for Jerry, a couple of odds and ends he asked me to bring and headed over to 7E. It is a restricted floor so you have to press a call button to be let in. What I didn't realize was that the doors don't open automatically. You still have to push. Live and learn.
Once Jerry's dinner was delivered, I popped down to the kitchen and put mine in the microwave so we could actually have dinner together. We even shared desserts. His peach cobbler was a delightful topping on the yummy cheesecake our generous neighbor had included in the feast she delivered.
We generally lead a very quiet life. A typcial day has us arriving home from work around the same time many evenings. We then prepare our dinner together and talk about our day. We typically eat our dinner in front of the TV, watching something we had recorded with the TIVO. I guess we tried to have as much of a normal evening as we could. We talked about our day while waiting for the dinner cart. We didn't watch the TV while eating (a nice change!) but we did turn it on after dinner. Boy, we sure were missing the TIVO!
Overall, we spent a nice, quiet evening. It was nearly normal except for the fact that my husband smelled a lot like creamed corn and he actually fell asleep during a mystery! The smell is a side effect of the chemical (?) used to store/freeze the stem cells. Jerry can fill you in on the names of the various meds, etc. It really makes my head spin.
Jerry was so soundly asleep, he didn't even stir when I kissed him goodnight and left for the day. He'd had quite a full day with meds, meals, more meds and more meals. He did spend 25 minutes on the stationary bike they have on the ward. Even worked up a good sweat. On my to bring next time list is workout clothes. Somethings, blessfully, never change.
Off to dreamland for me. Tomorrow is Friday (thank God!) and I do want to go in early so that I won't feel so guilty when I leave a tad early.
I still cannot thank everyone enough for all the well wishes and prayers on our behalf. I feel we are blanketed with love from many marvelous people. We are indeed blessed.
I packed up some of the scrumptious dinner our generous neighbor brought me yesterday (I will likely get three meals out of it - quite a feast!), the afghan I'm crocheting for Jerry, a couple of odds and ends he asked me to bring and headed over to 7E. It is a restricted floor so you have to press a call button to be let in. What I didn't realize was that the doors don't open automatically. You still have to push. Live and learn.
Once Jerry's dinner was delivered, I popped down to the kitchen and put mine in the microwave so we could actually have dinner together. We even shared desserts. His peach cobbler was a delightful topping on the yummy cheesecake our generous neighbor had included in the feast she delivered.
We generally lead a very quiet life. A typcial day has us arriving home from work around the same time many evenings. We then prepare our dinner together and talk about our day. We typically eat our dinner in front of the TV, watching something we had recorded with the TIVO. I guess we tried to have as much of a normal evening as we could. We talked about our day while waiting for the dinner cart. We didn't watch the TV while eating (a nice change!) but we did turn it on after dinner. Boy, we sure were missing the TIVO!
Overall, we spent a nice, quiet evening. It was nearly normal except for the fact that my husband smelled a lot like creamed corn and he actually fell asleep during a mystery! The smell is a side effect of the chemical (?) used to store/freeze the stem cells. Jerry can fill you in on the names of the various meds, etc. It really makes my head spin.
Jerry was so soundly asleep, he didn't even stir when I kissed him goodnight and left for the day. He'd had quite a full day with meds, meals, more meds and more meals. He did spend 25 minutes on the stationary bike they have on the ward. Even worked up a good sweat. On my to bring next time list is workout clothes. Somethings, blessfully, never change.
Off to dreamland for me. Tomorrow is Friday (thank God!) and I do want to go in early so that I won't feel so guilty when I leave a tad early.
I still cannot thank everyone enough for all the well wishes and prayers on our behalf. I feel we are blanketed with love from many marvelous people. We are indeed blessed.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
D-1
It's the day after the chemo and the day before the actual transplant. Overall I feel fine, I had a headache for awhile this morning...finally I asked for some tylenol, knowing they wouldn't give me anything like aspirin. New set of rules around here; no tylenol either since it would mask a fever. They're very watchful of fevers since that'd be an early sign of infection. Instead, they give oxycodone! At least it was a small one. Later I had a little nausea but, when I mentioned it, they gave me Ativan. It's like magic. ;-)
Backing up a little, last night I barely slept. Between being in a new place, with some strange drug running through my veins, and a thermostat that seemed to have a mind of its own, it was challenging. Around 6am, I was awake and decided to wait for the morning ritual of blood being drawn around 7am. Well, that never happened...it seems they do it around midnight and I forgot it. Oh yeah, when I mentioned the thermostat to the nurse, she told me that several others complained about the rooms being too hot last night.
I found that I have choices for my meals! With breakfast this morning (which wasn't bad, but plain), I had a sheet to choose tomorrow's meals from. In place of the inevitable biscuit or toast, I'm getting a bagel with cream cheese! There's also a phone number to call and order a 3pm snack, today I ordered a sandwich, orange and a soda. I'd better start losing my appetite soon or I'll be putting on more than just fluid weight.
The rest of the day I sat around doing puzzles, all kinds but mostly word puzzles of one sort or another. I forgot to bring pencils so Sudoku would be a challenge. The other kinds are either easy enough or there's room to write your guesses real small until you firm them up.
And of course, no word from HR. Officially I'm on medical leave so can't do any work. However, I pop in and out of my email every so often just to see if they miss me. I know they do but I also know that I work with a great bunch of people who can do anything.
An interesting coincidence popped up yesterday in the Admissions office. The woman who did my paperwork has a cousin who's married to a Lipsky in Marietta. To make it even more spooky, her father passed away in March from Amyloidosis. Apparently, it went mis/undiagnosed for quite awhile. He went from refereeing basketball games to having trouble walking...in 18 months...and nobody knew why. He had major heart issues from it, probably avoidable if they caught it sooner. They couldn't do the "high-dosage" chemo I'm getting so he died while he was being treated the milder way. Very sad. At the same time, it's another little glimmer of just how much I've got to be grateful for. Without the early diagnosis, it could have been me.
I have an interesting evening planned. In about an hour, they'll bring my evening pills and hook me up for an anti-nausea drug IV, "ondansetron" sounds more like some machine that makes people start dancing, right? It's trade name is Zofran" which doesn't sound nearly as fun.
That's it for tonight. As time goes on, I'm sure to run out of describing boring routines. For now, I want to get these down for me...so I can remember everything that happens, the good and the bad. So far, nothing really bad.
One last thing, Alice had her own treatment today. A second epidural steroid shot for her problem disc. A friend drove her to and from Snellville for it. Another friend brought her what sounds like quite a dinner, Waldorf salad, a Texas something caserole, fresh broccoli, and get this...even cheesecake! Is she a friend or what?
Well friends, thanks for being interested enough to check in on us now and then. Those little comments and emails mean a lot...please keep them coming.
Backing up a little, last night I barely slept. Between being in a new place, with some strange drug running through my veins, and a thermostat that seemed to have a mind of its own, it was challenging. Around 6am, I was awake and decided to wait for the morning ritual of blood being drawn around 7am. Well, that never happened...it seems they do it around midnight and I forgot it. Oh yeah, when I mentioned the thermostat to the nurse, she told me that several others complained about the rooms being too hot last night.
I found that I have choices for my meals! With breakfast this morning (which wasn't bad, but plain), I had a sheet to choose tomorrow's meals from. In place of the inevitable biscuit or toast, I'm getting a bagel with cream cheese! There's also a phone number to call and order a 3pm snack, today I ordered a sandwich, orange and a soda. I'd better start losing my appetite soon or I'll be putting on more than just fluid weight.
The rest of the day I sat around doing puzzles, all kinds but mostly word puzzles of one sort or another. I forgot to bring pencils so Sudoku would be a challenge. The other kinds are either easy enough or there's room to write your guesses real small until you firm them up.
And of course, no word from HR. Officially I'm on medical leave so can't do any work. However, I pop in and out of my email every so often just to see if they miss me. I know they do but I also know that I work with a great bunch of people who can do anything.
An interesting coincidence popped up yesterday in the Admissions office. The woman who did my paperwork has a cousin who's married to a Lipsky in Marietta. To make it even more spooky, her father passed away in March from Amyloidosis. Apparently, it went mis/undiagnosed for quite awhile. He went from refereeing basketball games to having trouble walking...in 18 months...and nobody knew why. He had major heart issues from it, probably avoidable if they caught it sooner. They couldn't do the "high-dosage" chemo I'm getting so he died while he was being treated the milder way. Very sad. At the same time, it's another little glimmer of just how much I've got to be grateful for. Without the early diagnosis, it could have been me.
I have an interesting evening planned. In about an hour, they'll bring my evening pills and hook me up for an anti-nausea drug IV, "ondansetron" sounds more like some machine that makes people start dancing, right? It's trade name is Zofran" which doesn't sound nearly as fun.
That's it for tonight. As time goes on, I'm sure to run out of describing boring routines. For now, I want to get these down for me...so I can remember everything that happens, the good and the bad. So far, nothing really bad.
One last thing, Alice had her own treatment today. A second epidural steroid shot for her problem disc. A friend drove her to and from Snellville for it. Another friend brought her what sounds like quite a dinner, Waldorf salad, a Texas something caserole, fresh broccoli, and get this...even cheesecake! Is she a friend or what?
Well friends, thanks for being interested enough to check in on us now and then. Those little comments and emails mean a lot...please keep them coming.
November 27...
It's day-2 today. That means it's two days before I get my stem cells back, actually half of them will be kept in reserve so that, if they fail to 'engraft', they can try again.
To back up a few days...Saturday, Nov 24, I came to the clinic for a shot of Kepivance, a drug that does funky things to the lining of your mouth and throat. This is to reduce the mouth sores the chemo will cause. Sunday and Monday I got the same shot.
Today, I got checked into the hospital. Pretty uneventful until 10 pm when they hooked me up to an iv machine with an antibiotic...
It's now 12:30 am. I stopped typing when the nurse came in carrying my chemo. One big iv bag with about a year's worth. I was handed two cups of ice and told to keep my mouth full of ice while the chemo's going in. When it was done, I finished a little more than 3 cupsful. This is another part of minimizing mouth sores. The ice causes the blood vessels to constrict, reducing the blood supply and the amount of chemo in my mouth tissues. It took about an hour...about halfway through, they brought me a sandwich (i mentioned I was hungry a little earlier).
After the chemo was done, I ate the sandwich. The label said chicken salad but my mouth was so numb from the ice, it could have been anything.
A few minutes ago, they drew some blood. I'm told they won't be back until 7am so it's time to call it a night...what a day.�
To back up a few days...Saturday, Nov 24, I came to the clinic for a shot of Kepivance, a drug that does funky things to the lining of your mouth and throat. This is to reduce the mouth sores the chemo will cause. Sunday and Monday I got the same shot.
Today, I got checked into the hospital. Pretty uneventful until 10 pm when they hooked me up to an iv machine with an antibiotic...
It's now 12:30 am. I stopped typing when the nurse came in carrying my chemo. One big iv bag with about a year's worth. I was handed two cups of ice and told to keep my mouth full of ice while the chemo's going in. When it was done, I finished a little more than 3 cupsful. This is another part of minimizing mouth sores. The ice causes the blood vessels to constrict, reducing the blood supply and the amount of chemo in my mouth tissues. It took about an hour...about halfway through, they brought me a sandwich (i mentioned I was hungry a little earlier).
After the chemo was done, I ate the sandwich. The label said chicken salad but my mouth was so numb from the ice, it could have been anything.
A few minutes ago, they drew some blood. I'm told they won't be back until 7am so it's time to call it a night...what a day.�
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Next phase of the adventure
Today was another hurry up and wait day. Initially we'd been told to come to admissions around 10 in the morning. Happily, we got a call suggesting we would be more comfortable waiting at home until Jerry's room was ready. It was more comfortable, but it didn't make the waiting any easier!
Finally, a bit after 4 in the afternoon, Jerry was admitted and we were shown to his room. The room is great. It's nice and big and it's a corner room so we have quite a nice view.
We met a number of the staff and found them each to be quite friendly and helpful.
Today is chemo day, but it is not scheduled until 10 p.m! I had hoped to be with him during the chemo treatment, but I'll be asleep by then as I have an early morning doctor appointment of my own. I'm going for a second epidural shot of steroids in my lower back as treatment for a bulging disk. Just one adventure after another!
I can never say thank you too often for all of the prayers and well wishes. If I weren't so darned grateful, I might be embarrassed by our riches!
More as our stories unfold!
Finally, a bit after 4 in the afternoon, Jerry was admitted and we were shown to his room. The room is great. It's nice and big and it's a corner room so we have quite a nice view.
We met a number of the staff and found them each to be quite friendly and helpful.
Today is chemo day, but it is not scheduled until 10 p.m! I had hoped to be with him during the chemo treatment, but I'll be asleep by then as I have an early morning doctor appointment of my own. I'm going for a second epidural shot of steroids in my lower back as treatment for a bulging disk. Just one adventure after another!
I can never say thank you too often for all of the prayers and well wishes. If I weren't so darned grateful, I might be embarrassed by our riches!
More as our stories unfold!
Monday, November 19, 2007
The Whirlwind
Wow...another 3 weeks have gone by without me writing anything here. I swear it seems like just yesterday...but so much has happened.
When I last wrote something down, I was waiting for a call back from the nephrologist. They returned my second call, after another two day wait. I was told to take two pills, one morning and another early afternoon, instead of just one in the morning. Been there, done that. Then they said take two every morning and another two early afternoon. With that dosage, things have stopped getting worse...Finally! Oh yeah, and I'm in the market for a new nephrologist...anybody know one? ;-)
Around the same time, my coordinator at the hospital called my pharmacist to order the self-injectable growth hormone. They quoted her a price of $6,000 for my co-pay! A call to the insurance company's 'case worker' was useless. She told me that I can submit the $6,000 and be reimbursed for 80%; that still leaves $1200 out of MY pocket. We worked it out without using the insurance company's "pharmacy" plan; going to the hospital every morning for two shots put it on the "medical plan" rather than the "pharmacy plan". Saved some big bucks there! However, I was sort of looking forward to my next Red Cross blood donation when I could say yes to their age-old question, "Have you ever taken self-injected drugs?"
We started the shots on a Friday morning. By Saturday afternoon, I felt like I had no energy, felt achy all over. Generally I felt like I had the flu...just like they said. Some hip and sternum pain (where we have most of our bone marrow). I filled their pain killer prescription but was able to get by with Tylenol. This sort of goes against my Life Lesson #237 but other drugs did the trick so I guess it's okay.
The following Monday, I had my port put in. It's officially called a tri-lumen Hickman catheter and gives them 3 places to connect to my blood system...attached right up to my heart. They come out near the front of my shoulder and just dangle there, sometimes I can hear them clink together. It's weird. There's daily maintenance for it as well as a bandage change every 2-3 days or when it gets wet.
Having it put in was interesting. They got me in this X-ray & CT scanner on my back. Got everything covered and I hear the surgeon chatting with someone. I said something but don't remember what...it was basically that they should wait until I'm under to have their little chat. Good thing I said it because they thought I was already out! I know I got a second shot then and thought that was it. I was told afterward that it took three shots of Versed to put me under.
My wife has already described everything through Tuesday so I won't bore you with another description of the same stuff. Suffice it to say that it's been the most unusual time of my life.
So, we finish up the stem cell collection in record time and I figured that I'm off for the week, right? Nope. Got a call from Sarah, the coordinator Wednesday saying that I've got to come in Friday afternoon to sign "consents". Anybody who's gone for just about any procedure knows what this is all about...it's where they tell you anything and everything that could possibly ever happen to you as a result of this. When they say "informed consents", they mean just that. I think it said I might get hit by a truck due to this. They told me about things that might happen 7-10 years from now! I may have left out that we did something similar for the catheter implant as well as the stem cell collection.
That afternoon, I found out that I've got one more series of shots before Chemo day or, as they put it, Day -2...that is two days before stem cell infusion. Yup Saturday, Sunday and Monday after Thanksgiving, I get some sort of shots that'll make the lining of my mouth thicken up a lot. That's to ease any mouth sores that might be caused by the chemo. Lucky me.
Oh yeah, and I'm told that 60% of people who go through this will get shingles. If you've ever had Chicken Pox, the virus that caused it is still hiding in your body somewhere...weakened but waiting. So when my immune system slows/shuts down, it'll cause shingles.
Enough of that stuff...
I'm still discussing medical leave with the HR department. So far, with the existing paperwork, I will not be allowed to work while I'm out. The doc, Sarah and I are working on some more specific wording since HR seems to take things a bit too literally. I WILL not be shut out of the project I've already put a year into...it goes live early next year and I'll be there for it.
At the rate I've been going, my next update might be from the hospital.
To everyone, have a great Thanksgiving, We had ours last weekend before we knew the schedule. Now it seems we're going to another feast this Thursday! Such a deal!
As my wife said, thank you all for your good wishes and prayers.
Bikenut
When I last wrote something down, I was waiting for a call back from the nephrologist. They returned my second call, after another two day wait. I was told to take two pills, one morning and another early afternoon, instead of just one in the morning. Been there, done that. Then they said take two every morning and another two early afternoon. With that dosage, things have stopped getting worse...Finally! Oh yeah, and I'm in the market for a new nephrologist...anybody know one? ;-)
Around the same time, my coordinator at the hospital called my pharmacist to order the self-injectable growth hormone. They quoted her a price of $6,000 for my co-pay! A call to the insurance company's 'case worker' was useless. She told me that I can submit the $6,000 and be reimbursed for 80%; that still leaves $1200 out of MY pocket. We worked it out without using the insurance company's "pharmacy" plan; going to the hospital every morning for two shots put it on the "medical plan" rather than the "pharmacy plan". Saved some big bucks there! However, I was sort of looking forward to my next Red Cross blood donation when I could say yes to their age-old question, "Have you ever taken self-injected drugs?"
We started the shots on a Friday morning. By Saturday afternoon, I felt like I had no energy, felt achy all over. Generally I felt like I had the flu...just like they said. Some hip and sternum pain (where we have most of our bone marrow). I filled their pain killer prescription but was able to get by with Tylenol. This sort of goes against my Life Lesson #237 but other drugs did the trick so I guess it's okay.
The following Monday, I had my port put in. It's officially called a tri-lumen Hickman catheter and gives them 3 places to connect to my blood system...attached right up to my heart. They come out near the front of my shoulder and just dangle there, sometimes I can hear them clink together. It's weird. There's daily maintenance for it as well as a bandage change every 2-3 days or when it gets wet.
Having it put in was interesting. They got me in this X-ray & CT scanner on my back. Got everything covered and I hear the surgeon chatting with someone. I said something but don't remember what...it was basically that they should wait until I'm under to have their little chat. Good thing I said it because they thought I was already out! I know I got a second shot then and thought that was it. I was told afterward that it took three shots of Versed to put me under.
My wife has already described everything through Tuesday so I won't bore you with another description of the same stuff. Suffice it to say that it's been the most unusual time of my life.
So, we finish up the stem cell collection in record time and I figured that I'm off for the week, right? Nope. Got a call from Sarah, the coordinator Wednesday saying that I've got to come in Friday afternoon to sign "consents". Anybody who's gone for just about any procedure knows what this is all about...it's where they tell you anything and everything that could possibly ever happen to you as a result of this. When they say "informed consents", they mean just that. I think it said I might get hit by a truck due to this. They told me about things that might happen 7-10 years from now! I may have left out that we did something similar for the catheter implant as well as the stem cell collection.
That afternoon, I found out that I've got one more series of shots before Chemo day or, as they put it, Day -2...that is two days before stem cell infusion. Yup Saturday, Sunday and Monday after Thanksgiving, I get some sort of shots that'll make the lining of my mouth thicken up a lot. That's to ease any mouth sores that might be caused by the chemo. Lucky me.
Oh yeah, and I'm told that 60% of people who go through this will get shingles. If you've ever had Chicken Pox, the virus that caused it is still hiding in your body somewhere...weakened but waiting. So when my immune system slows/shuts down, it'll cause shingles.
Enough of that stuff...
I'm still discussing medical leave with the HR department. So far, with the existing paperwork, I will not be allowed to work while I'm out. The doc, Sarah and I are working on some more specific wording since HR seems to take things a bit too literally. I WILL not be shut out of the project I've already put a year into...it goes live early next year and I'll be there for it.
At the rate I've been going, my next update might be from the hospital.
To everyone, have a great Thanksgiving, We had ours last weekend before we knew the schedule. Now it seems we're going to another feast this Thursday! Such a deal!
As my wife said, thank you all for your good wishes and prayers.
Bikenut
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Lots of prep
Hello all,
Bikenut's wife here. I've never attempted this before, but those of you who know me know that I love to talk, so how difficult can blogging be, right?
First and foremost, I know I speak for both of us when I say a big THANK YOU for all of your thoughts and prayers. I cannot tell you just how much that means to me. You all know I am a really corn ball, so it won't surprise to hear me say how wonderfully hugged I feel each time one of you asks how we are doing.
I have now experienced the hurry up and wait of medical care. The "hurry up" was mostly of my making, but the waiting is the norm, not the exception. On Monday we arrived quite early (7 a.m.) for Jerry to have lab work and growth hormone shots done before having his Hickman catheter surgically placed. The lab work and shots were both done in the Winship Center clinic, ground floor. The surgery was done in the radiology something department in the hospital which we got to by traveling through a rather long tunnel.
It was fascinating to watch as the crew arrived for work and got started. It's such a different environment from the one I work in, yet it really is similar. We have people to help and paperwork to shuffle to make that happen. Jerry, I'm sure, will fill in all the technical aspects of what was done. I'm thrilled that I remember the thingie is called a Hickman catheter!
On Tuesday, we again reported early, but not quite as early. Heck we almost got to sleep in as we didn't need to be there until 7:30. This time we went to the 6th floor of the hospital. Betsy, our very own nurse for the occasion, hooked Jerry up to this bizarre looking machine that somehow magically drew the white blood cells from his blood and returned the rest to him. Betsy was quite pleased that the bag was filling with a creamy rose colored substance, which indicated to her that there were plenty of stem cells in the bag. We found out later that the doc said he'd be happy with 6 million; Jerry produced 10 million in just one sitting!
On Wednesday, we really got to be lazy. We didn't have to be there until 7:45! Jerry again had lab work done, which is much easier for the techs now that he has the Hickman catheter, and he had the dressing changed over the entrance of it since he got it wet in the shower. Later, after more waiting (surprise!) I was shown how to flush the tubes of his Hickman catheter and how to change the dressing. Not exactly how I expected to be spending the holiday season, but heck, I'm always open to a new challenge!
We now have a schedule of events. Jerry will be admitted to the hospital and given his chemo treatment on Tuesday, November 27th. He will have a day of rest and then receive the stem cell transplant on Thursday, November 29th. As you might note, this is AFTER Thanksgiving, so we didn't need to have it early. But we did and it was fun and I'm glad we did it when we did. Now we can just kick back for R&R for the 4 day holiday weekend!
Okay, I think that brings you up to date on my impressions of what has been happening this past week. Stay tuned for the real deal from my Handsome Husband!
Bikenut's wife here. I've never attempted this before, but those of you who know me know that I love to talk, so how difficult can blogging be, right?
First and foremost, I know I speak for both of us when I say a big THANK YOU for all of your thoughts and prayers. I cannot tell you just how much that means to me. You all know I am a really corn ball, so it won't surprise to hear me say how wonderfully hugged I feel each time one of you asks how we are doing.
I have now experienced the hurry up and wait of medical care. The "hurry up" was mostly of my making, but the waiting is the norm, not the exception. On Monday we arrived quite early (7 a.m.) for Jerry to have lab work and growth hormone shots done before having his Hickman catheter surgically placed. The lab work and shots were both done in the Winship Center clinic, ground floor. The surgery was done in the radiology something department in the hospital which we got to by traveling through a rather long tunnel.
It was fascinating to watch as the crew arrived for work and got started. It's such a different environment from the one I work in, yet it really is similar. We have people to help and paperwork to shuffle to make that happen. Jerry, I'm sure, will fill in all the technical aspects of what was done. I'm thrilled that I remember the thingie is called a Hickman catheter!
On Tuesday, we again reported early, but not quite as early. Heck we almost got to sleep in as we didn't need to be there until 7:30. This time we went to the 6th floor of the hospital. Betsy, our very own nurse for the occasion, hooked Jerry up to this bizarre looking machine that somehow magically drew the white blood cells from his blood and returned the rest to him. Betsy was quite pleased that the bag was filling with a creamy rose colored substance, which indicated to her that there were plenty of stem cells in the bag. We found out later that the doc said he'd be happy with 6 million; Jerry produced 10 million in just one sitting!
On Wednesday, we really got to be lazy. We didn't have to be there until 7:45! Jerry again had lab work done, which is much easier for the techs now that he has the Hickman catheter, and he had the dressing changed over the entrance of it since he got it wet in the shower. Later, after more waiting (surprise!) I was shown how to flush the tubes of his Hickman catheter and how to change the dressing. Not exactly how I expected to be spending the holiday season, but heck, I'm always open to a new challenge!
We now have a schedule of events. Jerry will be admitted to the hospital and given his chemo treatment on Tuesday, November 27th. He will have a day of rest and then receive the stem cell transplant on Thursday, November 29th. As you might note, this is AFTER Thanksgiving, so we didn't need to have it early. But we did and it was fun and I'm glad we did it when we did. Now we can just kick back for R&R for the 4 day holiday weekend!
Okay, I think that brings you up to date on my impressions of what has been happening this past week. Stay tuned for the real deal from my Handsome Husband!
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