October 28, 2003
Friends,
Today is day 0. Yesterday was spent getting things set up and learning the ropes around here. Starting about 10am yesterday, I was getting nauseous almost continuously. I was very tired and got in as much work as I could after getting my computer approved for use here. For dinner last night, I had a banana. This morning, I got to revisit the banana coming up along with a lot of dry heaves. Later I tried eating a box of Wheaties dry. That was rejected also, so I haven't been eating today. Late this morning, I started receiving my brother's stem cells. They gave me 50mg of Benadryl. That really knock me out. They also gave me Ativan which also acts as a sleeping pill. Needless to say, I have been a little groggy today. I have been struggling yesterday and today with the enormity of the gift that I have received from my brother. Here at the hospital they call it my second birthday. Bob spent all day yesterday getting a catheter put in and collecting cells. There were not enough so they had to collect more today. Bob is now driving home from Tucson. Words cannot express my gratitude to Bob for what he is done to save my life.
On the medical front, I am still getting Cyclosporin A. Today, they added Heparin to prevent blood clots in the liver. This evening they started the post transplant medications, starting with CellCept, which also helps to prevent Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD). I also got a diuretic called Lasix because I was retaining the fluids they were giving me. My lab work shows my blood counts dropping rapidly. They will effectively will go to zero until the new stems cells kick in.
Lab Results |
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Blood Cell Type |
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| WBC | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 3.3 | 2.5 |
| RBC | 4.30 | 3.67 | 3.44 | 3.48 | 3.19 |
| HGB | 13.9 | 12.8 | 12.1 | 12.3 | 10.9 |
| PLT | 130 | 207 | 181 | 208 | 172 |
Our best wishes and prayers go out to our friends who live in the fire areas. Best regards to all the rest.
Ted
tw@wilcoxent.com