Monday, March 26, 2007

Update # 102

Day Plus 104

Good Evening,

First of all, the nurse practitioner called Jeff last Wednesday morning saying the initial look at the bone marrow biopsy showed "NO LEUKEMIA".  We all breathed a little easier and have said many prayers of thanks since then.  They still do not have the other reports yet from that biopsy.

Thursday the 22nd was Day Plus 100 so we celebrated the day especially since Jeff had been called the day before with the news that was the answer to our prayers.  Jeff's road is still long and could yet be hard but maybe this is a sign of good things to come.

Jeff is moving slowly this evening since he is a little sore from having the port inserted this morning.  He said he felt more free as soon as the trifusion was removed.  He has a couple of stitches on the right chest where the port was put in and one stitch on the left where the trifusion was taken out.  These stitches will dissolve on their own.  The hour and a half procedure was scheduled for 7:30 AM but they were already running an hour behind. 

We were glad we had driven down late afternoon yesterday and stayed at The Parkway Hotel again last night.  Ken and I went to The Fox last evening with some friends to see Johnny Mathis in concert.  He was fabulous!  The extra sleep time this morning helped with all the waiting today.

While Jeff was having his procedure, I went upstairs to let all the different departments know why he was going to be late for his scheduled times with them.  When he got to the Lab for blood work, they were backed up also so there was another long waiting period.  Jeff finally arrived to see the nurse practitioner 3 hours after his appointment time.  

But it was certainly worth the wait.  Jeff's counts were very good -- so good in fact, that he did not need to receive his usual 2 units of blood!!!  Remember I said that antibody level dropped in half?  Well, maybe Jeff's body is beginning to not fight the donor's blood so much.  Jeff will have to return next Monday to only do lab work and probably then get those 2 units of blood.  They will again check that antibody level.  It still needs to drop more before the donor's blood actually takes over.       

This also meant Jeff did not have to receive that one shot (for the red blood) that bothers his legs.  This was great news to Jeff.  He is hoping they will just permanently discontinue the shot.  He is anxious to maybe have his legs feel normal again.

The nurse practitioner did not call with the anti-rejection med level yet but figure we'll hear from her tomorrow.  Oh, they also checked Jeff's thyroid level (it had been a while) and it was ok so that medicine stays the same.

So, the plans are now to begin appointments every other week.  His next scheduled time is Friday, April 13th.   Remember, next Monday is just lab and possible blood.   I'll still update that evening. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you, -  we can't thank you enough for all your prayers.  You are very strong people to continue to help Jeff fight this disease.  We continue to rely on you.  And God continues His miracles to bless Jeff and us and we are all most grateful.

love,

Marcia