Monday, December 25, 2006
Update # 85
Day Plus 13
Merry Christmas To All,
We hope everyone had a wonderful day. Ours was quiet but good. Santa found us so we had fun opening cards, gifts, and eating goodies from friends. We were able to speak by phone to everyone from both families. And Jeff even enjoyed a Christmas phone visit with Dr. Gauvain, his oncologist from CG. How thoughtful of her!!!
Ken got here at 9:30 this morning and brought with him the tape of last night's 11:00PM Christmas Candlelight Service. That made it feel like home.
The fever did stay away as of Friday night but new issues have arisen. We were told and we had read that days would be up and down. That is why recovery will take months due to various situations.
Saturday was when the Neupogen shots were stopped. Jeff's counts drastically rose in the short time of 5 days due to the large dose.
The final dose of one medicine for graft vs. host was also on Saturday. It was Day 11 (days 1, 3, 6, and 11) and ended up being a half dose due to high counts.
Levels for the kidneys and liver were also high. A large amount of fluid in a short time period was pushed into Jeff to help keep things working properly. Food has not even interested Jeff for days but his weight has kept increasing for 4 days.
Jeff had not been sick for days but vomiting returned on Friday night and into Saturday. Meds got it back under control.
Saturday began the concern of the level of the anti- rejection medicine. That was the one that was IV but changed to pill on Friday. This is constantly checked so it can be adjusted. In a day, the level was almost triple of where they like it. So he only had one dose that day. Jeff basically slept the entire day. He was out of bed only once. Even if he opened his eyes, they closed in a matter of seconds. A small red rash appeared in a few areas of Jeff's skin.
Yesterday, saw a little improvement in Jeff getting up and moving around. But the majority of the day was still spent sleeping. Only one dose of the anti-rejection was given but the level still rose higher. Jeff's hands appeared to have a greater rash and we noticed some swelling in the left hand. The two antibiotics were stopped yesterday since Jeff's counts are pretty high.
Jeff's pulse has been high since the transplant so they did an EKG yesterday. It showed a normal reading.
Both doses for today of the anti-rejection medicine were not given so the level can hopefully return to within normal limits. It has come down but is still double of what they want. The swelling in Jeff's hand continues so an ultrasound has been schedule for tomorrow. Jeff is again lethargic today but did push himself to do a couple of things.
It's been a tough three days but there are slight improvements in the right direction. This will be the course of the upcoming months - rough and smooth. We thank you for your continued prayers until it's all smooth sailing in the end. We pray for all of you in this Blessed Christmas season.
love,
Marcia