Mary Jo had her second Neupogen shot this morning at the stem cell center. They also checked her incision where the Hickman catheter was installed. Everything is looking good there. They will change the dressing again at the end of the week before we head for home. They don't like to open the area to air any more than they have to. With the Hickman and the power port installed in the main blood vessels going to the heart an infection could be fatal.
After our trip to the stem cell center, we took a tour of the apartments where we will be staying when we return to Nashville for the stem cell transplant. They are in the Village at Vanderbilt complex. They are very nice and best of all right across the street from the medical center.
We have to pay for the apartment. But thank goodness, we have a rider on our health insurance policy that will reimburse us for travel expenses and lodging when we are traveling for medical treatment.
In keeping with their policy to treat anyone who comes to Vanderbilt regardless of their means to pay, Vanderbilt's Stem Cell Program will pick up the bill for patients and their caregivers who cannot afford the cost of staying at these apartments.
At dinner we were treated to another feast brought here by one of the local church groups. The wife of one person who has been here for awhile said that her husband has gained 30 pounds since he has been here. I believe it is entirely possible. I've been hitting the elliptical machine in the exercise room just about everyday to knock some of it off.
In the dining room tonight, we met a little boy named Cole and his caregiver, his mom. Cole is five years old and has differential heterogeneous carcinoma. He has a little three year old sister, who has cystic fibrosis, and a dad back home in Knoxville.
His mom said that most of the time this form of cancer is in the extremities of the body. But, in Cole's case he has it in the lining that surrounds his brain. This has caused Cole's head to be a lot larger than it should be. He has scars and lesions on his head where surgeries, biopsies, and treatments have been performed to get rid of the tumors that are surrounding the ventricles of his brain.
Cole has been taking chemo treatments for the last several weeks here to try to shrink the tumors. Next week the doctors at Vanderbilt are going to use radiation on his head to try to accomplish the same thing. Cole and his mom will be here for another five weeks. Cole's mom is a third grade teacher at a school in Knoxville. She has used up all of her sick days and personal days so that she can be here with Cole.
Cole has a Hickman catheter like Mary Jo's. He was comparing his catheter to the one that a gentleman with multiple myeloma had who was sitting at our table. It was amazing to hear a little guy who should be talking about Curious George, Caillou, Pokemon or the latest kids movie talking about catheters, chemo, Neupogen and the radiation that he will have starting Monday.
Cole's bones are so soft from the Neupogen shots and chemo that he can bend his fingers and hands in to positions that would break the finger of a healthy child. Cole was an inspiration to all of us sitting at the table watching him do the tricks with his fingers and hands. He told us he was tough and there was no doubt in any of our minds that he was.
With all that has went on in his five years of life, every word that Cole spoke was upbeat about all the things the doctors were doing so that he will be able to go to kindergarten back home in the fall. It made me ashamed of all the times that I have griped about some minor ailment that I have had. I will think of Cole from now on.
Please, if you get a chance, say a prayer for Cole that through the grace of God the doctors here at Vanderbilt will be successful in treating Cole's cancer so that he will be able to go tokindergarten back home in the fall. Also, please pray for Cole's mom, his family back in Knoxville and all pediatric brain tumor patients.
Mary will have another Neupogen shot tomorrow and Wednesday morning. Then, they will do blood labs to see if she is ready for collection. Thanks for all of your prayers and support, Gerry
What a story about Cole. I wonder where that spirit comes from within that 5 year old body that has already been through so much.
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