Mary Jo Update #4 - Ambulances, fire trucks, trains and finally dogs

Our appointment at Vanderbilt was at 8 am CDT today. We left home at around 5:30 am to make sure that we got here on time. Mary Jo had blood drawn and a test done to make sure that she doesn't have a cold, or the flu. She also got more prescriptions before her line placement surgery tomorrow. One is an antibiotic to prevent infection, one for pain and one for nausea. Thank goodness for prescription plans.

Dr. Bipin Savani

We also got the opportunity to meet with her transplant doctor, Dr. Bipin Savani. Dr. Savani is the director of  long term transplantation at the center here. The meeting with Dr. Savani was very upbeat and encouraging. The most recent statistics for patients undergoing an autologous transplant who are in remission after treatment with the chemo regimen that Mary Jo had indicate a success rate of 75%-85% without relapse for 7-10 years. The success rate for this group of patients has increased considerably in the last five years.  

As I said earlier, on the agenda for tomorrow is her surgery to place a Hickman catheter for the transplant. The Hickman is a little different than the power port used for her chemo treatment IVs. It has an input port and an output port. Lines from it will connect Mary Jo to the apheresis machine that separates the stem cells from her blood stream. The apheresis machine is also used when stem cells are given back on transplant day. 

It was  a stormy day here. A lot of ponding and street flooding.
We were finished at the stem cell clinic about noon today. Just about the time the monsoons started. 

We are staying at a 41 room hotel owned by the American Cancer Society. Cancer patients and their caregivers, who are away from home, can stay at the facility absolutely free. A Sunday school class from a local Baptist church brought in fried chicken and all the fixings for everyone staying here tonight. 

We met a gentleman at dinner tonight from Shelbyville, TN with his wife and mom. he has Acute Myeloid Lukemia. He was having trouble getting rid of what he thought were flu symptoms . When he finally went to his primary care doctor and tests were run, he was told to go straight to Vanderbilt that without a stem cell transplant, he had no more than three weeks to live. 

It was surely a shocking experience for him and his family. He looked to be in his mid 40's. He and his wife have three little girls. He was in the hospital for 58 days missingThanksgiving and Christmas at home with his family. He had an allogeneic stem cell transplant. His sister was his donor. Thankfully, she was a perfect match. This man was so grateful for everything that had been done for him by Dr. Savani and the transplant team at Vanderbilt. He said that they basically gave him his life back. He encouraged and ensured Mary Jo that the doctors here would get her through this, and everything would be OK.

Now, for the title of this update. The people where we are staying are wonderful, and the facility is great. There is a little problem with the location though. There is a fire house right across the street from the hotel. On the other side of the hotel are some railroad tracks. And somewhere out there, one of the neighbors has a dog. It got to be comical earlier. The EMS or firemen would respond to a call. The dog barks. Everything gets quiet for awhile. Then, a train goes by waking the dog up. The dog barks. It's quiet for awhile. Then the cycle happens all over again, and again.

It has been quiet for a little while. Hopefully, it will last. Good night all.