Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Just in case, you needed another reason to hate cancer
I just wanted to share this terrible story that I just read at Mail Online about a young mother in England diagnosed with cancer one day who died the next. God rest her soul.
A young mother died so soon after being diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer that she never got to say a final goodbye to her children.
Kirsty Allen, 29, who had never smoked, passed away with her mother at her bedside before doctors were able to start chemotherapy treatment.
The part-time office administrator, who had two children, Ebony, six, and two-year-old Adam, was admitted to hospital with breathing problems but was told the cancer was so advanced it had spread to her spleen, liver and neck glands.
‘She never smoked in her life, she never touched them,’ said her mother Wendy, 49.
‘She was so healthy and went to the gym and liked keeping fit.
‘They say it was probably because her hormones were at their peak that the cancer happened so quickly.
‘She was a beautiful person both inside and out and she will live on in her children.’
Miss Allen, of Annfield Plain, County Durham, began suffering from headaches and eye problems about six weeks ago.
A routine blood test revealed abnormalities in her liver enzymes and bones and she was referred to the University Hospital of North Durham for further tests.
She was sent to a lung specialist and admitted for treatment when her breathing deteriorated.
The young mother was allowed home over Easter but returned to hospital when she continued to struggle to breathe.
On Wednesday last week she was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer and died the following day before she could say goodbye to Ebony and Adam.
Her mother added: ‘The doctors said they had never seen anything so aggressive. It happened so suddenly.
‘She was diagnosed on the Wednesday and on the Thursday she died. Kirsty lived for her children. She wanted to get through the chemo so she could last another ten years. Adam is only two and she thought if only she could get him up to 12. But she died the next day.
Please pray for Kirsty's two children, Ebony and Adam, and be sure to hug your kids or grandkids after you read the story.
Mary Jo Update #15 - Good News Today! No Schedule Change!
We got the call that we had been waiting for from Vanderbilt today. Dr. Savani's proposal to the other transplant doctors regarding Mary Jo's case was accepted. She begins preparation for the transplant on Monday, April 29th, as planned. She will have appointments beginning at 8am, and a PET scan at 1pm.
The purpose of the pre-transplant PET scan, I found out, is to provide a base line for comparison with a post-transplant PET scan that will form the basis for determination of success/failure of the procedure.
We are happy that we will be able to proceed as planned. It has been good being home for a few days. But, the sooner we get this process under way, the sooner we get home for good.
We are fortunate to have a rider on our health insurance policy that pays for all of our travel expenses while we are out of town for medical care. I spent most of yesterday evening getting the receipts together, and the vouchers ready to be mailed. I think, going forward, I will try to put things on the voucher every few days. So, that it isn't such a chore.
Mary Jo has a dental appointment tomorrow, and an appointment on Thursday with her oncologist here in Louisville to have the dressing changed on her Hickman catheter before we head back to Nashville. The dressing is supposed to be changed every 7 days because of the risk of infection through this central line to the heart. During this procedure, everyone in the room must wear a mask.
Mary Jo will start the pre-transplant chemo treatments at 7:30am next Tuesday morning . Her immune system will be comprised a little more each day until the final treatment on Saturday which will do away with her immune system completely when her bone marrow is totally destroyed.
Avoiding infections for both of us will be critical from when the chemo treatments start until 20-30 days after the transplant when the stem cells graft and her blood levels return to normal.
Masks, wipes, daily towel washing, and frozen dinners will be the order of the day. We were also told to buy new pillows to use while we are there.
As always, thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers.
The purpose of the pre-transplant PET scan, I found out, is to provide a base line for comparison with a post-transplant PET scan that will form the basis for determination of success/failure of the procedure.
We are happy that we will be able to proceed as planned. It has been good being home for a few days. But, the sooner we get this process under way, the sooner we get home for good.
We are fortunate to have a rider on our health insurance policy that pays for all of our travel expenses while we are out of town for medical care. I spent most of yesterday evening getting the receipts together, and the vouchers ready to be mailed. I think, going forward, I will try to put things on the voucher every few days. So, that it isn't such a chore.
Mary Jo has a dental appointment tomorrow, and an appointment on Thursday with her oncologist here in Louisville to have the dressing changed on her Hickman catheter before we head back to Nashville. The dressing is supposed to be changed every 7 days because of the risk of infection through this central line to the heart. During this procedure, everyone in the room must wear a mask.
Mary Jo will start the pre-transplant chemo treatments at 7:30am next Tuesday morning . Her immune system will be comprised a little more each day until the final treatment on Saturday which will do away with her immune system completely when her bone marrow is totally destroyed.
Avoiding infections for both of us will be critical from when the chemo treatments start until 20-30 days after the transplant when the stem cells graft and her blood levels return to normal.
Masks, wipes, daily towel washing, and frozen dinners will be the order of the day. We were also told to buy new pillows to use while we are there.
As always, thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Mary Jo Update #14 - No News?
I will be going to register for Medicare tomorrow. Where did the last 64 years go? 65 seemed like such a long way off just a few years ago. Oh well, I guess getting old is better than the alternative.
I will let you know, when we know.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Mary Jo Update #13 - Home Sweet Home!...at least for awhile
We traveled home from Nasville this morning in time for our youngest grand-daughter's third birthday party. It was a Tinker Bell party. That's Landry with her Mom. She is posing with her Tinker Bell wings and dress. That's Landry's big brother, Dawson, eating cake in the picture with Mary Jo in the bottom picture
It is good to be home, even though, it's only for a little while. Mary Jo said the mental stress from all of this is almost as bad as the physical. She said that she feels almost as tired from the stem cell collection and prep as she was from the chemo treatments. I will let you know what Dr. Savani tells us when he calls tomorrow. Your prayers and support are truly appreciated by both of us. God bless all of you.
It is good to be home, even though, it's only for a little while. Mary Jo said the mental stress from all of this is almost as bad as the physical. She said that she feels almost as tired from the stem cell collection and prep as she was from the chemo treatments. I will let you know what Dr. Savani tells us when he calls tomorrow. Your prayers and support are truly appreciated by both of us. God bless all of you.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Mary Jo Update #12 - Down to the wire...now waiting
We went to the stem cell center early this morning for Mary Jo's last Neupogen shot and collection session.
We got even more good news about Friday's collection. The final count ended up being 840,000 which added to Thursday's count of 600,000 meant that 560,000 was needed today to meet the optimum goal of 2,000,000 stem cells for the transplant. Doctor Savani had set a secondary goal of 1,900,000, if the 2,000,000 goal could not be met.
Mary Jo and her collection nurse, Diane, tried their best, but only 410,000 stem cells were collected today which brought the total collected up to 1,850,000 which left her 50,000 short of the secondary goal and 150,000 short of 2,000,000 goal.
The result of the CD34 indicator from this morning's blood labs indicated that nearly all of the free stem cells in her blood stream had been collected. The CD34 had steadily went down from a .3 on Thursday to a .2 on Friday to today's reading of a .1. So a collection like yesterday's could not be expected.
The team of stem cell doctors meet on Monday afternoons to disuss pending and current stem cell cases. Dr. Savani is going to make a plea for Mary Jo's case with the other doctors since her totals are so close to the goals.
Dr. Savani is going to propose that we proceed with the current schedule for her transplant. To make up for the shortage of stem cells infused, he is going to propose that Mary Jo be given Neupogen to promote the stem cell production after the transplant, as is the practice after chemotherapy treatments.
Mary Jo is not the first person that this has happened to, and what Dr. Savani has proposed has been used without adverse effects on the transplant patient's transplant or recovery.
Needless, to say we were disappointed with today's results. Mary Jo and I discussed a lot of "what ifs" about the length of the collection sessions, and other aspects of the collection process.
But, none of that would change the fact that her collections fell just a little short. She would not have even been close without the remarkable numbers from yesterday's collection. So, we can be grateful for that.
Dr. Savani is going to call us on Monday afternoon after the doctor's meeting. Needless to say, we will be anxiously awaiting that call. At this point, it is in hands of the team of stem cell doctors.
We are praying that whatever decision is made, that it will be the best one for a successful transplant and recovery for Mary Jo. This is our objective, and I know that it is the doctors' objective, as well.
Once again, thanks for your thoughts and prayers. I wish that I had better news to report. I will let you know what the doctors' decision is when we find out on Monday.
We got even more good news about Friday's collection. The final count ended up being 840,000 which added to Thursday's count of 600,000 meant that 560,000 was needed today to meet the optimum goal of 2,000,000 stem cells for the transplant. Doctor Savani had set a secondary goal of 1,900,000, if the 2,000,000 goal could not be met.
Mary Jo and her collection nurse, Diane, tried their best, but only 410,000 stem cells were collected today which brought the total collected up to 1,850,000 which left her 50,000 short of the secondary goal and 150,000 short of 2,000,000 goal.
The result of the CD34 indicator from this morning's blood labs indicated that nearly all of the free stem cells in her blood stream had been collected. The CD34 had steadily went down from a .3 on Thursday to a .2 on Friday to today's reading of a .1. So a collection like yesterday's could not be expected.
The team of stem cell doctors meet on Monday afternoons to disuss pending and current stem cell cases. Dr. Savani is going to make a plea for Mary Jo's case with the other doctors since her totals are so close to the goals.
Dr. Savani is going to propose that we proceed with the current schedule for her transplant. To make up for the shortage of stem cells infused, he is going to propose that Mary Jo be given Neupogen to promote the stem cell production after the transplant, as is the practice after chemotherapy treatments.
Mary Jo is not the first person that this has happened to, and what Dr. Savani has proposed has been used without adverse effects on the transplant patient's transplant or recovery.
Needless, to say we were disappointed with today's results. Mary Jo and I discussed a lot of "what ifs" about the length of the collection sessions, and other aspects of the collection process.
But, none of that would change the fact that her collections fell just a little short. She would not have even been close without the remarkable numbers from yesterday's collection. So, we can be grateful for that.
Dr. Savani is going to call us on Monday afternoon after the doctor's meeting. Needless to say, we will be anxiously awaiting that call. At this point, it is in hands of the team of stem cell doctors.
We are praying that whatever decision is made, that it will be the best one for a successful transplant and recovery for Mary Jo. This is our objective, and I know that it is the doctors' objective, as well.
Once again, thanks for your thoughts and prayers. I wish that I had better news to report. I will let you know what the doctors' decision is when we find out on Monday.
ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING
Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"
He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.' I choose to be in a good mood.
Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life."
"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.
"Yes it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life." I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center.
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?"
I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.
"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, 'He's a dead man." I knew I needed to take action."
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."
Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.
today'sTHOT============================
You have a choice: You can throw in the towel, or you can use it to wipe the sweat off of your face.
=======================================
PASS IT ON!
Yeah, you can send this Funny to anybody you want. And, if you're REAL nice, you'll tell them where you got it! www.mikeysFunnies.com
===============================
He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.' I choose to be in a good mood.
Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life."
"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.
"Yes it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life." I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center.
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?"
I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.
"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, 'He's a dead man." I knew I needed to take action."
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."
Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.
today'sTHOT============================
You have a choice: You can throw in the towel, or you can use it to wipe the sweat off of your face.
=======================================
PASS IT ON!
Yeah, you can send this Funny to anybody you want. And, if you're REAL nice, you'll tell them where you got it! www.mikeysFunnies.com
===============================
Friday, April 19, 2013
Mary Jo Update #11 - Our Little "Miracle": She's Still In The Game
We went to the stem cell early this morning for Mary Jo's sixth Neupogen shot, blood labs and and second day of stem cell collection. They started the collection at around 9am. The collection nurse, Diane Matthews, said that if more stem cells than yesterday were not collected the doctor in charge of the collection center, Dr. Young, and the transplant doctor, Dr. Savani, would have to discuss how to proceed. It sounded ominous.
At that time, we were all hopeful that Mary Jo's collection today would be more than the 600,000 stem cells that were collected yesterday. Then, about 10am the results of the results came in, and they were not good.
Her white blood cell count reading had went down from 40 on Thursday to 36 today. More importantly, something called the CD34 indicator had went down from .3 on Thursday to .2 today. The CD34 indicates how many stem cells had been freed by the Neupogen and Mobozil shots from the bone marrow, and were floating around in the blood stream where they can be collected by the epheresis machine.
Dr. Young came in, and gave us the bad news about the collection results and explained that the chances of beating yesterday's collection number was slim because of what the decreasing blood count numbers indicated.
She went on to say that she would be meeting with our transplant doctor, Dr. Savani, and that most likely we would have to go back home for two weeks and rest.Then, come back and begin the Neupogen/Mobozil mobilization process again. They would save the stem cells collected yesterday and today, and the remainder would be collected when we return to make the 2,000,000 goal.
After their conference, Dr. Savani came in and confirmed the bad news that Dr. Young had given us. Mary Jo and I were devastated. This would have pushed our D+30 day back around three weeks. Instead of getting to go home on June 4th after the transplant recovery period is over. We would be going home around June 25th. More time before we would be able get our lives back to normal.
Everyone sounded so hopeless about collecting more than 600,000 stem cells today. I felt so hopeless and depressed that I asked Dr. Savani if we should just go back to the Hope Lodge, pack up and leave after the stem cell collection, or should we hang around and wait for the collection results call.
Dr. Savani tried his best to make us feel better, and said "no crying" as he handed Mary Jo a box of tissues. He told us that he would call us on Monday after the weekly transplant team meeting to give us a date when to come back to Vanderbilt to start the collection process over again, but he said that we should stay in Nashville, and wait for the call.
The collection process ended about 1:30pm both days. We didn't get the call to notify us of the count number on Thursday until 5:15pm. So, I called the housing coordinator at Vanderbilt to notify her that we would not be checking out until Saturday morning.
The collection count call came at 3:15pm today. Mary Jo and I both looked at each other, like well hear comes the bad news. How bad will it be? After Mary Jo answered the calI and had talked for a minute, I looked over at her, and she actually had a smile on her face. I thought well she's had time to process the impending bad news, and now she was able to take it better than when we first heard it from Dr. Savani at the collection center.
It turns out that through the grace of God, and all of your prayers and ours that the news was not bad at all. Dr. Savani's nurse practitioner, Hava Fife, told Mary Jo the great news. Despite the lower blood count numbers, today's collection had beaten Thursday's number by 150,000 stem cells. Today's collection was 750,000, and she is still in the ball game.
Hava told her that we were go to the hospital for another Mobozil shot at 8:30pm tonight and another Neupogen shot at 7:30am Saturday morning. Since the collection center is closed on Saturday, they are going to move the epheresis machine to the transplant center for the collection at 9am. If another collection is needed, we will do the same routine on Sunday morning. The most Mobozil shots that they can give a patient is four. But we are praying, a fourth one won't be needed.
I cannot tell you what a roller coaster ride we were on today. I reflected back on the day that I looked up the meaning of the word odyssey in the dictionary (a long wandering or voyage marked by many changes in fortune), and decided that "Our Vanderbilt Odyssey" was an appropriate name for this blog and the journey/wandering/voyage that we are on. Even though this was only one day, we had all the components of an odyssey rolled into this tumultuous Friday.
I would call today's great collection number a "miracle". But, our collection nurse told us on Thursday that sometimes the patient is still in the mobilizing phase during the collection process. So, there is a valid scientific explanation for what happened today. They do blood labs after the collection is completed. The difference between yesterday's and today's pre-collection and post-collection blood count numbers was striking. Whereas, yesterday's were consistently down around 10%, some of today's were up by as 25%.
Even though the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of the Saints would never declare this a "miracle". It will forever more be our "little miracle", and I believe that all of you who offered a prayer for Mary Jo's successful collection process share in the great news that we received this afternoon.
From the bottom of our hearts we thank you for every thought and prayer that you have sent our way, and ask for your continued prayers as we continue our odyssey taking one day at a time.
May God bless all of you. Saint Peregrine, pray for us.
When you get into a tight place
and everything goes against you,
till it seems you cannot hold on a minute longer,
never give up then, for that is just
the place and time the tide will turn.
- Harriet Beecher Stowe
At that time, we were all hopeful that Mary Jo's collection today would be more than the 600,000 stem cells that were collected yesterday. Then, about 10am the results of the results came in, and they were not good.
Her white blood cell count reading had went down from 40 on Thursday to 36 today. More importantly, something called the CD34 indicator had went down from .3 on Thursday to .2 today. The CD34 indicates how many stem cells had been freed by the Neupogen and Mobozil shots from the bone marrow, and were floating around in the blood stream where they can be collected by the epheresis machine.
Dr. Young came in, and gave us the bad news about the collection results and explained that the chances of beating yesterday's collection number was slim because of what the decreasing blood count numbers indicated.
She went on to say that she would be meeting with our transplant doctor, Dr. Savani, and that most likely we would have to go back home for two weeks and rest.Then, come back and begin the Neupogen/Mobozil mobilization process again. They would save the stem cells collected yesterday and today, and the remainder would be collected when we return to make the 2,000,000 goal.
After their conference, Dr. Savani came in and confirmed the bad news that Dr. Young had given us. Mary Jo and I were devastated. This would have pushed our D+30 day back around three weeks. Instead of getting to go home on June 4th after the transplant recovery period is over. We would be going home around June 25th. More time before we would be able get our lives back to normal.
Everyone sounded so hopeless about collecting more than 600,000 stem cells today. I felt so hopeless and depressed that I asked Dr. Savani if we should just go back to the Hope Lodge, pack up and leave after the stem cell collection, or should we hang around and wait for the collection results call.
Dr. Savani tried his best to make us feel better, and said "no crying" as he handed Mary Jo a box of tissues. He told us that he would call us on Monday after the weekly transplant team meeting to give us a date when to come back to Vanderbilt to start the collection process over again, but he said that we should stay in Nashville, and wait for the call.
The collection process ended about 1:30pm both days. We didn't get the call to notify us of the count number on Thursday until 5:15pm. So, I called the housing coordinator at Vanderbilt to notify her that we would not be checking out until Saturday morning.
The collection count call came at 3:15pm today. Mary Jo and I both looked at each other, like well hear comes the bad news. How bad will it be? After Mary Jo answered the calI and had talked for a minute, I looked over at her, and she actually had a smile on her face. I thought well she's had time to process the impending bad news, and now she was able to take it better than when we first heard it from Dr. Savani at the collection center.
It turns out that through the grace of God, and all of your prayers and ours that the news was not bad at all. Dr. Savani's nurse practitioner, Hava Fife, told Mary Jo the great news. Despite the lower blood count numbers, today's collection had beaten Thursday's number by 150,000 stem cells. Today's collection was 750,000, and she is still in the ball game.
Hava told her that we were go to the hospital for another Mobozil shot at 8:30pm tonight and another Neupogen shot at 7:30am Saturday morning. Since the collection center is closed on Saturday, they are going to move the epheresis machine to the transplant center for the collection at 9am. If another collection is needed, we will do the same routine on Sunday morning. The most Mobozil shots that they can give a patient is four. But we are praying, a fourth one won't be needed.
I cannot tell you what a roller coaster ride we were on today. I reflected back on the day that I looked up the meaning of the word odyssey in the dictionary (a long wandering or voyage marked by many changes in fortune), and decided that "Our Vanderbilt Odyssey" was an appropriate name for this blog and the journey/wandering/voyage that we are on. Even though this was only one day, we had all the components of an odyssey rolled into this tumultuous Friday.
I would call today's great collection number a "miracle". But, our collection nurse told us on Thursday that sometimes the patient is still in the mobilizing phase during the collection process. So, there is a valid scientific explanation for what happened today. They do blood labs after the collection is completed. The difference between yesterday's and today's pre-collection and post-collection blood count numbers was striking. Whereas, yesterday's were consistently down around 10%, some of today's were up by as 25%.
Even though the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of the Saints would never declare this a "miracle". It will forever more be our "little miracle", and I believe that all of you who offered a prayer for Mary Jo's successful collection process share in the great news that we received this afternoon.
From the bottom of our hearts we thank you for every thought and prayer that you have sent our way, and ask for your continued prayers as we continue our odyssey taking one day at a time.
May God bless all of you. Saint Peregrine, pray for us.
When you get into a tight placeand everything goes against you,
till it seems you cannot hold on a minute longer,
never give up then, for that is just
the place and time the tide will turn.
- Harriet Beecher Stowe
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Mary Jo Update #10 - 3 Strikes, but not out yet.
We went to the hospital early this morning for Mary Jo's fifth Neupogen shot. Afterwards, they did blood labs and started her stem cell collection using an ephersis
machine. That's what Mary Jo is tethered to in the pictures. It's the newest model. They've only had for a couple of weeks.
Here at Vanderbilt, the collection sessions are only four hours long. They started at 9am, and we were out of there around 1:30pm. They collected 600,000 out of 2,000,000 stem cells that they need for the transplant. So, we are at the hospital again this evening for another Mobozil shot. Then, back to the hospital in the morning for another Neupogen shot and more collecting.
The nurse in the collection center said that she has three strikes against her in the collection process. Typically, men produce more stem cells than women, and small women, like Mary Jo, over 60 produce less stem cells than larger, younger women.
The nurse also changed the dressing covering her catheter while we there. They wanted it changed before we head home.
Pray for a better collection day tomorrow. Hopefully, the Neupogen shot that will get this evening will do the job.
The yellow stuff in the picture is plasma that was extracted, and the red stuff is red blood cells mixed with stem cells. They try to extract as few red cell from the patient as possible. The plasma will be used in the infusion process on transplant day. The stem cells are counted in the pathology lab.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Mary Jo Update #9 - No Pain, No Gain & Pics of Cole
Mary Jo continued with her Neupogen shots on Tuesday and today. We had an early wakeup call. We had to be at the stem cell center at 7:30am on both days.
Yesterday, we ate dinner with four ladies who are here from Bristol, TN named Karen, Linda, Rosie and their Mom. Karen has Multiple Myeloma. Linda has bladder and cervical cancer. Rosie and their Mom are the caregivers. We noticed that they always sat together at dinner. We had no idea that they were all from the same family. That's what being family is all about.
This evening, Coach Dave Loos and the men's basketball team from Austin Peay University in Clarksville, TN served the residents here at Hope Lodge a catered pasta dinner. Coach Loos and the players were all great.
The players had a great time playing ball with Cole. Cole is the little five year old boy who has Differentiated Heterogeneous Carcinoma whom I talked about in the last update. One of the players playing with Cole in the pictures below is Matt Hasse, their 6'9" center. Cole was barely taller than Matt's knees. I mentioned to Cole's mom that we had a bunch of people praying for Cole up in Kentucky, and she was very thankful.
Mary Jo told one of the players that we were from Louisville. She asked him if he knew the Louisville Cardinals won the championship. He kind of grunted and said "yeah". Probably jealous.
After Mary Jo's Neupogen shot today, they did blood labs. The results indicated that she was not ready for them to collect stem cells, yet. So, we had to go back to the hospital at 8:30 this evening for a Mobozil shot to really get her stem cells percolating.
She will have another Neupogen shot bright and early in the morning. Then, they will start collecting stem cells using the extracting machine shortly after that. It will depend on how the collection process goes whether she has another Mobozil shot tomorrow evening, or not.
One of the side effects of the Neupogen shots is pain in the patient's bones. The more shots that you get the more the pain is supposed to increase. Mary Jo has had very little pain after the four shots.
She said that she knew that she wasn't ready for the collection process to begin because she had not really had any pain, yet. I told her the stem cell mobilization process must be just like the gym. No pain - no gain. Actually, The nurse told us that the amount of pain wasn't a good indicator as to whether you were ready, or not.
We're hoping that they can get the two million stem cells that they need in the seven hour collection session tomorrow. Then, she won't need another Mobozil shot, and we can head home on Friday morning. Otherwise, it will be late Friday afternoon before we can get out of here.
I hope that nobody got hit too hard by the hail storm in Louisville yesterday evening. We are supposed to have severe storms here in Nashville in the overnight hours tomorrow night. Praying for no hail.
Please pray for a great collection tomorrow. I sound like a pastor don't I.
Yesterday, we ate dinner with four ladies who are here from Bristol, TN named Karen, Linda, Rosie and their Mom. Karen has Multiple Myeloma. Linda has bladder and cervical cancer. Rosie and their Mom are the caregivers. We noticed that they always sat together at dinner. We had no idea that they were all from the same family. That's what being family is all about.
This evening, Coach Dave Loos and the men's basketball team from Austin Peay University in Clarksville, TN served the residents here at Hope Lodge a catered pasta dinner. Coach Loos and the players were all great.
The players had a great time playing ball with Cole. Cole is the little five year old boy who has Differentiated Heterogeneous Carcinoma whom I talked about in the last update. One of the players playing with Cole in the pictures below is Matt Hasse, their 6'9" center. Cole was barely taller than Matt's knees. I mentioned to Cole's mom that we had a bunch of people praying for Cole up in Kentucky, and she was very thankful.
Mary Jo told one of the players that we were from Louisville. She asked him if he knew the Louisville Cardinals won the championship. He kind of grunted and said "yeah". Probably jealous.
After Mary Jo's Neupogen shot today, they did blood labs. The results indicated that she was not ready for them to collect stem cells, yet. So, we had to go back to the hospital at 8:30 this evening for a Mobozil shot to really get her stem cells percolating.
She will have another Neupogen shot bright and early in the morning. Then, they will start collecting stem cells using the extracting machine shortly after that. It will depend on how the collection process goes whether she has another Mobozil shot tomorrow evening, or not.
One of the side effects of the Neupogen shots is pain in the patient's bones. The more shots that you get the more the pain is supposed to increase. Mary Jo has had very little pain after the four shots.
She said that she knew that she wasn't ready for the collection process to begin because she had not really had any pain, yet. I told her the stem cell mobilization process must be just like the gym. No pain - no gain. Actually, The nurse told us that the amount of pain wasn't a good indicator as to whether you were ready, or not.
We're hoping that they can get the two million stem cells that they need in the seven hour collection session tomorrow. Then, she won't need another Mobozil shot, and we can head home on Friday morning. Otherwise, it will be late Friday afternoon before we can get out of here.
I hope that nobody got hit too hard by the hail storm in Louisville yesterday evening. We are supposed to have severe storms here in Nashville in the overnight hours tomorrow night. Praying for no hail.
Please pray for a great collection tomorrow. I sound like a pastor don't I.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Monday, April 15, 2013
Mary Jo Update #8 - Pray for Cole
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
None Of Us Go It Alone
Being human, we are imperfect.
That's why we need each other.
To catch each other when we falter.
To encourage each other when we lose heart.
Some may lead; others may follow;
but none of us can go it alone.
- Hilary Clinton
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Mary Jo Update #7 - Down to zero
We went to the stem cell center early this morning for Mary Jo's Neupogen shot. They also checked her incision where the Hickman catheter was placed on Friday. She is still feeling a little bit of pain in that area. Mainly because they had to tunnel through some muscle tissue to install it.
We also did a little sightseeing at Centennial Park and on Vanderbilt's campus not far from where we are staying. It seemed like everywhere we went there were speed humps which even going over slowly caused Mary Jo discomfort from the surgery.
Tomorrow, we will be back at the stem cell center early for another shot. It appeared that they were giving Mary Jo a larger dose of the Neupogen than what she was getting after the chemo treatments at home. The goal is to get those stem cells mobilized by Wednesday.
They checked her vitals today and all of her blood levels are great. The nurse said that the white blood cell count was especially good. She told us something that I had never thought of before. After the BNCU chemo treatment on the fifth day before her stem cells are infused back into her body, her white count will be zero because the BNCU will have wiped out her bone marrow. They have to take you down to zero, in order to build you back.
It seems like everyday I hear something new about the transpant process that I had not thought of before. It is truly amazing and a Godsend to lymphoma and leukemia patients who for many a stem cell transplant is the last hope.
Today over 17, 000 transplants are carried out annually in the U.S,. and over 50,000 worldwide, and they are increasing each year.
May God bless the transplant patients, their caregivers, and the medical teams throughout the world who are working to give people like us hope.
Here's some pictures that we took at Centennial Park and Vanderbilt today.
We also did a little sightseeing at Centennial Park and on Vanderbilt's campus not far from where we are staying. It seemed like everywhere we went there were speed humps which even going over slowly caused Mary Jo discomfort from the surgery.
Tomorrow, we will be back at the stem cell center early for another shot. It appeared that they were giving Mary Jo a larger dose of the Neupogen than what she was getting after the chemo treatments at home. The goal is to get those stem cells mobilized by Wednesday.
They checked her vitals today and all of her blood levels are great. The nurse said that the white blood cell count was especially good. She told us something that I had never thought of before. After the BNCU chemo treatment on the fifth day before her stem cells are infused back into her body, her white count will be zero because the BNCU will have wiped out her bone marrow. They have to take you down to zero, in order to build you back.
It seems like everyday I hear something new about the transpant process that I had not thought of before. It is truly amazing and a Godsend to lymphoma and leukemia patients who for many a stem cell transplant is the last hope.
Today over 17, 000 transplants are carried out annually in the U.S,. and over 50,000 worldwide, and they are increasing each year.
May God bless the transplant patients, their caregivers, and the medical teams throughout the world who are working to give people like us hope.
Here's some pictures that we took at Centennial Park and Vanderbilt today.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Updated: Mary Jo Update #5 - Painful body Jewelry
We went to the Vanderbilt University Hospital this morning to have Mary Jo's Hickman catheter installed for the transplant. We had to check in at 7am. The surgery to install the catheter was scheduled for 9:30am. The procedure only took about 30 minutes, but we were at the hospital over six hours.
Mary Jo wasn't real happy. Vanderbilt being a teaching hospital, a resident actually performed the surgery under the direction of a general surgeon. She only had local anesthesia. So, she could hear the surgeon giving instructions to the resident when he wasn't doing something correctly. I guess that the doctors in training have to learn how to do surgery on a real live person sometime. You just wished they were doing it on someone else.
Just as they were getting ready to discharge Mary Jo from the recovery room. They rolled in an elderly lady from the operating room who had fallen in an assisted living facility and broken her back. I felt sorry for the poor lady. She seemed to be in great pain and was having trouble breathing. Mary Jo's recovery room nurse had to go help another nurse with that lady. The operating room there is a busy place. I guess they all are. As we were leaving three ambulances pulled up with more people at the emergency room door.
The area around the base of Mary Jo's neck on the right side where the catheter was installed is pretty sore. The Catheter is actually tunneled under the skin from a major artery going to the heart. The procedure to install it is much more invasive than the power port that she has in the same area on the left side. The power port is a non-tunneled catheter fixed in place at the point of insertion.
Tomorrow we will go to the stem cell center to have the dressing changed on the catheter. Then, she will begin the Neupogen shots to mobilize the stem cells in her bone marrow on Sunday. The first session to collect stem cells is on Wednesday.
The weather here was much better today, cooler but sunny. So, far it has been quieter tonight. I have only heard sirens and trains a couple of times. The dog must be tired from last night. I haven't heard much barking at all.
Mary Jo Update #6 - Thank you, Mr. Vanderbilt
We went to the stem cell center at 10am this morning to get the dressing changed on the Hickman catheter that Mary Jo had installed in the hospital yesterday. This picture of Mary Jo was taken in the stem cell center this morning.
Mary Jo's nurse this morning was named Kim. Kim was telling us some of the history of Vanderbilt University and the hospital here. Kim mentioned that she was a product of Vanderbilt. She has been a nurse here for 34 years, and was even born in the university hospital.
Kim was telling us that she was the youngest of 13 children. She said that since it's inception the Vanderbilt Hospital has been dedicated to providing quality care to all who came whether they had the means to pay for it, or not. Obviously, with so many children money was tight in Kim's family. To compound things there were complications with her birth and Kim was kept alive in an incubator driving up the hospital bill even more.
When it was brought to the attention of the financial people at Vanderbilt that the doctor and hospital bills were way beyond what Kim's family had the ability to pay. An arrangement was made between the hospital and her family that all the bills would be taken care of, if they would allow them to do research to identify the causes of the complications that were experienced with her birthing. Kim is grateful for all that Vanderbilt has done for personally, and for her family when she was born.
Kim told us about Cornelius Vanderbilt, the wealthy railroad man who decided to make the gift of $1 million dollars in 1873 to found the university here in Nashville. Up to that time, Mr. Vanderbilt's gift was the largest charitable contribution made in U.S. history.So, Kim, Mary Jo and all of the people who have been served at this great hospital and educated at this great university owe Mr. Vanderbilt a debt of gratitude for his vision and gift that got all of this started so long ago. You can read more about Mr. Vanderbilt and the university here.
With many of you, I have been watching alot of the Masters this weekend. It is really neat that while we are here at Vanderbilt, that Brandt Snedecker, a former All American golfer at Vanderbilt, is tied for the lead going into the final round of the Masters. Brandt was born in Nashville. He met his wife, Mandy, while they were both attending school here. With probably all of Nashville, I will be pulling for Brandt to hold off Tiger and the others tomorrow.Mary Jo's Neupogen shots start tomorrow. Early wake up call. We have to be there at 8:30am.
Shedding light on CT & PET Scans
From Dr. Sharman's CLL & Lymphoma Blog
CT and PET scans There was a lot of press in the last year about the dangers of excess scans. Several key articles in the New York Times brought the topic to the forefront of people’s minds. Rarely does a day go by where at least one patient articulates concern about how many scans they have had. Other patients ask about the differences between PET and CAT scans. Well, here is my attempt to distinguish between them and characterize their risk.
CT scan (which is short for CAT scan) stands for “computerized axial tomography.” It uses an x-ray source to take pictures of the insides of the body. In the “olden days” (1980’s) tomography was utilized for a variety of purposes. You needed to move the x-ray source in one direction and the detector in the opposite direction at the same speed. This created blurriness to everything except for the “axis” or pivot point between the two. I am sure it was good for something but frankly, I cannot remember what.
The big advance came when you could begin to use computers to get a digital interpretation of the images and create an entire “plane” (two dimensions) within the body instead of a line (one dimension). This allowed you to take “cuts” of the body, nowadays it is typically 5mm in thickness. When your doc flips through the pictures in the office, each image is “one cut.” Using software that allows you to flip between images pretty quickly allows you to get a pretty good impression of what is going on in 3D space and compare from one scan to the next.
PET scans stand for “positron emission tomography.” Very different technology. There are a lot of different things you can measure with PET using different reagents but the one we are most accustomed to is metabolism. FDG (flurodeoxyglucose) is just a sugar with a small bit of radiation on it. For reasons we are only just now starting to understand, cancer cells have a different type of metabolism than normal tissues. They soak up the sugar and you can measure that with a positron detector (not an argument for low sugar diets – see my post on nutritional supplements).
In short – CT scans are just pictures of the inside and PET scans detect differences in metabolism. I think there is a bias to believe that PET scans are more “sensitive” than CAT scans because they are newer and cost more. Not necessarily true. Some diseases like CLL/SLL, and some cases of mantle cell are virtually invisible to PET scan because the metabolism isn’t all that different (though it can be helpful if Richter's Transformation is suspected). Other diseases like DLBCL can be very “hot” on the scan and sometimes you find disease in places you didn’t see on CAT scan.
There are sometimes that one scan is better than another. Most of the time when you get a PET scan, they are also doing a CT scan at the same time so that they can overlap or “fuse” the images. One of the problems though is that PET can find a lot of things that are not even there. Sometimes you get non-specific uptake in the colon. The kidneys, heart, and brain are always “hot” so reading PET scans there doesn’t always work well.
One other question I get all the time is about, “how many CAT scans can I get before I get another cancer from all the pictures?” In my mind this has gotten blown way out of proportion. I understand the concern, but studies have been done and show that even though there is a clear attributable risk – it is quite small.
Since CAT scans use X-rays they can cause DNA mutations. Keep in mind, that happens when you are bombarded by cosmic x-rays all the time – even worse if you fly in planes a lot. First of all, you need a lot of scans before you are in the risk zone (probably on the order of 15-25 scans of a particular body part). That is a number many cancer patients may actually accumulate – particularly in patients with a long natural history of disease. Once that number has been accumulated, there is approximately a 1-3% risk of developing a cancer at a time interval of about 20 years. Yes it is real – but it is not a major risk.
When I worked in ER’s I was always surprised to see an occasional young patient who had been in the ER monthly for two years complaining of abdominal pain. Perhaps they had some emotional issues or legitimately had an undiagnosed medical condition. Unfortunately, you cannot go into an ER with belly pain without getting a CT scan. It was not uncommon to see a young patient who had gotten 10 scans or more and never had anything going on. That is the patient I worry about most.
While I think you want to be judicious about scans – if you have a known cancer and there is an appropriate medical question being asked, I think it completely justifies the risk in most cases. Hope that helps “shed some light” on the subject….
CT and PET scans There was a lot of press in the last year about the dangers of excess scans. Several key articles in the New York Times brought the topic to the forefront of people’s minds. Rarely does a day go by where at least one patient articulates concern about how many scans they have had. Other patients ask about the differences between PET and CAT scans. Well, here is my attempt to distinguish between them and characterize their risk.
CT scan (which is short for CAT scan) stands for “computerized axial tomography.” It uses an x-ray source to take pictures of the insides of the body. In the “olden days” (1980’s) tomography was utilized for a variety of purposes. You needed to move the x-ray source in one direction and the detector in the opposite direction at the same speed. This created blurriness to everything except for the “axis” or pivot point between the two. I am sure it was good for something but frankly, I cannot remember what.
The big advance came when you could begin to use computers to get a digital interpretation of the images and create an entire “plane” (two dimensions) within the body instead of a line (one dimension). This allowed you to take “cuts” of the body, nowadays it is typically 5mm in thickness. When your doc flips through the pictures in the office, each image is “one cut.” Using software that allows you to flip between images pretty quickly allows you to get a pretty good impression of what is going on in 3D space and compare from one scan to the next.
PET scans stand for “positron emission tomography.” Very different technology. There are a lot of different things you can measure with PET using different reagents but the one we are most accustomed to is metabolism. FDG (flurodeoxyglucose) is just a sugar with a small bit of radiation on it. For reasons we are only just now starting to understand, cancer cells have a different type of metabolism than normal tissues. They soak up the sugar and you can measure that with a positron detector (not an argument for low sugar diets – see my post on nutritional supplements).
In short – CT scans are just pictures of the inside and PET scans detect differences in metabolism. I think there is a bias to believe that PET scans are more “sensitive” than CAT scans because they are newer and cost more. Not necessarily true. Some diseases like CLL/SLL, and some cases of mantle cell are virtually invisible to PET scan because the metabolism isn’t all that different (though it can be helpful if Richter's Transformation is suspected). Other diseases like DLBCL can be very “hot” on the scan and sometimes you find disease in places you didn’t see on CAT scan.
There are sometimes that one scan is better than another. Most of the time when you get a PET scan, they are also doing a CT scan at the same time so that they can overlap or “fuse” the images. One of the problems though is that PET can find a lot of things that are not even there. Sometimes you get non-specific uptake in the colon. The kidneys, heart, and brain are always “hot” so reading PET scans there doesn’t always work well.
One other question I get all the time is about, “how many CAT scans can I get before I get another cancer from all the pictures?” In my mind this has gotten blown way out of proportion. I understand the concern, but studies have been done and show that even though there is a clear attributable risk – it is quite small.
Since CAT scans use X-rays they can cause DNA mutations. Keep in mind, that happens when you are bombarded by cosmic x-rays all the time – even worse if you fly in planes a lot. First of all, you need a lot of scans before you are in the risk zone (probably on the order of 15-25 scans of a particular body part). That is a number many cancer patients may actually accumulate – particularly in patients with a long natural history of disease. Once that number has been accumulated, there is approximately a 1-3% risk of developing a cancer at a time interval of about 20 years. Yes it is real – but it is not a major risk.
When I worked in ER’s I was always surprised to see an occasional young patient who had been in the ER monthly for two years complaining of abdominal pain. Perhaps they had some emotional issues or legitimately had an undiagnosed medical condition. Unfortunately, you cannot go into an ER with belly pain without getting a CT scan. It was not uncommon to see a young patient who had gotten 10 scans or more and never had anything going on. That is the patient I worry about most.
While I think you want to be judicious about scans – if you have a known cancer and there is an appropriate medical question being asked, I think it completely justifies the risk in most cases. Hope that helps “shed some light” on the subject….
Thursday, April 11, 2013
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.
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.
| Dr. Bipin Savani |
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.
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