Wednesday 3 December 2008

Day - 1

A bit of a bummer of a day for Eric. Some people should not be nurses... or maybe their strength is just not in helping a young man.... I have to say that 99% of the nurses who have helped Eric have been awesome -- perhaps we are spoiled! Anyway, a quick mention to the nursing supervisor and Eric will get another nurse tomorrow. I am always impressed by quick positive responses.

So, conditioning chemo is finished and it was fairly easy and well tolerated. Today Eric had a session of plasmapherisis to reduce the A antibodies in his system (don't want them to attack the A - cells that he gets tomorrow). It was tough to get veins, but Cheryl was summoned and she had him hooked up in no time. Eric has made it clear that she is the only one who is always successful in finding a vein. I figure he has been poked enough in his life that he only deserves the best. Thank you Cheryl!

Dermatology came in for a consultation today too. He has some spots on his legs that they wanted to look at. An interesting specialty... they seem to travel in pairs and do alot of "hmmm... look at this.." Bottom line is that these spots have been around for a couple of weeks, they haven't changed and they don't bother him. A biopsy would not likely tell them how to treat and it may be risky for him. It was a total non - consult.

Tomorrow is transplant day. The donor will be collected (bone marrow aspiration) in the morning. As with the first transplant, my theory is that the donor is near Ottawa or travels to Ottawa and the bone marrow harvest happens in the Ottawa Hospital. And I ain't telling how I know that! Eric will get the marrow late in the day which means that he will likely have 2 Day 0s. Saturday will be considered Day +1.

I am curious to see if Eric loses his hair again. The chemo drugs he has had do not tend to cause the type of hair loss that most chemo does. This time his hair is growing in quite fine and fair. The last time it grew back, it was very dark and coarse. We'll see - not really a huge issue for him. He's lucky that bald is in and it quite suits him!

And again, thanks for all your warm thoughts and prayers. Truly appreciated.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I look at your up date every day because my son had allo for hogkins in sep 2008, so far he is doing good the 1st scan was clear. andre is my son name he is been battling hodgkins for 6years now he kept refusing to do the allo, he's been through chemo and radiation contiously, finally I convinced him to do the allo. I will keep Eric in my prayers.

Veronica said...

Happy (Re)-rebirthday, Eric! Your family are going to be kept busy with all your birthday celebrations - that's you up to 3 now!! Make the most of it and squeeze all the presents and treats you can :0)

Hope today goes smoothly and uneventfully. We too had the 1% nursing issue - I can't believe that they let below-par nurses work a ward like a transplant ward - people skills are equally important as the medical ones - hope today is a better nursing day!

Love to all........you know you're in our thoughts.........Vx

Anonymous said...

Hey Kathy and Eric,

Hope everything goes smooth today. Thinking about you guys big time.

Jane

shelley said...

Hey Mom & Eric,

Hope it goes well today - know that I am thinking of you all day! :)

It sounds like things have been good so far so I will keep my fingers crossed and my thoughts positive and strong.

xxx
ooo
Shelley & Dave

Anonymous said...

Hi Kathy & Eric -
Sounds like things are on track!!! YAY!!! Thinking about you guys ALL the time :)

Ha - I'd say a couple key words entered into google ... and your donor has a pretty good idea who's life s/he is helping to save... ;)

The O'N. family is here is Ottawa cheering you on, OK Eric!!!

~Stacy xoxo