And all is well. Eric is loving being at home and feeling better. Although he still has a ways to go, he is eating more and feeling well enough to be out with friends, going to hockey games and beating all of us at Mario Kart Wii....
He's on the regular post transplant drugs -- antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals and Tacro - the anti rejection drug. All that stuff in his system can be hard on liver enzymes so the home care nurse drops by daily and hooks him up to IV fluids for a couple of hours.
His blood counts bounce around a bit -- kind of like gas prices. They drop a point or two for a few days then shoot up for no reason. The drops are nerve-wracking. The sudden jumps are a relief. Doing blood counts twice a week rather than daily is giving all of us a welcome break from the breath-holding while we wait for blood counts to come back.
And we had another Christmas dinner this weekend! Yum! Turkey and stuffing and all that good stuff - what a difference a month can make.
Sunday, 25 January 2009
Friday, 16 January 2009
Happy Birthday Eric!
Happy 22nd Birthday Eric! Make it a great day! We'll go out for an early dinner tonight and then Eric and Morgan have plans with friends. It's just so great that he is out of the hospital and is feeling well enough to make plans to celebrate! This is what it's all about.
Eric's doing well. He still goes in daily for IV antibiotics and fluid. His counts fluctuate alot and that drives us crazy. As much as we know this is normal, we have been here before. Expecting just a few more days of daily visits. When this course of antibiotics is over, they will likely move him to weekly visits. If he still needs hydration (to flush the drugs through and help keep creatine counts down), he can get that at home.
Today we are celebrating.
UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!
Counts are up today and antibiotics are done! He is discharged from Outpatient BMT and will move to weekly appointments! What a great BDay present!
Eric's doing well. He still goes in daily for IV antibiotics and fluid. His counts fluctuate alot and that drives us crazy. As much as we know this is normal, we have been here before. Expecting just a few more days of daily visits. When this course of antibiotics is over, they will likely move him to weekly visits. If he still needs hydration (to flush the drugs through and help keep creatine counts down), he can get that at home.
Today we are celebrating.
UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!
Counts are up today and antibiotics are done! He is discharged from Outpatient BMT and will move to weekly appointments! What a great BDay present!
Thursday, 8 January 2009
Home!
The goal was to have Eric home for his birthday - January 16 -- he beat that goal by more than a week!
He'll go into the hospital daily for blood work and antibiotics, but he's home sleeping in his own bed and eating what he wants when he wants it.
I think we've been smiling all day.
He'll go into the hospital daily for blood work and antibiotics, but he's home sleeping in his own bed and eating what he wants when he wants it.
I think we've been smiling all day.
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
Day 33
2009 is starting out well. Eric looks and feels quite a bit better. The abscess on his liver seems to have responded very well to the antibiotics. The pain is gone and Eric is up and around.
His counts fluctuate (which is normal). The rapid rise in his WBCs was in response to the liver infection and they have dropped back down. His hemoglobin and platelets are rising slowly and steadily.
He's started to eat a bit and they are taking him off TPN during the day. I hope that less TPN will stimulate a bit of an appetite. Personally, I think he needs Mom's cooking...
And Dr H has actually mentioned going home! We are hoping that Eric will be home for his 22nd birthday (Jan 16). Having spent both his birthday and Christmas in the hospital in 2008, this seems like a great goal.
Still lots of twists, turns and bumps in the road ahead but we are getting better at accepting those and working through it all. Need all your prayers, positive thoughts and cheerleading to get him home and settled. Eric? Well I think he is just thinking of all the new XBox games released since he was admitted to hospital!
His counts fluctuate (which is normal). The rapid rise in his WBCs was in response to the liver infection and they have dropped back down. His hemoglobin and platelets are rising slowly and steadily.
He's started to eat a bit and they are taking him off TPN during the day. I hope that less TPN will stimulate a bit of an appetite. Personally, I think he needs Mom's cooking...
And Dr H has actually mentioned going home! We are hoping that Eric will be home for his 22nd birthday (Jan 16). Having spent both his birthday and Christmas in the hospital in 2008, this seems like a great goal.
Still lots of twists, turns and bumps in the road ahead but we are getting better at accepting those and working through it all. Need all your prayers, positive thoughts and cheerleading to get him home and settled. Eric? Well I think he is just thinking of all the new XBox games released since he was admitted to hospital!
Friday, 2 January 2009
Day +29
Blood counts continue to rise - his WBC is actually in the low normal range at 3.5! After 2 months with a .1 WBC, this is nothing short of a miracle. Platelets and HgB have risen the last two days without transfusion -- that hasn't happened since early October.
Those WBCs are being put to work (and this is probably one reason they are multiplying so quickly) on the abscess. They are having a look today via ultrasound and they may decide to drain it. With higher counts, draining is an option. We expect it would be similar to the procedure he had last winter to drain the perianal abscess. That was managed laparoscopically. We'll know more once the specialist has a look at the ultrasound. I wish we had kept a count of the number of doctors who have been involved in Eric's transplants and ongoing care. As well as the BMT and Lymphoma specialists, we have been fortunate to have a wide range of specialists consult on every issue that has arisen. We are indeed lucky to have access to the healthcare we do.
Those WBCs are being put to work (and this is probably one reason they are multiplying so quickly) on the abscess. They are having a look today via ultrasound and they may decide to drain it. With higher counts, draining is an option. We expect it would be similar to the procedure he had last winter to drain the perianal abscess. That was managed laparoscopically. We'll know more once the specialist has a look at the ultrasound. I wish we had kept a count of the number of doctors who have been involved in Eric's transplants and ongoing care. As well as the BMT and Lymphoma specialists, we have been fortunate to have a wide range of specialists consult on every issue that has arisen. We are indeed lucky to have access to the healthcare we do.
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