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.

Hola!

Shelley and Dave are married and it was a wonderful week in Punta Cana - sun, sand and family. It was a nice relaxing week for Cor and I. But we all missed Eric and Morgan terribly. I can't wait to plan a family vacation for all of us. A week away and I am fully charged and ready to help Eric through the next transplant. Yes, transplant #2 is scheduled.

Last Wednesday we found out that our wonderful donor has agreed to donate again (marrow, so this means surgery for her/him). I now fully understand the need for anonymity - how could I ever begin to repay this person for their generosity - not just once but twice. To all of you who have been able to join the bone marrow donor registry, please accept my grateful and humble thanks - any of you could be saving someone's life.

So Eric started conditioning chemo on Saturday and the transplant is scheduled for Thursday. This round of chemo will be milder (I guess there is not much to kill off) and will be augmented with Campath. As I understand it (and I haven't talked to the doctors yet), this drug will help to reduce the T cells. I also think this drug will eliminate the need for plasma pharesis (which Eric hated).

He'll also be inpatient for this transplant because he has so recently experienced fevers (no infection found despite a robust series of tests). While the outpatient transplant option is great and I feel that it worked well for Eric in August, I think we are both relieved to be inpatient this time. As well as the recent fevers and the fact that this is a second transplant in 4 months, the winter season is here and a snow or ice storm could make a daily commute to the hospital close to impossible. This combination of risks cannot be ignored or mitigated.

As always, your prayers, positive thoughts and blog comments are truly appreciated and welcome.