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.

Day -4

Six down and two more chemos to go.... Eric is coping extremely well with both the Fludarabine and Busulfan chemo drugs. Busulfan is definitely harder and has several side effects for which he is taking additional medications. By the time he takes the anti-nausea meds, the anti-seizure meds, pills to protect his liver and another to protect his kidneys (AND the chemo), he just feels kinda blah....

By Tuesday the days will get longer. As chemo completes, he will have plasmapharesis to help prepare his system for his donor marrow (the plan is to remove his A antibodies as the donor is an A- blood type)He will also start ATG to help prevent or lessen GVHD (Graft vs Host Disease).

As always, positive thoughts and prayers most welcome.