Thursday, August

I got out of the hospital Saturday evening. Yippee! Hospitals are just not that much fun. And I always come away wondering about the quality of our medical care. It just seems sort of primitive to me. It reminds me of the doc on Star Trek who marveled at how primitive we 20th century (I know we are in the 21st now) creatures were.

The infection is under control and the preliminary results of the blood cultures were negative for the blood stream, which is good news. So the infection was localized at the point where the central line entered my chest. I never did run a fever, so this makes sense.

I go back to the infectious disease doctor, Dr. Marlowe, today to go over the final results of all the blood cultures that they ran. If that's clear, which it should be, then I get to come off the IV antibiotic (Vancamycin) and go on an oral medication. I could also get this PICC line removed. I am debating where or not to remove the PICC line right now, though, since I'll need something like that to get more chemo if I have to have a 4th course, and, of course, the next transplant. I could remove the PICC line and go to Houston to get another chest line put in when it's needed. That way I would be "line free" for a couple of weeks. Without a central line, though, I'll have to get stuck every time they draw blood for my frequent bloodwork checks.

No word yet on the status of the second donor. So I'll call my transplant coordinator this morning to get the status. We should know something this week about when the next transplant will take place. There's a lot riding on whether this second donor is willing and available. If she's not, then I have to continue chemo to keep the disease at bay while we search for another donor. Another perfect match might be hard to come by. So if you want something to pray for, please pray that the second (already identified) donor is willing and available soon.

Thanks for checking up on me.

Max