On Again, Off Again

The transplant has been postponed due my having a low grade fever and sore throat. They won't begin a transplant on someone who is sick with a cold or infection. In fact they won't even let you on the hospital transplant floor because the other patients cannot risk being exposed to someone who is sick.

I started getting sick last Wednesday. I was scheduled to go to Houston on Friday to start the process, so I went on knowing that the transplant would be postponed. Although, I really thought that they would tell me to stay in the Houston area for a few days to see how things would shake out.

They are running all sorts of blood tests to see what kind of little bug I have. It's probably just a little virus that will run its course in the 48 to 72 hours it will take to get the results of the tests back. But that is long enough to necessitate a delay in the transplant. So the doctor let me come back home yesterday.

This is some kind of mental and emotional roller coaster ride. But I'm happy to be back home. It's pretty difficult to wrap up about every aspect of your life in order to be gone for a long time. And then to get to come back for a few days is indeed a sweet reprieve.

I can't let that paragraph go by without sympathizing with our troops going on long combat deployments. Wrapping up things and saying good-bye to your family knowing that there is a chance you won't come back has to be a gut wrenching experience. So every time I want to feel sorry for myself I think of them.

Okay, now for the good stuff - FOOTBALL. Can you believe Tech and Clemson? Those two programs have perfected the art of fan disappointment over the last 35 years like few other teams. Tech came out on top in this year's version of who wants to lose worse. Tech 13 Clemson 3.

I enjoyed all the upsets although I got to watch very little of any game due to the plane ride back to Atlanta. The really bad thing about delaying the transplant is that it will extend my time in Houston through football season, causing me to have to suffer basketball.

I'll post again in a few days when things clear up and my mental yo-yo is yet again yanked into action.

Things Are On Schedule

I've just completed a week of testing and restaging in Houston. I got another central line put in my chest this morning for the transplant. I'll enter the hospital next Friday to start the transplant process again. It will begin with 6 days of intense chemo using a regimen call BEAM to wipe out my bone marrow. The infusion of the donor's stem cells will take place on October 5 or 6, right after the completion of BEAM.

I had concern last week when the nodes in the left side of my neck began to come back. I called the doctors at MD to alert them so they could determine if I needed another round of the previous chemo to get the nodes back down. They instead gave me a steroid, dexamethasone, which shrunk the nodes almost immediately. But that won't last long, just long enough to get me to the transplant.

So even though it has been a convoluted path to this point with the chemo, the doctor not starting the donor search on time, the infected central line, and then the additional swelling of the nodes, we are apparently just about ready.

I like my new transplant doctor, Dr. Hosing. She is responsive and communicative. The previous doctor could not be described with those adjectives, in my opinion. So after the late start getting the second donor lined up I knew I had to change doctors, even if I had to change hospitals to do it. So I requested a new doctor at MD and then I went out to Seattle for a second opinion at "Hutch." After all was said and done, my chances are just as good at MD and I know the ropes, so to speak, at MD. So, given that the new doctor at MD is compatible I decided to stay in Houston. The odds are the same, and Houston is a lot more convenient.

I'll be back home this coming week before having to return to Houston to stay awhile. Lots to do in just a few short days. It will be difficult leaving again.

The Game Is On - Transplant Game That Is

The second donor is willing and available, so here we go again.

All I know about the donor is that she is female, 30 years old, never been pregnant, and is kind enough to be in the bone marrow registry. "Pregnant?" you ask. Believe it or not if a woman has never been pregnant she is a better donor. Somehow pregnancy messes with the DNA which can subsequently cause rejection issues (GvHD) with the recipient patient. So that is a major issue and one that the bone marrow registry people track. That is how I know. Otherwise the donor and the patient remain anonymous for at least a year.

The tentative date for the transplant is October 5 or 6. The actual date is called "Day Zero" and you count from there - for the rest of your life I imagine. Actually I lost count on the first one. Oops. Oh well, it didn't work anyway.

There will be lots of testing and scans between now and then. Oh boy!

Tech 33 Notre Dame 3

And, yes, Lynda and I were there!! It's always great to beat a team with such a rich tradition. And they do have tradition - the band, the stadium, all those Heisman winners and All Americans. But keep in mind Tech is no slouch in the tradition department either. John Heisman, for whom the trophy is named, was Tech's coach from 1904 to 1919. But still, it's Notre Dame.

I got the doctor's approval Friday to go onto oral medications and discontinue the IV antibiotics. So I no longer needed the PICC line in my upper arm and it was removed Friday afternoon. We got on the plane to go to South Bend to watch the game the next morning. For the first time in over a year I am "line less" - meaning no heart catheters hanging out of my chest or arm. It won't last long since I'll have to have another line put in my chest for the next transplant, but it sure is nice for now.

Still no word on the donor status yet. I talked to my transplant coordinator in Houston last Thursday and found out that they still had not received the official letter from Humana. So I had to work on Humana to get my letter faxed out that afternoon. I can be sort of persistent, if not down right pushy some would say, when I have to be.

So now that MD has the official insurance approval they can begin to contact the donor through the bone marrow registry. Hopefully that started on Friday. We should hear something by Wednesday.

Back to Notre Dame. The people there were very friendly. They didn't even remotely harass Lynda and me as we weaved our way through all the tailgaters with our Tech stuff on before the game. There was plenty of beer cans being emptied but they were not obnoxious like some (read UGA fans) would have been. Funny, it seemed like every tailgate party had a bean bag game going. I didn't understand that, but maybe it's a lot more fun after a few beers than it appears to be when sober. Even after the game we encountered absolutely no animosity from any ND fans. I guess they were just glad it was us instead of Appalachian State. LOL They did cheer mightily though when the Michigan score was announced.

BTW, if you were wondering what "Touchdown Jesus" is, it is a mural of Jesus standing with arms raised on the south side of the library. The library is maybe 10 stories high and sits due north of the football stadium. So from most seats in the stadium, especially from our south end zone seats, you see the library with Jesus lined up right between the goal posts signaling touchdown with His raised arms. I'm just glad He was signaling touchdowns for us Saturday.

My compliments to ND - they are a class act. I never knew.