Happy Sunday morning! All is going well here at UCLA..... Ed is tolerating the chemo really well so far...no real acute side effects so far -- just a little loss of appetite and general tiredness, but they've been doing a good job of keeping the nausea and other discomforts at bay. He's on so many meds right now that for the first time since this ordeal started, I actually have to look at a piece of paper to name them all. I guess my memory threshhold for that stuff is around a dozen and he's over that for sure. Some will stop when the chemo ends Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, but I guess there are others that will come into play post-transplant. His counts are starting to fluctuate more dramatically, which is a sign the chemo is working, but also brings some anxiety -- like waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. His white count is still in the "normal" range - 4.4 today after being at 9.2 yesterday after being at 59.5 last week during the collection, but they are giving us the results of the "differential" blood tests now, which measures the different types of whites, which is important. I guess they're looking at the neutrophil count (the "marines" of the white cell types) and will be monitoring that closely after the transplant. The count for those has to come to point five before he can be discharged to Tiverton House. His reds are dropping and he's on the borderline for a blood transfusion, but that's expected and common and he'll probably get quite a few transfusions before the process is complete.
An amusing medication story.....Not sure why, but some of the meds require that the nurse actually WATCHES Ed swallow the pills (seems a little like "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest " to me, but I'm sure they have a reason). On Friday night we were watching a movie and eating Good and Plenty candy. I guess one fell on the floor. After the shift change, a nurse came in and saw the candy on the floor and thought it was a missed medication. Ed and I were both sleeping so she didn't want to wake us up to ask about it, so she took it and started examining it and trying to look for manufacturer identification, etc. She showed it to several other nurses and a brief investigation began before one remembered seeing the candy box on the bookshelf and they realized what it was. They all thought it was hilarious. Guess you had to be there. I don't think the opportunity for humor is very frequent on this floor, so every opportunity is a blessing.
The staff is all very nice but we'd sure like to be back in Thousand Oaks. Ed can't leave the floor here so he's pretty bored, especially when he's not feeling so sick that he would normally be laying around. At Los Robles, he was much freer to stroll around the hospital and sit outside on a patio so he could get some fresh air. Perhaps the lesson here is patience, but what a tough teacher!! This experience is either going to make Ed add patience and serenity to his list of life skills, or push the speed at which he pursues life into super-nova hyperdrive.......the jury is still out on that. For the moment, he's content watching a re-run of "Gidget" while I struggle through my giant book of medium to difficult sudoku puzzles.
They just started another round of chemo, so he'll sleep for a while (the pre-meds for each chemo round make him very drowsy). I'm going to run out and get a Sunday paper and some goodies for when he wakes up. No matter how much his appetite has waned, I can usually get him to eat a jelly donut or some cookies and milk, so I'm scouting out the local bakeries. There is so much within walking distance - good for getting a little exercise too. Thanks for the "recommendations" Tom (even though none of them provide "to go" items approved by the hospital, or by ME for that matter), and for the mirror/slipper tip, Lee -- I have confiscated all adhesives in the room. It's comforting (yet mildly disturbing as well) to know that some things just never change! :)
The schedule is still for chemo to be over Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, with Wednesday being a "rest" day with lots of fluids to flush out the chemo. Thursday is the transplant day! I'll keep you posted about progress.
Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers and energy being sent our way. It makes a big difference to have such an amazingly wide circle of love and positive energy. I hope you are each thinking about your own health and family and friends as well and doing something joyful. It pays forward.......
Blessings of the day,
Liz
You're in our thoughts and prayers.
ReplyDeleteFor the moment, he's content watching a re-run of "Gidget" while I struggle through my giant book of medium to difficult sudoku puzzles.
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