Diagnosis: Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). A Journey

It’s hard to believe it’s already been over a week since George received his bone marrow transplant. He was feeling some negative side effects from his conditioning treatment, but managed to put in an 8 hour work day on Friday!

Once George finished work, we watched a movie together on the fabulous big screen tv at the foot of his bed.

Then, in the early hours of Saturday morning, things took a turn for the worse. He awoke at around 2:00 with violent vomiting. He only threw up a couple of times, thank God. He rang the nurse and she gave him some anti-nausea medication right away. It seemed to do the trick! He was able to eat breakfast without incident…and then lunch…and then dinner!

It’s not just that vomiting itself is awful, but when you have an enflamed esophagus, it’s painful too! So, doubly thankful the anti-nausea meds worked! Praying they continue to keep the nausea at bay. He was also given some Oxycodone pills for the mouth and esophagus pain on Friday and they took the edge off. But after the vomiting incident, they switched him to Dilaudid administered through his IV. They actually changed a lot of his oral medication to IV. This way, he doesn’t have to swallow as much and there is less chance of him vomiting up his meds before they can do their work. He also has the “magic mouthwash” to use before he eats…it contains Lidocaine to numb the mouth and throat, but George said the effect didn’t last very long.

Over the past few days, George also developed some red bumps and splotches on his head and neck and a few spread to his back and legs. The dermatologist came in to check him out and said she believed it wasn’t anything serious and that several chemo meds can cause this type of reaction, but that they would keep an eye on it. It doesn’t itch, but some bumps do feel tender when touched.

George has no appetite at all, but I’m so proud of him for making himself eat something at each meal. I’m sure if his vomiting was more frequent, it might be different, but for now, he is making sure he gets enough calories and protein as much as possible. For dinner yesterday, he ordered a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, some soup and a couple of yogurts (as well as a Boost drink). He managed to eat the sandwich, but not the crusts and drank the Boost. The nurse said he was doing great…that some people give up all together, but that he was making himself eat which was good! I said, yes…he is doing what he needs to instead of doing what he wants. George told me that described it perfectly.

Before I left at about 7:00 pm, I helped cover up his central and PICC lines so he could shower. Once he was done, dressed in clean night clothes and relaxing in bed and had his pain medication administered, I left and made the hour long drive home. But not before grabbing his dirty clothes to bring home and wash! When I got home, I poured myself a glass of Greek wine and watched the movie “Queen Bees” on Amazon Prime and relaxed.