Category: Uncategorized
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The Last Chapter
I have avoided writing this post for over a month. The trauma of watching George decline and make the transition from hope to resignation was almost too much to bear. It still is sometimes during my day. It’s not just the absolute devastation of losing the love of my life, it is also the cumulative…
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So draining…
George’s gallbladder continues to be an issue for him, poor thing. After viewing CT scans and ultrasounds, the doctors came to the conclusion that George is suffering from cholecystitis (redness and inflammation) of the gallbladder). It happens when bile becomes trapped and builds up in the gallbladder. In most cases this happens when solid lumps…
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A Rapid Response Christmas
Christmas Day, the kids and I all piled into the car to drive into Philadelphia to visit George. I made a Christmas brunch so we could open gifts and eat early, then spend the rest of the day with George. We left the house at around 1:00. As I was getting ready to turn into…
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Clinical Trial – Week 5
Wednesday: George texted me this morning at 9:34 saying he was being transported down to IR (interventional radiology) and so I started getting myself ready to head up to the hospital to visit him. Normally, the biopsy takes around an hour and a half. It is now 1:20 and he’s still not back in the…
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Clinical Trial – Week 4
This week has been a tough one. It started pretty well…on Thursday, the 9th, the doctor said George’s inflammation markers were going down and he thought that perhaps the CRS has peaked. That was good news! Friday, George started having gastrointestinal issues – bloating, gas and occasional diarrhea. Saturday is when things started to really…
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BM Biopsy Results…
Were not what we were hoping for. Of course, blasts are the immature white blood cells that are the main characters in everyone’s AML story. Over 20% means you have leukemia, so it’s not that. But you must have below 5% to be in remission, so it’s not that either. That means the bone marrow…
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Chemo infusions complete…
For seven days, we braved the traffic and drove to and from Philadelphia for George’s infusions of Vidaza. He finished his last infusion yesterday and now he will continue taking the oral chemo, Venclexta until July 30th. For the first time, George was nauseated and had dry heaves and vomiting after his treatment. This happened…
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Bone Marrow Biopsy #7
Yesterday, George had his seventh bone marrow biopsy. He has to be clear of AML in order to have his transplant next month. He’s getting pretty good at this! So, we should get the preliminary results by the end of the week. The molecular data will take about a month. He had it done under…
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New Mutations and a Broken Chromosome
Well, this is not what I thought I would be writing about 208 days after George’s bone marrow transplant. We are supposed to be on the other side of this disease. But his engraftment has been struggling and when we saw Dr. Loren on January 26th, we got some surprising news. George’s early January appointment…
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More Info on DLI…(whew)
I was snooping around the internet and checking with Dr. google and found an article that had the following information: After a stem cell transplant, a patient’s chimerism will be measured on a regular basis. It tells doctors how much of your bone marrow is from the donor and should be as near to 100%…
Diagnosis: Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). A Journey 