Tag: chemo
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Day +17 – HOME!
24 days after going into the hospital for his bone marrow transplant and 208 days after his first hospital admittance, George was discharged with new donor cells working hard to manufacture new blood cells! He was supposed to be released on day +16 because his counts were recovering so well! But, on Saturday he didn’t…
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We can see the light!
*light at the end of the tunnel: a long-awaited indication that a period of hardship or adversity is nearing an end. On Day +13, I went to visit George and he was lounging in his recliner, tired and still not feeling great. He still had mouth pain, but he said it wasn’t as bad. Not…
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Encouraging news!
Day +12 – the doctor came into George’s room and told him she was happy to see that his white blood cell counts were slowly going up! She said he was where they had hoped he would be at this point in his recovery. Whaat?? That’s fantastic news! I took it as a sign that…
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Day +10 and +11
When I walked into the hospital room Monday afternoon, I was shocked to see George working! He looked exhausted and was ready to knock off for the day, after somehow putting in 8 hours. He moved from the makeshift work station to his bed and I sat in a chair near by. I gave him…
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Days -5 and -4
The day a transplant patient receives their new stem cells from their donor is referred to as Day Zero. The days leading up to it are listed in a T-minus manner, meaning in a way that indicates a specific amount of time remains before the main event. And the days after in the same way,…
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What’s Your Line? (Central & PICC)
Friday, July 1, George went in to the hospital and had his Hickman catheter, or central line and his peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC line) placed. What are those things? I’m glad you asked. A Hickman catheter, or central line, is a soft, small hollow tube that is placed into a vein in the chest…
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Playing the Waiting Game
It’s been a while since I have written anything. That’s because I feel like we have just been waiting for the show to get on the road and for George to be admitted for his bone marrow transplant. But in reality, a lot has been happening these past couple of weeks. First, George received the…
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Friday the 13th
For the last few days, concern has been increasing over the fact that George’s white blood cell count hasn’t started going back up after this last round of chemo. Dr Ghimire expressed his concern on the phone when he called earlier this week to discuss the results of the blood work George had on the…
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The Leg, Part Deux?
George has a wound/stitches on the back of his leg from the surgery he underwent before starting chemo. It is the reason he has been staying in the hospital rather than going home after the 5 days of chemo as originally planned. Everything was going well. His leg did hurt a bit, which was to…
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Going home
On February 1, we got the good news that George was going to be discharged and could go home! It was a long month of driving back and forth to Camden for me and a long month being away from home for George. At first, George was a little scared to leave the hospital because…
Diagnosis: Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). A Journey 