May 24 - Another Bump in the road

On Friday, May 20, we headed for the outpatient clinic, fighting the morning commute which Nancy LOVES (not!). Since she has to do the driving, she's had a crash course in commute driving in Portland. So far we're surviving that and she's doing very well. I'd been having fevers for the previous few days so they ordered more tests and, with the weekend coming, decided I needed to be in the hospital. We spent the rest of the day waiting for a room and were finally checked in by dinnertime. Am in my 4^th day here and they're still looking for the cause of my fevers, which go up and down. They're pumping me with antibiotics and running more tests. The doctors say this sometimes happens and they aren't always able to pinpoint the cause but we hope it will resolve itself. They also say most patients hit a couple of these "bumps in the road" along the way and they don't seem to be overly concerned. It's a long journey, but my white counts and platelets are going up and I'm headed in the right direction. I'm at Day 39 and they say at Day 60 (mid-June) some of the restrictions should be eased (like, I may be able to go out to eat, though still on a low-bacteria diet.) and at 100 days (latter part of July) I will be off the low bacteria diet and less restrictions about germs, crowds, etc.

We are in a different room, on the back side, without the view of the city and Mt. Hood, but we have a pleasant view of houses, hillside, blooming rhododendrons and dogwoods, and the sunset (when the sun is out). We enjoy watching people and cars coming and going. One interesting sight is the med-evac helicopters coming in for a landing on top of the building next to us, the Emergency Room heliport. We've watched a variety of helicopters, including a large Coast Guard helicopter. They don't come that often and the noise isn't bothersome.

We had hoped to be out by mid-week, but not sure now. It's hard being here again and not knowing what's going on, but we have confidence in the doctors and enjoy the nursing staff and their sense of humor (like writing "Welcome back!" on my event board.) Everyone is so friendly and encouraging. This unit is almost like a family.

As an added complication, we are in the process of selling the house in Eugene, which we had purchased from my mother a few years ago. We were very happy to have 3 offers in the first week and accepted one. It's been a challenge trying to sign papers back and forth from Eugene. Brett has been helping us by e-mailing the papers back and forth for us. It's a great relief, of course, to have a sale pending! `

Mothers Day and Stem cell update...

This year Mothers Day proved to be a bit different. We spent a quiet day at home after a busy day in Eugene on Saturday getting Mom's house ready to sell. Roy went down with us and we appreciated Gary and Anne coming over to assist as we finished the sorting, meaning lots of trips to the Goodwill Store to make donations. I was mostly in a supervisory and sorting capacity since I needed to sit a lot. We met with the realtor just before leaving Eugene and it should be listed now. We are hoping for quick and easy sale but realistically that has not been the recent history of house sales. We priced it aggressively, hoping to find a buyer. Sunday was Mother's day and it seemed like a laid back day most of the day. Brett came over for a visit and of course we had a few Skype calls from family. After dinner we were preparing to have some ice cream when we remembered it would be a good idea to take my temperature. It had spiked to 101 and instead of having ice cream we were packing for a trip to the emergency room. Upon arrival they started running blood and urine tests trying to find the source of what was causing the temperature. Brett followed us and stayed with us until after midnight. Then about 1:15 AM they decided to send us home as we had an appointment Monday morning at the outpatient clinic. Since I now am regaining my immune system my body is more able to fight small attacks. Monday morning came real early as we did not get home until 2 AM and had to hit the road about 7 AM. We slept a lot of the rest of Monday. We are glad we were not admitted to the hospital Sunday night! Monday blood tests showed counts are continuing to rise which is good news, The bone pain is something I wish would go away. It comes with stem cell transplant but it makes it very painful to stand or sit for very long, and my walking pace has really slowed down. We were told the pain should be going away soon. We sure hope so. I have a couple more posts almost ready and hopefully they will go up tomorrow, One is of Bertha's Memorial service and the other is local adventures.