On Friday, May 20, we headed for the outpatient clinic, fighting the morning commute which Nancy LOVES (not!). Since she has been doing the driving, she's had a crash course in heavy 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 doctors 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. We spent over a week in the hospital going through lots of tests and changes in medications. While checking for the cause of my fevers, which were going up and down, they pumped me with antibiotics and ran more tests. The doctors say this sometimes happens and they aren't always able to pinpoint the cause but but this time in checking a small rash spot they decided I was having some host versis donor reaction and started to treat the condition. They said most patients hit a couple of these "bumps in the road" along the way and they didn't seem to be overly concerned. We were glad to be released from the hospital but the stay left me drained of energy. They had been giving me steroids to help fight the host vs donor reaction and we couldn't figure out why I kept getting weaker! Nancy asked the right question when she said I thought steroids bulked you up. That is when we learned that there are two types of steroids. Athletes sometime do bulk up on steroids but the type I was getting quickly suck muscle mass and tone out of the the body leaving you very weak and all I wanted to do was sleep! They want a little graft vs host reaction to insure the new stem cells get established as the dominant stem cell. With the conditions improving they are gradually removing me from the steroids. I can tell the difference in energy and feel better now that I am improving. They say this often happens about the 60 day mark which I am now approaching. It's a long journey, but my white counts and platelets are going up and blood tests show I'm headed in the right direction. As I approach day 60 (mid-June) some of the restrictions should be eased like, I may be able to go out to restaurant which I have not done since December. I would still be on a low-bacteria diet which means no fresh fruit or vegetables. At 100 days (latter part of July) I should come off the low bacteria diet and less restrictions about germs, crowds, etc. Right now we have been reduced to hospital outpatient visits about twice a week, which is nice. Next comes once a week and then once a month and finally every month or two for until eventually maybe once a year. That is what we are looking for so we can do some more travel adventures.
Our last stay in the Hospital had us on the opposite side of the unit so our view was 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 was 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 at the emergency room heliport. We watched a variety of helicopters, including a huge Coast Guard helicopter. They didn't come that often and the noise wasn't bothersome.
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. The stem cell unit is almost like a family.
As an added complication, we were 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! Latest news is that the house deal closed and the new owners should be moving in now. Recently we made the trip to Eugene to finish removing the last of my Mom's items. We sure are thankful for brother Roy and step brother Gary and his wife, Anne who were indispensible as we cleared 30 some years of accumulated items. You do not even want to know what our 3 car garage now looks like! We are sorting and donating all the time and it hardly seems to make a dent yet. When I'm stronger we'll be able to really get serious.
temperature seemed to be up. That means the possibility of a hospital visit. Darn, our suspicions were correct and we were admitted Friday afternoon. That was disappointing as we expected to be home when the Pavlik family came to our area for short overnight visit on Sunday. They started pumping me up with more antibiotics and taking blood samples, while Nancy was putting on miles rushing home to get the
house ready for guests and I concentrated on getting rid of that temperature so I could be released. Much to our surprise the doctors sent me home Sunday morning so we had a great time visiting with Terilyn, Mark and Mackenzie on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning before they had to hit the road to visit a few more colleges that Mackenzie was interested in. We did not get to see Zachary who had a summer job or Nathanial who was attending a soccer camp, but maybe we will see them in a future road trip. I have lost a lot of weight and have to be careful when out in public to be sure my belt is cinched up tight to keep my pants from slipping down. I am being weaned off of many of the pills and hope that will allow me
to regain some of my muscle and strength that seems to have left my body. I get around slowly and usually use a cane since my strength and balance are somewhat compromised. It is nice to be down to only two visits to the clinic a week and we look forward to some diet restrictions to be lifted as well, as I pass the 60 day mark of the transplant. We have had to avoid crowds which include restaurants for far too long. We had two more visits to the clinic during the week and then had a short but wonderful visit with Carol and Lou Brewer for lunch on Saturday as they passed through with their granddaughter, headed to Olympia, Washington to visit their son and family. Our friendship with them goes back to high school days for Nancy, and our wedding for Ray (45 years ago as of June 18!).
