Almost there

Sorry for the delay in posts...I ended up getting really exhausted and going to my aunt and uncle's house in New Jersey for a good night's sleep last night.  11 hours of sleep (with no mask or gloves) later I feel much better!

Today Brian has started his final drug called Rabbit Anti-Thymocyte Globulin, Thymo in short.  Yes, it's from a rabbit's blood and it is made of antibodies that function as an immunosuppressant to suppress his T-cells so that they don't attack the new stem cells.  This drug has to be infused over 12 hours both today and tomorrow because of the side effects that it can cause - mainly fever, chills, and rigors (shaking).  So far Brian has tolerated it well.  They have been able to titrate him up to the maximum dose and he hasn't had any side effects yet, except just in the past 20 minutes or so he's started to feel cold.  This means that he will likely get a fever and have rigors soon, but we'll see...

As far as his counts go,  things started to drop today.  For those of you who are interested in his "numbers", here they are: WBC 1.6 (down from 2.6 yesterday), ANC 1.4 (down from 2.5), Hemoglobin 10.1, platelets 95, creatinine 1.6.  We're so happy that so far his creatinine is holding stable!  Thank you for all of your prayers and good thoughts over this!

The past two days have been fairly uneventful thankfully.  Brian has actually felt a little bit better, so has been able to walk around and eat a little bit.  It was a good time for me to get away and take a little break.  The biggest thing that happened is that we changed rooms yesterday so now we have a room with a view.  It's cloudy and overcast today, so I will post a picture once we can get a nice, sunny one!

Quick update

I wanted to post a very quick update (I'll update more later) that Brian developed a fever last night and had to have blood cultures, a urine culture, and a chest x-ray done.  He still has a slight fever this morning, so he's on 2 IV antibiotics (Vancomycin and Zosyn) along with his antiviral and antifungal medications.  Pretty soon he's going to be bionic!  He's still very tired but seems to feel a little bit better than he did yesterday.  The doctor came in and said that the chemo he's on right now (Fludarabine) is very well tolerated and so he might even regain his appetite for a few days before everything starts to hit rock bottom...we'll see.  Last night was a very rough night, they were either in here checking his temp and other vitals or his IV pump kept beeping all night.  I don't think either of us got more than 1-2 solid hours of sleep.  Brian's sleeping again right now and I'm going to try to go back to sleep, so if you try to call us and we don't answer, that's why.  Brian is really not up for phone calls these days, so if you send him messages via email I can read them to him.  Thanks to everyone for all of your support!

Halfway point...of chemo!

We're halfway done with chemo!! Today he got his 2nd, and last, dose of Melphalan and he also got his first of five doses (one per day) of Fludarabine...so 2 down, 2 to go. Counts are still fine, actually went up today which is kind of weird, but we'll take it. And creatinine is stable at 1.6 for now.

Today started off rough - the first thing he did when he woke up was vomit...no fun. But after that they've been pretty aggressively managing his nausea, so he's actually been sleeping most of the day. I'm confident that he will NOT remember these next few days due to the antinausea medication (Ativan) causing him to sleep and also having that lovely amnesic affect. I, on the other hand, will remember it all. I've often said that they should also seriously consider medicating the caregivers:)

What's missing from this picture?  His IV pole!!  He was free
and then tuckered out after his shower.

Not much really happened today.  The most exciting thing was that they changed all of his IV tubings, so he got to shower without the IV pole. This only happens every 4 days, so he took a nice, long shower and enjoyed it.  Also, we ordered some photos to hang up on his walls and they arrived today, so I got to decorate:)  Tonight my brother, Zach, is coming into town and we're going to have dinner together to celebrate my birthday (which is tomorrow). I'm really excited to see him and to have a little fresh air along with a nice glass of wine!

And a decorated cabinet, too.

Our decorated bulletin board

 

1 down, 3 to go

Eating ice chips!

It's Kristy writing tonight - Brian is fast asleep in bed...that means you'll get a lot more detail from me:)  Today had some ups and downs, and is definitely the start of the downhill spiral towards not feeling good.  He woke up this morning feeling nauseated and even requested a dose of Ativan for nausea.  After that kind of "kicked in" he went for a walk around the unit and had a good afternoon.  He just needed to get over the morning hump and then he was fine.  He got his last dose of Busulfan at about 12 noon (yay!) and then started his second chemo, Melphalan, at 3:15.  He had to chew on ice chips for about 1.5 hours before, during, and after the infusion in order to decrease bloodflow to his oral mucosa and therefore reduce the likelihood of getting mouth sores.  This is the one that caused him to nearly need dialysis after his last transplant, so we're hoping and praying that doesn't happen this time.  There are 3 big differences this time that are in his favor: 1. He is getting a slightly lower dose this time since he is receiving it with 3 other chemo drugs, 2. His baseline creatinine is much lower than it was last time, and most importantly 3. His disease is under much better control going into this transplant than the last.  So we're keeping our fingers crossed that his kidneys cooperate with us this time and don't make things too exciting any time soon.  All of his counts are still fine, so no transfusions needed yet.  Today is the first day he hasn't really eaten much...things are starting to taste funny and food just doesn't sound good to him.  But he's still drinking a lot, which is more important.

 

I look scary and alien-like while alseep!

Many of you have asked how I am doing, sleeping, getting on, etc.  First of all, thank you for all of your thoughts, texts, emails - they really brighten up my day!  I am actually doing ok.  I am sleeping much better than I expected to sleep on a recliner, which is a huge bonus.  The recliner folds out completely flat and I brought ear plugs and an eye mask (and sleeping pills) to help me along, so I'm actually doing great.  The hardest part is learning how to sleep with the mask and gloves on...but slowly I'm getting used to it and sometimes I don't even notice the mask anymore (except behind my ears where the elastic bands rubs).  I'm getting out every day and going for either a walk or a run - this helps my sanity tremendously, plus it's keeping me healthy.  Today I went for a 3 mile run along the river and it was absolutely gorgeous.  It was perfect - 80 degrees and sunny, and I had a lovely breeze off the water keeping me cool.  If I could replicate that every day I would, it really was wonderful.

View on my run along the East River

Once more into the breach dear friends....

Well today was fine, lots of walking the halls as I'm guessing by tomorrow my ANC will be under 1.0 and I will be confined to my room. I have noticed this evening the chemo is starting to show, I ordered dinner but have no interest in eating and fatigue has also begun. I took a nap this afternoon and didn't wake when Kristy came in. Tomorrow is more Bulsulfan and the start of 2 days of Malphalan so I expect it to get much harder pretty quickly.
Matt came by today it was nice to see him, he brought speakers, so I now have music!
Not looking forward to the next week or two, but I guess I need to go through them to get back to my kids, hopefully for a long long time.

MSKCC my home for the next 4 weeks or so..

Got here about Midday having spent the morning walking the High Line (highline.org) down to the West Village and back through the streets, all told about 5 miles.
Here is my room..

It is pretty nice plus the chair I'm sitting in folds flat and will be Kristy's bed...we'll see how comfy it is tonight. I start one medication tonight and chemo at 6am tomorrow. They check vitals every 4 hours so 2am will be a blur I'm hoping! The unit has 25 rooms and I've seen a lot of bald people...so I guess the chemo works. My doctor on the unit is Dr Sauter - seems like a nice chap. Dr Koehne will be by tomorrow for a 'social visit'.
This is how Kristy looks for the next while..

Whenever anyone is in my room they where gloves and mask. So I have no idea what anyone looks like! The 'bike' they promised me is a bit of a let down, however sitting in a recliner while cycling will be about as good as I can manage I'm told...

Not quite a Madone..

So we've made the most of our time in the city while I've been well, now it's time to get down to the business at hand.
Thank you for all the well wishes and cards, Kristy is letting me open one per day.
Oh my my nurse just brought in my IV pole, it's got a lot of 'stuff' on it..and it's all for me!

Special delivery for Brian!

Well we're here...

Well we’re here!

We are staying at the Hope Lodge on 32^nd St while I have some tests done and will be admitted on Sunday.

So far so good, however because of all the insurance appeals etc. took so long I had to repeat some of the tests for my work up. The most annoying/painful was another bone marrow biopsy. This time he had to try a couple of spots as my bone was too hard for him to get through initially…and I believe I get another one 30 days post transplant!

Hope Lodge is great – the people and the place are lovely and to think it is free through donations is absolutely amazing!

Tonight Kristy and I are going out to celebrate her birthday early. One of the stops on this evening schedule will be the Campbell Apartment at Grand Central Station.

This will be my street for a while once they let me out of MSK

Bright and early tomorrow morning I have my line placed as long as ‘placed’ involves some sharp cutting instrument…I remember last time I was a little too chatty for the doctor doing the procedure, I think I may have got extra drugs to keep me quiet!