Day 49 - Stem Cell Transplant
Jimmy was not quite as good as yesterday but still much better. His white blood cell count was at 5.2 this morning. Yiippppeeeeeeee....Dr Fine says probably another 2 days on Neupogen injections and then they will stop.
He only needed platelets today and they have had to put him back on oxygen again. Last night they also removed the catheter and inserted another one as it kept blocking up. Jimmy says there was a blood clot the size of the top of his finger stuck in the tube. The 1st catheter they put in was size 16, they then changed this to 18 and the one he has in now is a size 20. Don't worry, it doesn't mean much to me either, must be the size of the tube. The also put up a huge bag of something today which will run continuously to flush his bladder. This also helps to get rid of any blood clots that are in his bladder. By lunch time today his urine was looking almost a normal colour.
Jimmy wasn't much in the mood for food today so he agreed with Dr Fine that he would have two shakes instead of soup for lunch and supper. She was actually happy with this as they are higher in calories because his weight is staring to come down now. He weighs just more than when he was admitted but he still has quite a bit of fluid retention so I am sure his real weight is now below. Just before I left I moaned at him and reminded him that he hasn't even finished one shake today. He tells me it's not his fault they didn't bring him food! I wish you could see his face at the mention of food so this was a very quick come back. I went through the whole conversation with him that we had with Dr Fine and made him promise me he will have another shake by the time he goes to sleep tonight (this was a bit of a con as he slept most of the today again) and then tomorrow morning I will order him soup and jelly for lunch and supper. What's the bet he tells me tomorrow when the soup comes that he would rather have a shake?
The sores in his mouth are still very painful in spite of the morphine but I don't think I can handle them increasing the dose. They are looking darker now and starting to scab which I think is a good thing. The only problem being that they are bleeding quite a bit which he doesn't like. His temperature behaved itself most of the day and stuck around 36.8 and then at one stage it went up to 37.5 but not for very long. He is still on tons of nausea medication but they seem to have the dosages sorted out. He is still feeling nauseous but he can handle it.
I am looking forward to next week when he feels stronger and can sit in the lazy boy and we can watch some movies together again. At the moment he is either sleeping or starring very dazed at the wall but I am very happy that he is at least speaking a little every now and then.
3 comments:
I'm glad to hear that things seem to be getting better. Don't worry if you find Jimmy can't last a whole film without falling asleep, it took Mike a couple of months to get his attention span up to film length. X
I have been lead to understand this. It seems recovery from stem cell transplant is a slow steady pace and can take some time. Unfortunately Jimmy thinks he is going to be back to normal in a month and playing squash and golf again. I don't want to take away from his positive attitude but feel that as soon as he is in the right frame of mind I am going to have to let him down slowly as I don't want him to be so disappointed that he ends up with depression or something.
Anxiously waiting to hear your plans for Mike and what decisions you have both made and how it's all working out. Like everything to do with MM I suppose you need to give it done time.
xx
Hi Viv! So glad to hear Jimmy's WBCs are coming up, even with the help of Neupogen! Both you hang in there... and yes he'll be back with sports, camping, work, family activities... but the recovery is slow ("make" him be smart about it!) and super important to not be around sickies!!! I tried to take my life back quickly, and learned fast to pay attention to my body. Now I don't really push myself much at all. It's called the "new normal" :) xoxo
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