"A simple grateful thought turned heavenwards is the most perfect prayer." - Doris Lessing
Today Elise completed chemotherapy conditioning for the bone marrow transplant. That 2 of 3 steps complete. Yeah!
They woke us up early for some reason and started the premedication at 6:30am. This was after we were up late because they started an IV drip of an anti-seizure med really late. I'm really not sure why the nurse chose to start so early as Elise had very little else scheduled for the remainder of the day. I'm sure she was just trying to comply with what she though the Dr's order where, but it really got Elise out of the routine we'd established. She was stuck on an IV until about noon. She wasn't able to shower or get dressed before they started (try to get a clean shirt on when you're attached to an IV) until after the IV's were complete. Needless to say, she's a bit emotionally fragile right now and the slightest little thing made her break down in tears. But she cheered up pretty quickly when Becky took her to see the guinea pigs again.
Fortunately Becky got her smiling again and the prospect of a cupcake from Au Bon Pain got her through the setup for the total body irradiation tomorrow.
Tomorrow is the last step in the conditioning process: total body irradiation (TBI). She'll get a relatively low dose compared to people with blood cancers who are getting a transplant, but its still a significant dose so they are extremely cautious. They calculate your body mass and do measurements to make sure they don't overdose any separate part of your body. For example, they do regular xray to locate the edges of her lungs and then shield that section (because it has less body mass) partially. They also adjust for how thick you are in the torso, etc.
To make sure they get this all right tomorrow they spent time this afternoon marking up Elise's body with Sharpies and little targets and getting the computer programmed and double checked. With all the body marking I joked that it looked like she was art therapy for the little kids. Fortunately I got a smile and not a glare. She's been a little self conscious about stuff like the catheter and the xray targets stuck to her body, but after the mark up session she walked right into Au Bon Pain and picked out her cupcake.
She'll have two TBI doses tomorrow. One at 8am and then one again at 2pm. We've been told she won't feel anything but may feel tired afterward.
The pediatric PA comes in each morning and checks on Elise and gives us a rundown on her bloodwork. She said Elise's liver function is looking good (a relief because she's had problems with new medications in the past) and her counts are still up but starting to drop as a result of the conditioning process. This is what the conditioning process is all about, but it will make her extremely susceptible to infections in the coming weeks. When the counts go below a certain point she'll be isolated in her special room until they come back up. We're not sure when that will start, but I think it'll be within the next several days.
I'm glad that Becky has been able to join us in the hospital. In fact I'm back at the apartment this evening and Becky is spending the night on the extra special sofa bed they have in the room. If you like an extra, extra firm mattress, then you might like that sofa bed. I'd gotten used to it, but I'm looking forward to a normal bed tonight, but I will miss giving my daughter a kiss goodnight.
No comments:
Post a Comment