Melphalan done!

The Melphalan (mustard gas) was pretty uneventful.  I had suck on ice chips for an hour which will hopefully prevent mouth sores.  Michelle from my church mixed the drugs (she does oncology pharmacy at Stanford), so it was nice seeing a friendly face.  It looks like we're still on track for transplant on Monday.  Praise God for everything going so smoothly so far.

Discharged!

So yesterday's overnight stay at Stanford was pretty uneventful.  I got admitted at 2 in the afternoon.  They put me on hydration fluids for four hours to make sure the BCNU drug would constantly be flushed from my system via frequent urination.  At around 10pm they started the BCNU drug.  Praise God, I didn't feel any of the facial pain / intense headaches they described.  Rather, it felt more like a warm buzz / fogginess similar to how I feel after drinking wine.

Sleeping at the hospital is a bit challenging.  The nurses came in every couple of hours to check my vitals.  At 4am, the fire alarms went off for 10 minutes.  I also didn't know how to turn off the lights in the room, but I asked the nurse at 5am when she checked in on me.  Apparently the room was also set to 60 degrees, and I didn't know I could request to turn it up.  It wasn't until a new nurse came in shivering did the thermostat get adjusted.  It wasn't all bad though; I had my own room which was a huge blessing.  Also, my buddy Jon visited as his mom had an appointment at Stanford at the same time.

Anyway, they sent me home with the rolling backpack filled with 4 liters of hydration fluids.  They'll be sending roughly four liters of fluid through my body for the next three days or so.  I can't wait to see how much water weight I put on.  :)

Tomorrow I'll be doing the Melphalan drug.  It should be a two hour infusion which most people tolerate pretty well.  However, several days after the Melphalan, I should feel like I've "been hit by a truck", according to my nurse.  We'll see how it goes.

Today's nurse again said I'm an extreme case of handling treatment really well.  I told her I felt totally normal this morning and that I could probably go for a jog if I wanted.  She said that most people are pretty run down after the BCNU.  I think this is a huge answer to everyone's prayers, so thanks for faithfully upholding me.  Keep 'em coming.  :)

-b

Last day of freedom

Hello, friends!  I went to Stanford on Monday for an xray, blood test, and a meeting with my doctor / nurse coordinator.  Praise God, the x-ray and blood tests all look good.  The doctor and nurse talked me through what would come next.  I'll be going for an overnight stay at the Stanford hospital on Thursday for BCNU treatment.  They want me overnight there because it can sometimes cause severe pain, especially in the head/face.  It only lasts while the treatment is going on (3-4 hours), but they want you at the hospital so they can administer pain meds if necessary.  The next day I'll be discharged with a rolling backpack full of IV fluids which I'll have to keep with me for the next day or two.  On Saturday I go into the hospital for Melphalan (a derivative of mustard gas).  Apparently that medication is usually handled well, but they'll have me suck on ice to prevent (or minimize) mouth sores.  If all goes well, I'm still on track for my transplant on Monday!

So, tomorrow marks my last day of freedom before the health precautions kick in.  I'm grateful for these past two weeks of being able to go outside, eat out, run errands, visit friends ... it will definitely be challenging not being able to have the windows open, not being able to eat out, having to wear a mask whenever I go outside.  Still, God has been incredibly gracious to me.  I'm thankful that I'll get to be at home while recovering from the transplant instead of at the hospital.  I'm grateful that Jenn has gotten to take time off  to be my caretaker.  I'm blessed that Google has an awesome short term medical leave policy.

Onward!

-b

Thank you!

Someone bought me a beanie, but I'm not sure who (there wasn't an invoice / note).  If it was you, my bald head and I thank you!

It's begun ...

The hair is falling out, haha.  It's not too noticeable yet, but this is what I see whenever I run my fingers through my hair.

Once my hair gets patchy, I'll shave it off.  I'm not worried about shaving my head, but I do know I don't have the head shape to pull it off well.  Sadly, I don't think I can pull off hats either.  We'll see.  ;)

-b

Lots of stem cells

Praise God, it turns out they were able to collect stem cells today.  More than that, they collected a super abundance of stem cells!  They were looking to collect 4 (not sure what unit) of stem cells, but they collected 13.4!  Praise God.  This means I don't have to go back later this week for follow-up collections.

I guess I just wait now to find out when the next rounds of chemo are and the actual transplant.  I should find out sometime this week.  In the meantime, I'm going to celebrate a few days of freedom!

-b

Huzzah!

So my white blood cell count jumped from .6 yesterday to 4-point-something today.  This means a few things:

• I no longer have to follow the low-microbial diet (until the chemo before the transplant).  Woohoo!
• I can go outside (though I have to wear a mask in crowded places).  Woohoo!
• I don't have to take antibiotics anymore (until after the transplant).  Woohoo!
• I can go to Stanford tomorrow where they'll actually determine if I have enough stem cells to begin collection.  If I do, they'll do a collection tomorrow and for subsequent days until they've collected enough.

Praise God!