Day +8

Feeling about the same since day 5. At this point the war in my marrow is resulting in the deaths of a lot of A-pos blood and platelets. I've been getting 1 unit of each per day. This also might be the reason for the occasional fevers. The blood I need to be rid of cuz the new B-pos will begin to replace it. A-pos and B-pos blood dont mix well. They say this period will end shortly. The mucusosis situation that causes the pain will get resolved when the new white blood cells are produced in high enough numbers and send repair cells to repair damage. To hasten this, they give daily shots of Neupogen. This evening I spent a half hour getting an ultrasound of the organs in my stomach area. The results will be evaluated to see if there has been any damage.
I'm still sleeping a lot, from 8pm last night to 8am today, and then several times through the day. Cathie came twice, the second time with Dylan and Maddie. I can see the relative calm that you have bestowed upon Cathie with your prayers, thoughts, inspirations, and good will. I feel very humbled and strengthened by your efforts for me too. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'm not sure one family alone would have enough strength emotionally and spiritually get through a time like this.

Day +5

Today they hooked me up to a PCA, Pain Control Apparatus. This is a fifth pump added to the pump panel. The slot contains a huge syringe full of morphine. Click on the picture to get an appreciation for this puppy (997k). The PCA pump is programmed to drip morphine slowly into the patient. Additionally, the unit has a button. So, when I feel the pain coming on I can deliver my own dose. However, the button can not be used more than once per 6 minutes. I'll have to make sure I dont wait too long, cuz it could take 1/2 hour or so to get the needed relief. Also notice how the whole unit is locked with a key! Smart fellows these biomed device workers.

The other picture I posted here is of the round bag of stem cells from Wednesday. The collection actually has more than just myeloid stem cells.
My white blood cell counts are officially zero now. When they start going up in a week, they will be new white cells, not the old. Meanwhile the doctors must keep my system supplied with Red and Platelets, cant let these even close to zero.
When the white blood cells start appearing they will, as their first task, repair the damage to my stomach, esophagus, and mouth. For this reason, I'll be provided with morphine until then.
My Dad will not be visiting for a couple days because he thinks he may be coming down with a cold or flu. Cathie visited today, made me feel better just by being there. I'm not very talkative in my morphine haze but Cathie is forgiving.
Thanx everyone.

Day +4

I wasn't much good the last couple days. But feeling better today.
It started Friday when I got a very nasty stomach ache. Turns out is is most likely Mucositis, a common side effect of some of the chemo. The result of M. cover the gut to the mouth. In the mouth, it's called mouth sores. This can go on for a week or so.
No one had really spoken about pain management here so I didnt know much except they like to horde their tylenol (I'm sure for good reason). Friday afternoon I suddenly knew that tylenol wasnt going to help. It turns out, and maybe I shoulda known, that one should build a lag time to get prescribed a new drug. By the time I got a pill of Vicodin I was well on my way to doubled over in pain. 1/2 hour later... relief. I took a second Vicodin to finish off most of the pain. So... out with tylenol... say hello to my new leetle fren; Vicoden. Friday night I tried the Ativan/Vicodin combo. All well and good except I could not stay awake all day Saturday, which was my Day +3.
During the day I was conscious enough to realize that the old drug combo sukd. Consulting with the Doc and the matrix oracle I decide to switch to another 2 drugs. So... out with Ativan/Vicodin, say hello to my newest friends; Patch and Morphine. I now have a common fisherman's nausea patch behind my ear to control nausea, and I get a small shot of morphine every 4-6 hours to deal with the pain of mucusitis. This combo works well now. I had a good day. Hopefully I've seen the worst of the mucusitis. The doctor thinks there is a good chance it wont get worse. Today I was able to eat half of all 3 meals, took my required walks around the floor and was able to stay awake all day.
Plluusssss, a certain sporting event went well for San Diego... Yay!
I will now have some kind of fond memories, of sorts, from my stay here. As a matter of fact, I'll be here for the next Charger game on the 19th. After that, on tap is the Buick Invitational starting the 21st, which I can watch live (through some tree branches) below on the golf course. Oh! life is good! But wait... what if the Chargers lose next week? Ouch. Well, I guess I'll still be getting morphine. ;-)
Kinda funny about that today. Around an hour before the game, the nurses made rounds and gave all the patients stronger shots of morphine. The nurses disappeared until after 2:30. mmm... Patients were roaming the halls crying out "Nurse! Nurse! Nurse please!". Ok. NOT.
Back to whats real. Cathie, family and my Dad visited much the last 2 days and continue to give me a light to look for at the end of this tunnel. Cathie was there when I was in pain. She rubbed my feet and back, gave me encouragement galore. It was hard for her to see me in that state and I hated to let her see me like that.
Thank you for all your support!
Doctor says I'm progressing well.

Day +1

In the plus column now! I have pix of the stem cell event and will have to get the energy to transfer them from my camera to the laptop so I can post a couple. The infusion of stem cells was from one round bag. The cells were collected the previous day from the donor and transported from somewhere to here on ice. The infusion itself only took around 10 minutes. There was some normal reactions to the cells for a few hours, but today that has passed. The hosp staff is very compassionate and attentive but they dont hand out tylenol like m&ms. Even though I'm not a tylenol abuser its a good thing they guard their tylenol stash.
I am happy that the worst of the chemo is over. They will give me 4, including one today, more small injections of Methotrexate over the next 20 days. There should be no side effects from this chemo. It is normally used in large doses but I guess they found that 4 small shots after a sct keeps the new stem cells from growing too fast. I wont go into the many other non-chemo drugs I am starting to get. Come to think of it I really dont know how to describe how a chemo drug differs from any other drugs. They're throwing a lot of new pills my way and I will be taking many of them for the next few months. They will ALL trail off by 6-9 months if everything goes well. Kinda weird, but that's the story.
At my asking, Cathie came today early and stayed for most of the day, only leaving to take care of necessary things, and come back with Maddie. My Dad also came and stayed for several hours. My family is so great. I am not close to being myself mentally yet they are so supportive. I feel kind of like I must be the stranger to them that I feel I am to myself. But they continue to recognize me somehow.
Well, it's 10:30pm now. Nights are very long in my room. I'll be hanging here in this room for another 2-3 weeks as the new stem cells start regenerating and doing what they do. Between now and then my old white counts go to zero then start springing back with white cells from the new stem cells. A positive WBC improvement is the main key to getting discharge from the hospital. I cant wait to go home. I'm starting to eat a little now. Mouth sores and hair loss have been negligible so far.
Long road ahead.
Thanx everyone for your many inspirations.
Jim

Day ZERO!

I dont have much energy to think again today but do want to say that I appreciate all of the inspiration I've been getting from you. In an hour or so the staff will load up my chemo tree with a new bag or 2 of stem cells from a kind donor. It's difficult really for me to comprehend such a kind act from a complete stranger. But then, there is a certain amazing book that tries to help us learn to do such things...
Cathie and my Dad are here with me today. The weather outside is sunny. I can see the Torrey Pines Golf Course staff below going about their business preparing for the next visit by Tiger Woods and gang! I'll post as soon as I can.
Thanx again!

Day -1

Not really. I wasnt up to posting yesterday. It is now day zero! Yesterday was good though cuz I had a great visit from my family. Finished out the 'conditioning' treatment (thats what the doctors call 7 days of chemo before a transplant). I now have a new appreciation for those of you who have, and in at least one case continue to receive, chemo treatment. Thank you for staying with us.

Day -2

Monday's almost past. Today I saw my last round of Cytoxan. Not one of my favorite poisons so far. Tomorrow I'll get what I think is my last round of ATG, not a chemo. It doesnt seem to effect me as much now, very little chills. That probably means my T-Cells are nearly depleted. By tomorrow night my white blood cell counts should be near zero so they wont interfere with my donor cell infusion on Day zero.
Tonight between Cytoxan and ATG I ate dinner. I dont know if that's what did it but soon after eating my mouth became painful. They said this would probably happen, mouth sores. So, I'll hit the saline water rinse more often.
Dad came at 9:30 this morn and hung out with me a few hours. Claudia, my sister, came a little later and hung. Cathie came after most of her work day at 1:30pm. She left and came back with Maddie and Dylan for a couple hours. They did some homework.
I wasnt very good company because of the increasing mental effects of the chemo and ATG. I've been looking at all my daily blood counts along with the doctors. We can see that the counts are progressing as planned. Starting tomorrow, the effects of all the chemos will really start catching up to me. I'll need to make extra efforts to do the things they want me to do daily until the new stem cells start producing baby cells. Take 3 walks per day, eat, rinse mouth with a couple things, shower every day, exercise my lungs using a breathing device. After I get the cells infused on Wed, there is likely to be a 12-20 day wait for signs of grafting and subsequent improvements from my new stem cells. Time to hunker down, get tough. I really appreciate all the prayers, good will, and positive energy I've been feeling from my 11 readers! Again, I know this is not exactly an uplifting blog to read. And I hope I am not coming across as a complainer. I'm trying to inform those who wish to be, not so much about my progress, but as a way for you to understand the impact my situation is having upon my family as I am somewhat limited in my ability and position to help them during this time. What's more, I want to be inspired to make this journey and maybe provide some kind of inspiration for any of you who may have to, or have already, taken similar journeys. As I said, I already feel your help with this mutual inspiration project.