Friday Update

The day started pretty good. We got to IPOP early today and had a nice visit with Dr. Griffiths. That was the best part of the day....

Trish's counts held their own, platlets and hematacrit trended lower but that is to be expected and why we get labs every few days.....We were sent off to do the two pre-transplant tests and than cameback to IPOP for platlets and red blood. Everything was fine until the red cells were hooked up. Trish started getting hives. We think this was from the platlets, not the red blood. So they dosed her with more Benadryl and than the Benadryl caused her to be anxious, so they gave her attivan to relax her.....We'll be here a while tonight and back tomorrow to get the red cells that they stopped to avoid any further reaction.

It's not bad enough to be so stressed with way too many things to worry about -- but you must also be flexible. Trish's MUGA scan was moved from Tuesday to Monday. Because this and most of the other tests are scheduled at 7 or 8 am -- we had booked a hotel room downtown from Monday to Wednesday. We now have to extend that and will move into the hotel on Sunday.

I was planning on waiting at least 48 hours after the LP on Wednesday to see if Trish had a complication from the LP before we travelled. Dr. Griffiths says we should know of any complication in much less time than that. If all is well the earliest we could leave is Thursday night. Which would put us home friday afternoon if we auto-train it as we had originally planned. If we leave much later than Thursday we will likely fly home to maximize Trish's time at home. If she has complications from the LP we may not come home at all before the transplant -- it took them 3 weeks to resolve that issue last time around.

I've updated the chemo calendar to reflect what we know now, but it is always subject to change. The toughest thing on the schedule is the Lumbar puncture Wednesday morning at 9 -- the good news is that our favorite doctor has agreed to do the procedure. She really makes us feel like we donated a few million dollars to Johns Hopkins with the level of service she provides. If you still have that Hopkins address, send her a card and say Thanks -- I'm sure she'd love to see that she is appreciaed by those who care about Trish from around the world.

Have to shut down now - they are kicing us out of IPOP and we are on our way home to Aunt Mary's, but now we'll be back in the am.....