We're Back!

Friday, felt like we were checking in for a boxing match, not a bone marrow transplant.... We walked in feeling good. It was obvious Trish was refreshed and ready, though not thrilled to be back.

We walked into IPOP and it seemed that they weren't sure where to start, but Trish did get some quality attention. Two of the most senior IPOP level nurses were attending to her. They weighed her, measured her and made us sit for a while. They didn't want to draw blood until the consent forms were signed -- which seemed very silly to us. Than they went ahead and drew 15 tubes of blood. I think they are so used to drawing the blood via a central line, that one nurse didn't feel comfortable sticking Trish with a needle. But draw the 15 tubes they did.

Than we waited for the doctor to come up and do consent forms with us. While we were waiting Annie walked past the IPOP and saw us. She came in to give us an update on what had transpired while we were home. Her husband, Joe, didn't get the radiation treatment they thought they would use on him right before we left for Florida. They decided on a powerful round of Chemo -- usually reserved for first time AML folks (Trish had much of what he is getting now, back in Oct 2005). They think this will get him ready for transplant. Annie is hoping that they will get to transplant by the first of August -- that should be about the time that they may discharge Trish.

The doctor showed up as we were finishing our talk with Annie. Trish, her sister and I headed into the conference room to review the consent forms -- We had received them about two months ago so there wasn't much new. Trish really didn't want to read all the ..."this can be fatal..." on every page. So we asked a few key questions and started signing.

The worse week is usually week 3. This is bad because Trish's immune system will be dead for about two weeks and the new immune system won't start doing it's thing for at least another week. The biggest problem that could arise is graft vs host disease -- this is expected, but can get really bad (and you guessed it, may be fatal). The other big fear is that the "graft" won't take at all.

For now, we are just focused on getting a Hickman placed on July 3 and starting chemo on July 4th. Trish's sister's family was up here this week and we spent some quality time with them for two days before they headed home. Trish and I ended the day by seeing the new Bruce Willis movie -- Live Free or Die Hard. It's a great addition to the series.

Family and friends are gearing up for the Dinner/Dance on July 28th. Some great prizes have been lined up for a raffle/silent auction and include autographed Miami Dolphin Memorabilia (Zach Thomas and Channing Crowder), Marlins Batting Practice tickets and more. See the info below to order tickets for the dinner dance.