Blood brothers

So…this seems to have turned into more of a weekly update now that I’m home.  Went to the clinic again today.  I had my first of 4 spinal chemo treatments early this morning (Doc has ordered 4 rounds post-transplant as a preventative measure).  Same anesthesiologist (Dr. Morris) who did all of my first spinal chemo treatments did my appointment today.  He is amazing and I barely felt a thing (just the numbing medication that he used at the very beginning of the procedure and when he finally pulled out the needle at the very end.  All in all, not a big deal.

I also met with Dr. Nash (my transplant doc) this morning.  He continues to be pleased with my progress.  He is now pretty sure that my rash on my arms is not GVHD and he isn’t sure if it’s a medication reaction or something else (excema possibly?) and he mentioned today that he is thinking about referring me to a dermatologist to get it looked at by a specialist.  We’ll see what happens next week.

 

Super interesting/fun news…when they did the labs on my bone marrow from the last biopsy they also did a chimerism test.  “Chimera” is a mythical creature that is a hybrid of different animals (for those who are interested…go google “Chimera” for cool pictures of the mythical creature :) Hematology/Oncology docs use this term to refer to the measurement of “how much of my blood is mine & how much is my donors”.  The nurses have been telling me since the biopsy that the first time they draw chimerism labs that people are usually between 50-80% donor blood cells and not to expect much higher than that.  Well, my donor cells are apparently over-achievers because my first chimerism results came back as 100% XY cells meaning that all of my bone marrow is “brother-blood” now!  J Pretty cool!

Here at home I’m surrounded by “sickies” (as my brother calls them).  Both John and Scotty are sick (poor guys) and I’m not allowed to be around either of them.  This is Scotty’s first cold (not bad for being 8 months old) and I’m afraid that he’s already shared his germs with his daddy. Thankfully we have 1 extra bedroom and John is sleeping in it (downstairs) until he feels better and can return to the master bedroom with me.  Good thing my mom is here helping out because I’m not allowed to care for Scotty or for John because of my compromised immune system.  She has been an amazing help!  I’m praying that I don’t catch whatever the boys have… I don’t want to end back up in the hospital!!!

-Chellie