Good News!

Sorry its been almost a week since I last posted, but we've been really limited in finding Internet connections. The other day we were at the clinic, and I would have posted, but by the time I did my work for work, my battery only had 15 minutes left. The first time I DIDN'T lug the power chord along. Go figure.


We are at clinic now, and just left our meeting with Dr. Vij. We got what we consider to be very good news: the results of Greg's last bone marrow biopsy showed 3 percent cancer cells. In medical terms, that's practically none at all. Dr. Vij's exact words were: "That's as good as anyone could expect." For the first time in about 6 to 9 months, he was smiling. We know this is still a day by day process, and anything can happen, but we're very encouraged. He needs platelets today, but that's not unusual. They're the last things to come back. His frequency of needing them has decreased, and they've been holding better. And, he hasn't needed red blood in almost 2 weeks. Loyal Readers will remember that he was needing platelets every other day and red blood about twice a week pre-transplant. While Dr. Vij is very happy with the way things are progressing, he says its still going to be at least a month before Greg can even think about going home. These things are very unpredictable, and he potentially could go downhill quickly, but, he's moving in the right direction, and for now, that's plenty good enough.


The biggest issue this week has been magnesium. His has been very low all week. I'm not sure what magnesium does, but evidently you need more than he has. Its a 2 hour infusion, so it ties up our day. That's 2 hours AFTER the pharmacy sends it up. On Wednesday, it took 3 hours for the pharmacy to send it. We've gotten HLA matched platelets faster than that. But, that's what we do now -- run from pharmacy to pharmacy when on the "outside" and wait for the pharmacy when on the "inside."



I keep forgetting to blog that we finally found out what his blood culture grew during his last hosptalization. Its a virus called "CMV" which can be serious if untreated. But, he's on meds for it now (at a cost of $700 per month!). I'm glad we have good insurance. The meds can cause his blood counts to drop, which is probably why he needs platelets today. Sigh.

The GVHD is still a bit of an issue, but is controlled through steroids. The steroids make the blood sugars go up. Actually, he's on about 18 different meds, half of which to treat his disease, and the other half to treat the side effects from the first half. Just keeping track of them is a full time job.

Greg gets stronger every day. We've been trying to have an outing of some sort each day. Having no TV and no Internet is interesting. We've been shopping for stuff we needed & couldn't find in Springfield, and went to the art museum yesterday. We also had to buy Greg some new clothes. He's lost about 30 pounds, and his pants were literally falling off. He looked like an orphan. But, the steroids are stimulating his appetite some, and we've found some really great restaurants in the area. We've had Italian (of course!), sushi, pizza, Mexican, barbecue, and found some great burger joints and delis. I'm going to need new clothes if we keep this up, but not for the same reason Greg does!

My plan is to go home Sunday, when my niece Kacey gets here. She's going to spend her summer vacation with Uncle Greg at the halfway house -- we can't thank her enough for volunteering. Its a huge sacrifice on her part. But, with Greg feeling stronger, we hope to make this fun for her too. There's plenty to see and do in St. Louis, so they're going to try to make the most of it. I'm looking forward to seeing the boys, as I really miss them. Matthew has been having a wonderful time, though. Kris and the gang have been keeping him busy, and he's been happy. No tearful phone calls (yet!). And Eric is enjoying his independence. He swears he hasn't burned the house down yet.

Thanks to Sally and the Bunco crew for the card. It really brightened our day. I hope to make it to bunco sometime in 2009. Keep your fingers crossed for next month. Thanks again, too, to everyone who's been helping out, especially to the Wherley's and Altoonians, and to all for your thoughts, good wishes and prayers. Based on the news we got today, I'd say they're working overtime!

Love,

Us.