Monday Day 33

Dad continues to do well. He had blood work done today and the white blood cells are still creeping in the right direction as are the platelets, but the red blood cells are a bit slower and are doing the up and down thing. He continues to feel good and is eating well.

This morning he also had his PET/CT scans. We won't find out the results of those until Wednesday morning. I'll post something after that visit. Then we have a visit with the radiologist on Friday.

Day 28 Wednesday

We went up to the Med Center today and Dad got his Hickman catheter taken out. Other than he had to wait 1 hr. and 45 minutes past the scheduled time, everything went well. A P.A. in intervention radiology took it out and she did it just in one of the bay areas in pre-op...not in a surgery room. It just involved numbing the area around the catheter, taking the sutures out, wiggling the catheter at the exit site, and then pulling the tubing out. After it was out, she applied pressure to the area for 10 or 15 minutes. Dad needs to keep a gauze bandage on it for 2 weeks and can't get it wet...so we'll cover it up with a water proof bandaid before he showers. He can't sleep on that side (his left) for a day or two, because it could cause the clot to dislodge and it could start bleeding, so he'll sleep in his recliner for a few nights just to play it safe.

The PA told Dad that she remembers only 10 years ago, when anyone had a stem cell transplant, that they would have to stay in the hospital for 100 days. They have sure come a long ways in that short time to improve things....and to think that Dad got out of the hospital on day 11. It sure shows the value of research! They still have carried over the 100 days notion though...the next appointment Dad has with Dr. Bierman is on day 100.

I chose not to be in the room when they pulled the catheter line out, so I waited out in the surgery waiting room. I was wondering how much longer it would be...since it had been over a half hour and that's about what the PA said it would take. So when I heard the gal at the reception desk talking about "Mr. Sawatzki" I thought they would come tell me to head back to his room. There was a guy talking at the desk so I waited until he was finished and then I went up and said that I heard someone say Mr. Sawatzki. She said yes, she did, but that's all she said. So I asked if I could go back to see him and she said that the guy that had been talking at the desk was heading back. He stopped in his tracks when he heard me talking about Sawatzki and I looked at him and I said, "Wait a minute...is your name Sawatzki, too?" and he said yes. The receptionist then asked me to spell the name and when I did, the guy said "that's right"....and I said..."you're a zki??" And he asked me if I was a Sawatzki. We both about flipped. I mean, what are the odds that 2 people with the very uncommon name of Sawatzki would be in the surgery waiting room at the same hospital at the same time????!!!!! Well, we had a nice conversation and it turns out his great great Grandparents were Johann and Anna Sawatzki...so his great-grandfather was great-grandpa Tony's brother. He said he might have some interesting family information for me, so we exchanged emails...and I just marveled at the smallness of the world! And to think...if Dad's procedure would have been on time (and not almost 2 hours late)...I would have missed this Sawatzki connection!

After Dad was released, it was a bit late for the massage I had lined up for both of us...so I bowed out and let Dad have a foot and hand massage that he really enjoyed...so he ended the day very relaxed...although he was very relaxed during the whole pulling the catheter procedure.

Day 26 Monday

Dad had blood work done today and FINALLY his platelets are up!! He was looking for the 50 mark on the platelets and today it was 70!! So the catheter will come out on Wed. ...with the procedure being done at the Med Center. He is really looking forward to getting that out.

All his other blood counts have also finally taken an upward swing. White blood cells went from 2.3 to 2.97 (normal is 4-11), red blood cells went from 3.6 to 3.8 (normal is 4.3-5.9), hemoglobin went from 11.3 to 11.5 (normal is 13.3-17.3) and platelets from 46 to 70 (normal is 150-400). This upward swing is no surprise...on Saturday Dad said he felt better than he has since the transplant process started.

We got home and took a nice walk. I'll let you know how the procedure to remove the catheter goes on Wed. afternoon.

Day 23 Friday

Finally I get back to posting on this blog. You would have thought I was on vacation! Let's see...going back to the last post on last Friday and our arrival home. It has been so nice being back home. Dad has adjusted well to being back, in fact, on Saturday he even ate some lunch...which he hadn't done for several weeks. He's basically been taking it easy and resting/napping when he's tired. We've been going for walks around the neighborhood, enjoying the fresh air that we didn't have while at the Med. Center. It's just very liberating to be able to go outside whenever you want...sometimes you take that for granted, but after being without it, we appreciate every breath of that outdoors air.

On Tuesday, Dad went to his oncologist here in Lincoln, but he wasn't able to see his regular doctor (Dr. Hutchins) with such short notice, so he saw the PA. All the nurses there were amazed to see Dad looking so good. Each time he saw a different nurse, they each told him he looked great (of course, he ate that up!). In fact, one of the nurses apparently told Dr. Hutchins that he needed to get in to see Dad because he looked so good! So he did come in for a short visit. We got the name of an oncology radiologist to see and then they set up a time for a PET/CT scan (May 23).

Dad's blood work today didn't make the mark on the platelets...they were up quite a bit...43 (from 28 last Friday)...but still not to the 50 mark...so the catheter stays in for a bit longer.

Wednesday morning, one of the nurses at Dad's oncologist's office called and told me that she and the rest of the office staff were truly amazed at how good Dad looked. She said she has seen quite a few people who have gone through a stem cell transplant and she hasn't ever seen anyone look that good at that stage . She said usually people come in the office with not much color, looking ashen and gray, but she said Dad had good color and just looked great. That was good to hear that from her.

Also, on Wednesday, we drove up to Omaha for my physical therapy for my shoulder at the Med. Center and then afterwards I had set up an appointment with the massage therapist who works at the hospital (particularly with cancer patients). I had a 20 minute neck massage (badly needed!) and Dad had a half hour session mostly concentrating on his feet and hands. He really enjoyed it (and so did I!).

Yesterday (Thursday), Dad had more blood work and we thought for sure that he would reach those platelet numbers...but they were at 46...so again, not quite enough for the surgical procedure that's required to remove that catheter line. We'll try again next Monday (with blood work) and we have an appointment set up to get the catheter removed on Wednesday in Omaha...so hopefully that will work (only if the platelets reach the 50 mark). The rest of his blood work is just sort of hovering, but they aren't concerned about it at this stage...I guess it just takes time, but it's amazing that Dad's feeling as well as he does with those counts down still.

It was time to change the dressing on his catheter line on Tuesday, but we kept thinking that he would be getting it out sometime this week, but since that didn't work, I had to change the dressing yesterday. I luckily had all the supplies needed (rubber gloves, alcohol wipes, a scrubbing sponge to clean around the "exit site" of the catheter, and a clear dressing with tabs to adjust around the whole area). The worst part was taking the old dressing off...it was stuck on pretty good...but it went fine. Hopefully, I won't have to do that again as long as he gets the catheter out next week

So the basic plan is for Dad to have blood work done twice a week through June 7 when he will meet with Dr. Hutchins. In the meantime, he will have the scans on May 23 and then meet with Dr. Hutchins on May 25 and then with the radiologist on May 27. I'll be keeping you posted as to the catheter removal and blood work next week.

Day 16 Friday

The excitement mounted today as we waited for our visit with the doctor to hopefully finally get discharged "formally" from Dr. Bierman at the Med. Center and to get our "going home" papers. We loaded the car with our worldly possessions from Laura and John's house, with the help of John. Dad, as master car packer, did his thing. Our appointment was for mid-afternoon and when the doctor finally came in, he gave the nod to head home! He again said that Dad had done as well as anyone has ever done with this transplant and said he looked great. So Dad was discharged from his care and will now be under the care of his oncologist here in Lincoln. The first order of events is to get some blood work done to see when those platelets tell the story that it's ok to have the "tassles" (hickman catheter) removed. The magic number to reach on the platelets is 50. Dad's platelets hung on 18 for 3 days and then finally yesterday they jumped to 28. So he just has 22 more to go and then we head back up to Omaha to have the catheter removed. So I'll call Monday for an appointment with Dr. Hutchins here and hopefully by Wed, we'll be heading to Omaha to get that thing out. Dr. Bierman said that since the catheter was coming out, I didn't need to bother flushing the lines over the weekend. That was just fine with me. I was prepared...I had been practicing on him several times over the last week, but I was glad to hear I'm off duty.

Dr. Bierman said no restrictions to Dad...just to rest when he's tired...and that it will take awhile to get full strength back. He said that he wants Dad to go to an oncology radiologist as will be recommended by Dr. Hutchins (Dad's oncologist here). In around 3 weeks, Dad will get another PET/CT scan to see how things are...and most likely, with the consultation of Dr. Bierman, he recommends following this whole thing up with some targeted radiation. He described it as after you have a cake nicely made, you top it off with icing...to make it even better. The radiation would be to make sure there is no trace of anything unwanted. He wants Dad to recover from the transplant for around 3 -4 weeks first, though. So we'll see what plans Dr. Hutchins has for regular blood work, etc. the first part of this next week.....but for now....we're FREE TO GO HOME!!!

It was very exhilarating to head down that road to Lincoln. It's been over a month since we've been home...and as absolutely great as it's been to be staying at Laura and John's (it has been wonderful...feeling so much at home there. And we've had so many great conversations with them...always enjoyable. In fact, Dad and John, I believe, HAVE to have solved all the problems of the world (maybe, the universe!!) with their many conversations (including Nebraska football!!). They have had a great time visiting from the early morning hours to late evening. It has been indescribably wonderful staying with them...we just love them so much!) In spite of all that, it was still wonderful seeing that road ahead of us to Lincoln...and also seeing the road to Omaha behind us. Lenny, this picture is for you:

And yet another photo as we were on I-80:

It was great to pull into the driveway and great to see Sara! Inside she had a beautiful bouquet of flowers waiting for me and a balloon bouquet for Dad. I'll post a photo of that tomorrow!

I was falling asleep in mid-conversation at about 8:30 so I was ready for bed by 9:00 and Dad was still content to stay up! But we all ended up going to bed around 9:00 or 9:30. Ah, sweet repose!

Day 15 Thursday

Nothing much to report today. Dad is doing fine. The only medical happening today was to get Dad's catheter lines flushed, so not much to that. Since there's not much to report today, I'll post a picture that I took maybe a week ago of Dad. I call it "the Stigmata". It's the darndest thing...as Dad's hair was growing back (before he just lost it again!)...a letter "T" grew back with dark hair. He never had that before so go figure. I showed the PA and told her it was "T" for "transplant". I thought she was going to choke laughing.

Here's the amazing picture: (click on it to make it larger)

Day 14 Wednesday

Dad is doing good again today. Last night he ate a good dinner and this morning he had a good breakfast so he's ready to face the day! It has been so nice staying at Laura and John's place and they have been so gracious with their amazing hospitality. They definitely have the "mi casa es su casa" philosophy! And we have been enjoying the conversations with them immensely! We never run out of things to talk about! When we first got here, Stinky (their French bulldog, for those of you who don't know them) wanted to check out Leo and I...he's a friendly, curious dog. He also gets excited and jumps up on you to say hello. With Leo's low platelets we didn't want him to bleed to death with any scratches. So we determined that it was easier to surround Leo with a protective "corral" than to exile Stinky to a small area. So the result is that Leo is in the "penalty box" when we're sitting in the living room, visiting. It works well. It has a comical appearance and so I thought I'd include it.

And here's the culprit, himself! Stinky.

It's a face you just have to love!

Dad had bloodwork done today and counts were down a bit, but he's not getting the neupogen shot anymore. Nothing to be alarmed about...the fluctuation is to be expected says the doctor. Dad got a nap in today and ate a good dinner tonight.