Suprise! You stink!

So I got my stem cell transplant today. Biggest suprise? Right before I got my first round of cells at 10:00 in walks Kate! What a great suprise! She took the day from work to come be with me for my transplant. She brought new comfy shorts and some box drinks (the room is soooooo dry) and a couple of cards (one from her and one from abby). That certainly picked up my mood. I'd been missing my girls since the last time I saw them on Sunday. I was one happy transplant patient.

All in all the transplant was very anti-climactic. My nurse, Marsha (who's awesome), set up all this crazy stuff like suction, oxygen, heart monitors, etc. and I had none of the possible side effects. Well, other than the smell. The side effects come from the preservative that they put in with the cells to protect them when they freeze. Well, apparantly this preservative has a rather pungent smell. Marsha and Kate said it smells like a nasty, garlicy tomato soup or something, but for some reason, the patient (that would be me) usually doesn't smell it. I'm glad I don't smell it becuase apparently it's smelly enough that they give me an extra hepa filter in the room to get rid of the smell.

Nothing else to really report for now. I had a little indegestion and some blisters on my skin from the catheter dressing, but nothing too bad yet. Let's hope the rest goes as smoothly as it has so far. Knock Knock (that's me knocking on wood).

That chemo sure worked

Got my morning blood results. My white count has dropped off nicely - 0.7. The normal healthy count is more like 5.0.

That means the chemo's doing its job. I'm scheduled to get my cells back at 11:30 and 4:00, two doses.

What do you get when you put 4 scientists in a hospital room...?

So, tomorrow's the big day. I get my stem cells back tomorrow. I've heard it will be relatively anti-climactic. Still, it's good to be about a quarter done with my hospital stay.

This morning sucked. I felt horrible. I was able to eat some breakfast, but by the time I had a shower and lunch rolled around I was in no mood for food. I felt faint an nauseous and just plain gross. Marsha (my nurse) told me that my red blood cell counts were low and they were going to give me some blood. That should make me feel better. In order to give me blood, they first have to give me benedryl. Well that put me into a semi-comatose state. It really knocked me out.

The guys from my old lab at BU (Parag, Caleb and Zach) showed up at just the right time though. I had already gotten some of the blood and the benedryl had partially worn off, so it was really nice to catch up and shoot the breeze for a while. Certainly broke up the monotony. Thanks Guys!

After the guys left I got to talk to Kate for a while too. It's nice when I get to talk to her when I'm awake and alert. I haven't been able to see her in two days now and really miss her. Even when I'm asleep in the hospital bed, it's nice to know that she's sitting next to me when she's here.

Well, that's it for now. By the next time I post I should be a transplanted man.

By the way, I found this picture of Roxy on my laptop which conveys what it's like to be stuck in a room for 21 days:

mmmmm.... hospital food

Today's been a pretty boring day. As I said in my last post, I woke up with horrible headache, but my nurse Carol came to my aide with some oxycodon. They use stronger drugs like that rather than tylenol because tylenol can mask a fever, and that would be bad.

I spent a good portion of the day laying propped up in the hospital bed. Kate got me a bunch of new DVDs so I watched Top Gun, took a nap, watched the Posiedon Adventure (the original), took a nap...

The comments everyone has been sending have been great! I look forward to reading them and they really pick me up. I can't wait to be done with all of this and then Kate and I will finally throw our BBQ party once I hit my 100 day mark (should roughly coincide with May graduation time).


Also, I've discovered some key tips for ordering food here.
1. If it sounds fancy... it's gross.
2. Don't forget to order you condements.... you have to check everything or they don't send it. Hence my pancakes the other day with no syrup.
3. Mac and Cheese and Fettucini Alfredo are safe.
4. No carbonation ... chemo + carbonation = the worst hiccups ever.

That was a lot of drugs

Day -2. That means I've finished the chemo portion of the transplant process. Still going relatively smoothly, but I had a horrible night sleep last night. All of the anti-nausea drugs that make me sleep during the day have really thrown my sleep schedule all out of wack. I woke up a lot during the night and now I have a splitting head ache. But hey, I'm not puking my guts out...

Day -3 now. That's how they count the days. Everything before my transplant is negative, the day of my transplant is zero, and everything after is positive. Talked with the doctor on rounds this morning. He said I'm doing great and holding up to the chemo really well. My counts have started to drop now... my white blood cell count is below normal but still at 2 point something. (It should drop to nearly zero). That makes me susceptable to infection, so now it's very important to take all the visitor precautions.

I'm feeling a little better today than yesterday. I had toast and potatoes for breakfast (much easier to stomach than that tofu) and I got about 12 hours of sleep last night (thanks to the drugs I'm on).

The nurse just came in and started my chemo. One of my anti-nausea drugs has worn off now (lasts 3 days) so they gave me something else to tide me over for today. It's actually an anti-psychotic drug. I wonder if they discovered the dual use of the drug my the lack of nautious nut jobs or the abundance of sane chemo patients...

Stir Fry Tofu Sucks

Day three of chemo. I have a little bit of nausea, not too bad. Kinda wiped out. Good news is they will probably take out my Hickman catheter before I leave. The Hickman is the central line that goes directly into my heart and makes me bionic. We have to clean and flush it everyday so it will be nice for it to be out. Also, I will be able to lay on my stomach.
Tried tofu stir fry...bad decision. It almost made me throw up. That'll teach me to never order my dinner while I am loopy.

For real

These hiccups suck!

BTW here's an untrasound picture of Abby for everyone!

-J

A Father's Joy

My second day is going well. The nausea is not too bad and I even ate a bit. I have some horrible hiccups right now, but I got to feel my baby move. After sifting through all sorts of names (and there are some really wierd ones out there) we have decided on Abigail for our little girl. It is a Hebrew name which mean "a father's joy." Pretty perfect I think.

Adjusting to the life of confinement

So the first day of chemo is down, and we're into the second. The drugs they have me on for this round realy seem to help with nasuea. (knock on wood).

Kate was here with me most of yestarday, but I think I slept through most of it. Still, it's comforting to have here here.

The nurses here on 6C (I had requested 6D) are very nice. There is one named Marsha how is so very nice and checked me in. She's probably only a year or so older than me and she has straight blond hair. Makes me want to say "Marsha Marsha Marsh".

As for visitors, I can have visitors to Brigham and Woman's Floor 6C room 53 with a couple of conditions. 1. there can't be to many people at once. 2. If you have symptoms of germs or viruses or have been exposed to germs or viruses, you'll have to wait until another time. 3. There can't be any childern :(

I hope everyone it the world outside room 53 is doing well.

Chemo so far has been smooth sailing, so i'm hoping for some more.

Here we go...

So, they started my IV drip with my pre-chemo drugs. They should make me pretty sleepy, but we're off and running...

My Fair Ladies

So, it’s my first night in the hospital. Pretty boring so far. I’ve had to answer all sorts of medical questions and I’ve had some time to get situated. It turns out I got a pimped out room… A room for two all to myself. (Usually they put transplant patients in a room for one). Unfortunately one of my two TVs doesn’t work… I guess that means I can’t watch TV and play PS2 at the same time…

I’ve been here for 4 hours by now and you know what I miss the most so far? My three ladies. It’s just not the same with out Kate, Roxy, and the baby kicking around in Kate’s belly. Kate’s taken such good care of me that I’ve already found myself saying to the nurse “That’s not how my wife covers my central line dressing.” There’s something that Kate has that just makes things ok. Maybe part of it is my little girl inside her. I can’t help but smile when I think about her.

As for Roxy, she’s a wild one, but when I’m feeling lousy, she knows it somehow and she’s such a good cuddler. She’ll hop up on the couch and wedge herself between me and the cushion and wrap her legs over me as her doggy way of saying “I’m here to make you feel better.”

Well, so far I’m only hooked up to saline. They tell me they want me to pee a lot so they start saline early. I’ll start chemo in the morning but they’re giving me the “MVP” round of anti-puking drugs – three of the strongest as opposed to the one I got last time. Hopefully I won’t make dinosaur calls so much.

I'll have a cytoxin, shaken (not stirred), with a twist of fate...

"To Whom it may Concern: This letter is to confirm that Mr. Jason Holmes has completed all the necessary requirements for his doctoral degree... Mr. Holmes will be officially graduated on January 25, 2007"

That's what the letter says that I got after I defended my dissertation. This allowed me to start work and assume the full responsibilities of "Dr. Jason". So what? Well, I dug this letter out because I've been thinking about that date lately. In a crazy twist of fate, it turns out that Thursday, January 25, 2007 is not just a big day for me, it's a huge day. All in one day I'll become a doctor and a 3 week admitted patient. Sure, I technically get admitted on Wednesday, but the first round of high dose chemo comes on Thursday.

This makes me wonder, how many people have graduated and started their transplant process on the same day? Anyone? Do I need to wear my cap and gown?

So I'm digital now

Well, in preparation for my stay in the hospital, I have set up this blog to keep everyone informed about what's going on with me and my treatment. I have nothing much to say yet, but I'll be adding as I go along. I get admitted in two days, Wednesday, so wish me luck!