Nancy's Update

We have so much to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving week! I'm ever so grateful to my donor! Without her marrow, at best, I would probably be extremely ill right now. I thank God and all of you who helped my family and I through this very tough year. We were all supported by you in so many countless ways. Many of you spent hours getting to the City of Hope and spending hours in the donor center donating platelets and whole blood to me (I received over 200 transfusions, most of which were directly donated by you!) Many of you brought meals to my family over the entire summer and into the fall! Many of you sent cards, phoned us, sent emails, gifts, and prayed for me daily! Many of you gave rides to Scott and Andrew and took them to basketball tournaments near and far! Many of you worked the bone marrow drives over the past several years donating your precious time and energy to help find a donor for all of us who were in need. Many of you spread the word for others to join the National Marrow Donor Program and also to give blood/platelets! For all of this and many other selfless acts of love, I'm eternally grateful.

I went to the City of Hope yesterday. My counts are still rising and things are looking pretty good. I haven't required a transfusion since September 26th, that's two months! I had another "personal best" record for my platelets at 79 (norm 150 - 350), my White Blood Count was at 3.7 (normal 4.0 - 11.0), and my Hemoglobin was 10.4 (normal 11.5-15.5). It's been a slow and steady climb. It's heading in the right direction and I'm hoping for continued progression. Next month, the surgeon is suppose to remove the Hickman Catheter from my chest and after that, my appointments may be one month a part! That'll really be something. My doctor has cut my steroids (prednisone) in half again. If this works out, he'll start reducing the amount of ant-rejection drugs that I've been taking.

I'm now six months post-transplant! I think back to one year ago when I was so transfusion dependent and had no donor in sight! I think about the events that transpired before my transplant... such as;
- before transplant, receiving numerous blood transfusions and injections (in my
stomach) to help control the illness
- two donors being located and becoming "unavailable" at the last minute,
- all the potential donors who were called and couldn't be located,
- all of the donors who tried to pass the secondary testing but didn't.
Then I think about this special 23 year old girl in Japan who so generously gave her marrow to a perfect stranger overseas. What an act of kindness and humanity. Unless the international laws change, I shall never be able thank my donor for saving my life! I think about the tough hospital stay which is quickly becoming a blur to me. I think about how good I feel now and how much I have to be thankful for. I'm sure that I'll continue on this road to complete recovery. I'm looking forward to the things I want to do in the future. What a difference a year can make!

Thank you all again for your support! A Very Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! with love, nancy

I can't believe that I haven't blogged or seen the doctor in two weeks! My visit today was good. My counts are slowly climbing! We're experiencing progress and I'm happy to report that my platelets hit a new all time high since transplant of 67 (normal 150-35), my hemoglobin is also up to 10.8 (normal 11.5 - 15.5) and my white cells are steady at 4.0 (normal 4.0-11.) These are decent numbers and I'm hoping they'll be even higher in two weeks when I visit the City of Hope again.

Around the first of December, since I'm no longer needing so many, or hopefully, any, transfusions, they are planning to remove the Hickman Catheter that I've had since May 12. The Hickman Catheter has required some upkeep; flushing each of the two lines daily with heparin after sterilizing the caps, changing the caps once a week, and changing the dressing where the catheter enters my body once per week. Even though it has required a lot of attention, this catheter has really been a lifesaver for me. The nurses have drawn all my blood tests from it, I've received every transfusion through it, I received the donor's bone marrow through it, and all those bags of various life sustaining products which hung on my I.V. tree in the hospital were all infused through this catheter. After they remove it, at every visit, the nurses will have to find a vein to draw my labs and get my counts. My veins are very small so usually they have to use the veins on the back of my hand. It once took seven sticks (attempts)to find a vein in one sitting and I was in tears. I think I'll miss my catheter, but I know it's time for it to be removed. The less you use the catheter the more chance of infection there is. So, it's really a good sign that my doctor feels it's time to remove it.

Thank you for waiting patiently for me to blog this time. Since I didn't have an appointment for two weeks and there was nothing earth-shaking happening, I didn't blog between doctor visits.

I'm so thankful that I'm not requiring transfusions and I'm ever so grateful for all of you who donated or tried to donate your blood and/or platelets from May until just recently. Saying "Thank You" seems so small, so inappropriate under the circumstances, but I don't know how to show my deepest appreciation for such an act of kindness and love. So even though "Thank you" isn't enough, know that you have brought me to this point with your elixir of life! My deepest appreciation to all of you!!!!

I also must thank those of you who supported my family and I in other ways over the last almost six months! It has been quite an ordeal for all of us, but many of you really hung in there as if you were traveling on this journey right along with us. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the wonderful meals that were bestowed on my family during my absence (and even when I came home from the hospital), all the emails, cards, rides for the boys, thoughts, and prayers! I love all of you and thank you all for the outpouring of support during this other difficult period. Love to all of you! Nancy