January 27, 2011 - Back To Clinic - Day 34

Hi everyone!

Well, it's been an exhausting couple of days at home. But so far Alex has survived me taking care of her. Nothing too much has been going on. Just trying to settle into a routine of medications and cleaning. The TPN at night is a pain! It's time consuming to get it ready and it's just no fun. That said, we have been dealing with it. There was a slight learning curve to the process where we had to throw one bag out... but I chalked it up to not having my nightly glass of wine first. We remedied that the next night. Tonight should be the last night of TPN. If I can get her calorie count a little bit up from what its been, then they'll leave it that way after Monday's appointment. Anyone familiar with IV situations knows that a beeping pump is one of the most annoying sounds on earth. Well... when you turn it off the wrong way it REALLY beeps and you cannot turn it off at all... a message was displayed saying "CALL - CODE" SO... I had to call the pharmacy today and the guy says "what's the problem?" and I say "I don't know... my pump is coding." I crack myself up sometimes. :) (the guy was nice enough to laugh though)

Today we had clinic. For a change, I was looking forward to going. It's been stressful at home after such a big ordeal. It was nice to go into clinic and be assured that everything was going as expected. Our appointment went very well today. The appointment started with labs... then we waited until most of the results were in before seeing the doctor. The doctor came in and checked her over. He said he saw no sign of Graft vs Host disease. That is an awesome thing. Of course that can rear its ugly head at any time... which totally sucks to know. BUT, her blood counts were excellent!!!

ANC - 2,400

Hct (red blood) - 27.8 (low)

Platelets - 87 (this is amazing!)

That's about it to report on today. We go back to clinic on Monday for a bone marrow biopsy, the Chimerism test, and also more labs. It's my birthday on Monday so I told Alex that all I wanted for my birthday was a clear bone marrow result. Here is a little photo blog of the TPN situation here at home.

Sending out a "Thank YOU!" to my cousin Lorna for bringing us a TON of frozen dinners last night! You have no idea how much that helps. Had dinner last night and tonight thanks to you! MERCI!

Thanks for tuning into our story! We appreciate the support we get from everyone!

My cute little puppy Roger, sleeping at Alex's feet.

The special backpack for the pump and TPN

The two vials of vitamins have to be drawn up into the syringe and then injected into the TPN bag.

IV tubing with filter

Vitamins are ready to go.

Injecting vitamins into the bag

The bag is in the backpack and ready to go.

The pump fits inside a little pocket.

A flap on the front of the pack makes the pump easy to get to.