Well, a week ago, I said we were targeting May 6th for my admittance date for my Allo transplant. That date won't work for the donor, so we had to push it back by a couple weeks. Now, I'm scheduled to go in on May 20th, which is only two weeks later, so it's not that bad. I'll be in the hospital for Memorial Day, but I'm OK missing that because my birthday (June 28, for those who are keeping track at home) is 5 weeks and 4 days after I get admitted to the hospital. I'm told to expect between 4 and 6 weeks for this hospital stay. I doubt that I'll end up pushing close to the 6 week mark with all the prayers and fasting that'll be going on in my behalf while I'm in the hospital, so I fully expect to be home by my birthday. Now, my doctors may suggest that I temper my expectations, but I temper what I choose to temper. I said I wanted to be done with the hospital stay for my Auto transplant on the short end of the 3-4 week window they said was the norm, and I walked out of there exactly 3 weeks after I walked in. And that was with a bowel infection and chronic vomiting. I think I can be home for my birthday this time. I'm shooting for four weeks.
For the Auto transplant, they got me in there on a Tuesday morning, gave me high dose chemo drug Melphalan that day and the next, let me rest on Thursday, and infused the stem cells on Friday. This time around it'll be a very different preparative regimen. My stem cell infusion isn't until the 29th, nine days after I walk in the doors. This preparative regimen is more common, as I understand from Rachael (my Care Coordinator, in case you've forgotten). She says the two-day prep with Melphalan is the shortest regimen they have. The rest are much longer. So, that 9 days accounts for a week or so of the difference between the 3-4 week window for Auto and the 4-6 week window for Allo. I got out on "Day 17" (or 17 days post-transplant) last time. This time, "Day 17" will be June 15th, 3 weeks and 5 days after I get into the hospital. I'll give it a couple more days, til "Day 19." That'll be four weeks. That's my target.
I've been doing pretty well lately. It's been pretty cold, and it's rained a few times and snowed a couple times, so I haven't been walking much. Though it wasn't warm at all, I walked a couple miles today, and it felt good. I stopped and had a nice chat with President Curtis Ivins, our Stake President, and his wife Aleisha, who live on the street behind us. They both complimented me on how good and strong I'm looking, and I appreciated that. I feel really healthy, but I don't feel really strong. I've lost a TON of muscle tissue over the past couple months. Noelle assures me I've lost some fat, too. My arms, which were never very muscular are smaller than ever, and my legs, which were pretty muscular, are pretty sad looking. I just don't have the physical strength I used to have. It's really sad to me that when you get sick and have to be in the hospital and, even worse, on liquid nutrition, it's your muscle mass that goes away and not your fat. I guess it serves me right for having so much fat there in the first place. =0S
So, Noelle's been needing a break for some time now. She's really tired every day, physically, yes, but also emotionally, psychologically, and in every other possible way one can feel tired. Well, I reached out to some of the women she's closest to, and they've come through in a rather remarkable way to help Noelle out - and me and the kids, by extension. A happier, more relaxed Noelle makes for a happier, more relaxed Philpott home. I asked these women if somehow, one of them would be able to take Noelle away for a couple days. It was originally going to be a surprise, but I ultimately felt I had to tell Noelle. That has turned into the following: Linzi Crans, Noelle's best friend from California, is flying out next Monday night. On Tuesday, she's taking Noelle up to her sister's house in Perry, UT (about an hour north). Her sister's family will be out of town next week, so Linzi and Noelle will have the house to themselves. They'll return on Friday afternoon after three and a half days of hanging out at Linzi's sister's house and doing a bunch of girlie things. The other women have contributed to this adventure by funding Linzi's airfare and contributing "fun money." I can't wait to see pictures and talk with Noelle every night. They're going to have so much fun. I'm actually kinda jealous that she gets to get away, but not really jealous. How can you be too terribly jealous of someone who's getting precisely what they need in recompense for how well they've been taking care of you. =0) That's why I was so excited to do this for her in the first place.
No comments:
Post a Comment