Sorry that we haven't posted for awhile. We have been busy doing important things...Christmas shopping...visiting grand children...eating out... and just generally gadding about. I have been back working a few days. I worked today and John made stir fry for supper. He has been feeling much better. He does have some back problems (it gets sore if he stands in one place too long) and he has some foot problems (his feet get sore if he walks too much). That is the definition of frustration!
The biopsy results are in and the news is good. The original biopsy tested rouge cells at 60 percent. The latest test has the rouge cells at 2 percent. John responded very well to the DEPACE treatments. This means that John is good to go for the stem cell harvest. This procedure will be starting on Nov. 22. He has to go in for two pre- harvest chemo treatments. He doesn't have to stay in the hospital for these but will be treated on an out patient basis. These chemos are hard on the kidneys and will make his white blood cell counts drop. Please pray for protection for his kidneys and that he will not acquire any infections.
The next stage in the harvest procedure are ten injections (done on ten consecutive days) to make the stem cells leave his bone marrow and go into his blood circulation. The last stage is the harvest. He will be hooked up to a machine that pulls his blood out, removes stem cells and pumps the blood back into him. This is done on an out patient basis. He shouldn't have to spend any time in the hospital except for the time of his treatments as long as he doesn't get any fevers. They remove enough stem cells to do two transplants and store the cells in liquid nitrogen.
We are approaching the final stage which is the transplant itself. We are not sure when this will take place. I think that it won't be until after Christmas. The harvest won't be completed until mid December. I think they will want his body to take a bit of a break. The hospital traditionally has lower staff numbers at this time. They also consider the patient and it would be crummy to be in the hospital at this time. I hope that he gets to be home for Christmas and is as healthy as he can be at that time.
We would like to thank everybody for all their prayers. THEY ARE WORKING! John and myself have been kept cold and flu free. He is responding well to treatment and his kidneys have not got any worse for all the chemicals his body has received. Please KEEP PRAYING.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Test Results
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Praise the Lord! We have been praying for this and the Lord has, once again, come through. The class I was in last year, grade 5/6, pray for our family every morning, specifically for John, Mom and Me. I am so happy to hear the progress.
I thought you guys would get a kick out of the fact that my legs went funny while reading this. All numb and tingly. You need to start putting warnings at the top of your posts:
NOTE TO MELISSA - THE FOLLOWING MAY CAUSE YOU TO THINK ABOUT NEEDLES.
Oops!
I the words of my grandaughter ...OH WOW !!!
This is good news.
This also made my knees go a little weak but not because of needles but because of the fact that God is good, prayer works and this is proof of both. Thanks for the update and we will not stop praying. Oh this is just so exciting and humbling at the same time. Just awesome!
I am glad to hear that the news is good. As always, you are in my prayers. It was good to talk to John the other day, and he sounded well.
I pray the rest of the treatments go as well as the first round of treatments.
Post a Comment