All quiet on the UW front

Gil felt fine today. At his doc's recommendation, we made an effort at exercise, walking around and around the halls culminating in a little Exercycle in the lounge. After a roaring game of Slip n Slide Sorry with a 4 year old he met in the lounge, we were given permission to go out on a pass. It felt good to get out and about even when we had to wait 45 minutes to get served in a burger joint. The bottom line is that he still has his immune system for another day or so, so make hay while the sun shines.

He also got moved to a new room. It's bigger and he was finally able to set up his computer so he can play games AND watch TV at the same time. The in room land line phone number is

608 267 8502. Room number is B6/644. Please call before visiting and sadly, plants or flowers aren't allowed. But he does love being loved, so feel free as the spirit moves you.

Tomorrow around 9:30, he'll get back his stem cells, and the transplant clock starts ticking, "T day zero". Stay tuned!

And so it all begins...

Here the guy is in his room awaiting his 15 minute shot of Melphalan. After it he will basically have no more blood making bone marrow. He'll coast on his existing blood cells 'til Friday when they'll give him back his stem cells which will start making new bone marrow. In the transplant lingo that's "T day zero" (today is T minus 2) His low point should be "T plus 4 or 5" and his counts should start coming up by "T plus 10"

I'll give more info as I understand it.

Today went well albeit slowly. We played cards (oh Hell) with our good friends Joe and Diana. And I won! Kinda amazing since I don't even know how to score! If you're interested in visiting, the next 2 or 3 days are probably best. Give a call on our cell and I can let you know if it's a good time. 608 807 6596. Obviously, if you have cold etc. it's not a good idea, otherwise, hand washing and Purell are just fine.

I already accidentally lost this post once editing it, so I'll call it enough for tonight. More tomorrow..

Cleared for take off

Gil went in for his final pre transplant check. Two long CT scans later, and a fair amount of blood and urine, and it looks good!

He starts Wednesday Aug 12th. He'll be given a pic line (a durable portal for all the fluids going in, so no need for multiple "sticks") and his chemo Melfalen.

He waits through Thursday and then on Friday gets his frozen and "washed" stem cells returned to him. By the weekend the chemo should start impacting his GI tract.

The next 10 days or so may be varying degrees of unpleasant to miserable. Hopefully 2 to 3 weeks in after he's able to eat and drink and walk (not simultaneously!) they'll consider letting him go home.

So there's the overview. I'll update the blog as the transplant unfolds. We're psyched; we're intimidated; but mostly we're ready to stop waiting and start what's next.

We've got enough!

Somewhat unexpectedly, Gil had more stem cells harvested on his second day than his first! We've got enough (barely) for two transplants. We'll be doing the final pre transplant testing and check in with his doc this Friday and, hopefully, start the actual transplant the week of August 10.

And so we're on track, schedule wise, to have Gil be at least 8 weeks post transplant before I need to leave for NYC to be first child care for our granddaughter . I'm afraid we're both besotted with Piper Rose, whom we spent the last 3+ days with in NYC. I hope to to include the latest pics of the young morsel in my next blog. We had a great time with Adam and Kate and David Leigh, enjoying dim sum twice and seeing Adam's office at WNYC.

We're heading home from NYC this evening and look forward to a few days rest before things really start.

and so it all begins...

Today was the first day of Gil's stem cell harvest.  Though he didn't have any young stem cells in his blood there appears to be enough "adult" stem cells for at least one transplant.  The doc says at Gil's age that that's probably all that he would use anyway.  Hey, one transplant sounds great.

The harvesting is quite a process.  They hook him up intravenously in both arms. One arm's blood goes out into a machine where it's put through a centrifuge, separated into red and white blood cells, plasma and stem cells.  The stem cells are extracted and the rest goes back through the other arm's IV. And so on for 3 1/2 hours.

We go back tomorrow for another go at it.  We just got word that he got 3/4ths of what he'll need from today's "taking his blood out for a spin".  We'll see what we harvest tomorrow!

It's starting!!

Life is good.

We have a grand daughter! who came into the world very smoothly (thanks to her gifted mom's healthy body) and is now the center of our universe:  Piper Rose Hirsch born 7/12/09 at 5:33 pm in NYC.

Everything else is just details.

But finally we have details.  Gil had his pre bone marrow transplant  (BMT) physical today and we have a plan.  with dates.  I am grateful!.

So far his numbers look good and baring any surprises the plan is:

on Saturday 7/25 I will start giving him 4 days of twice daily sub cutaneous shots of a stem cell stimulating drug (they thought it was better that I do it than trying to find a clinic to give it to him on the weekend).

On Tuesday 7/28 after his am shot, he'll have labs drawn and if he appears to have enough stem cells, they'll start harvesting.  It may take two days to get enough cells.

Then, on August 1st, we'll take off for NYC to meet Piper Rose in person.

Gil's transplant will, hopefully, begin soon after our return on August 4th.  But transplant positions are given based on need, and the down side of Gil's "good numbers" is he may get bumped; the up side is that hopefully he'll be resilient enough to make enough of a recovery that I'll be able to fly out in the beginning of October  and be the first month+ of child care when Kate has to go back to work.  I won't leave him without 8+ weeks into the transplant and plenty of loving folks supporting him.

So them's the details.

The garden is blossoming and being fruitful.

We start butchering chickens this weekend (90 to do)

Our new solar photo voltaic tracker has covered our electricity plus about $35 this first month.

We are blessed with good friends

Gil and a friend and I (with major support by Gil's John Deere tractor) just replaced our front walkway with  large flat stones which should be easier to keep clean  this winter.

So,  Life is Good.

The Time has come

"the Time has come, the Walrus said, to speak of many things...."

We decided today, with Dr. Callander, to start the stem cell transplant process now, not wait for the Fall.   

First the complete physical, to see if he can handle it (despite the weight gain, he seems in good enough shape) then the stem cell harvesting (a possible ordeal in it's own write), then we set the date for the actual transplant.  We're hoping for the beginning of August, right after the Page/Piper family reunion here.

We have a couple of sets of friends from the Myeloma support group who are in the post hospital phase of the transplant process, so we are getting an up close view (not particularly pretty) of what we'll be going through (though there is quite a bit of individual difference we hear).  

In future blogs, I'm sure I'll indulge in all the details, but let it suffice for now that 

we are ready to move on to the next step.

Grateful for all the support we have.   and our beautiful new photovoltaic collector! 

(picture next post)