Hello family and friends, just a short update on Dave. After a difficult last week, things were starting to turn around for Dave by this weekend. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday he didn't have to be hooked up to a IV for dehydration and he started getting some of his appetite back. On Sunday his white blood count started to rise finally. The doctors are able to determine if he is ready for stem cell collection by the level of his white blood cells. Well, this morning when Dave and my mom reported to their daily doctor's appointment, Dave received a call from Stanford stating he was ready (based on the blood draws Dave's doctor has been forwarding to Stanford) for stem cell collection. As I type, my parents are on their way to Stanford. Talk about no notice. They quickly rushed home to pack and headed out. If they arrive before 5 p.m. Dave will start with the preliminary testing they have to do before collection. If not, he will report early tomorrow morning for testing (about 3 hours worth) and then they will hopefully begin stem cell collection. The collection can take from 1 to 5 days. The good news is that the doctor gave Dave the okay to eat whatever he wants. He has been on a very strict, specific diet so he is looking forward to some old fashion comfort food. I think he has Carl's Jr. in his immediate future. Dave sounded great on the phone. I think they are excited to get Step 1 completed and they will have about a week in a half of pure freedom before having to repeat this whole thing over again. Obviously, Dave is not excited about that because he knows what a difficult time he had with the first round of chemo. On the hair front, he hasn't lost any yet. Maybe when you don't have much to lose, you get a reprieve. Who knows, maybe the next round. Sorry for the poor writing, but I'm on my lunch hour and wanted to get you updated.
On a separate note for those who follow for research purposes. Some did not know this, but Geraldine Ferraro, who passed away last week actually had Multiple Myeloma. She had it for over 12 years and had it long before all of the advancements is medicine were made available to Multiple Myeloma patients today. I think for us that research and follow Multiple Myeloma it is upsetting that they say she had a "blood cancer". The difficulty in finding a cure and getting support for MM is that it isn't a well known cancer. Geraldine Ferraro was actively involved in the Multiple Myeloma Foundation and was a honary chair of their board of directors. In addition, she did much to raise awareness about the disease and went before Congress to do so!
If you are interested in learning more about her story, please click on the following links:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/26/obit.geraldine.ferraro/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1
http://www.dana-farber.org/pat/patientprofiles/firstperson/geraldineferraro.asp
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