Dave Update-June 2, 2011

Hello family and friends, well mom and Dave are settled in to their posh (okay, maybe not posh) apartment in Palo Alto.  It's not home, but... it's better than the hospital.  Dave had x-rays and blood work completed on Tuesday, and had his Melphalan chemo yesterday.  The chemo drip took only 20 minutes and he was sent "home" to relax.  He's dragging around a water pump to help him stay hydrated and his infection precautions began, meaning he has to have a special diet and be super careful of germs.  (washing hands frequently, wearing mask when out)  I'm actually happy about this because dehydration has been a big issue for Dave after each chemo.  Today is blood work and he will be having a CT scan this everning. 

Tomorrow is Transplant day.  They will bring Dave's frozen harvested cells and "transplant" (similar to a blood transfusion) them back in his body through the "line" in his upper chest.  Takes approximately 20 minutes.  The image below is an example of what it looks like. 



From what I understand, Dave's white cell count will bottom out and then what they will look for is those number to start to rise as the healthy cells take over. 

I spoke with Dave this morning and he sounds fantastic!  He's feeling really good and positive about tomorrow.  The doctor did tell him it might take a few days to feel any side affects from the chemo and transplant, but we are hopeful that Dave will ease on through this.  Below is a short video that me and the kids did this morning for Dave.  Poor Cory did the videotapping so he's not in it, but this is from him as well.