Up and Down

The last few days have been much like the spring weather we are experiencing: hot and cold. Pam has been feeling pretty icky most days; low energy, bone pain, nausea, headaches, etc. Much of this time is spent between the couch and bed. On some days she is feeling better and has ventured out for a couple of walks around the block (although any slight grade can present a challenge at this point).
She had a great visit to DHMC on Tues. and all her blood counts were looking great. They had her stop giving herself her injections of Nupagen to boost White blood cell production. Spirits were lifted.
Then on Wed. afternoon Pam started to run a fever again (100.4). This did not go away and after 5 hours we followed protocol and called DHMC. They asked us to go to Porter (local hospital) and get blood tests and x-ray, which we did. The blood counts came back much lower than the day before and the temp. did not go away. Sooooo, at 12:45 am I drove Pam to DHMC and checked her in at 2:45 (long night).
We are now at DHMC and they are repeating blood work and getting a CT Scan. The fever has passed and Pam is actually feeling much better, just tired. I am assuming they will not keep us her for long, but don't know. We will keep you posted on our progress.
Troy

Heading Home Again....

Well things have settled down enough that they are sending Pam home today (Wed.) after 3 nights at DHMC. All the tests so far have come back negative for infection which is good. Pam seemed to have the symptoms of a head cold this morning and the Dr.s' were actually glad about that as it confirmed the virus theory.
However the infectious disease specialist who came in said we need to really watch this head cold as Pam is at a high risk for contracting pneumonia (this would be extremely bad).
So, after she finishes getting a couple of bags of blood infused and some IG/HG added in, we will be headed home after lunch.
We will all need to stay very vigilant with hand washing and staying away if sick, around the sick, even thinking you were around the sick!
Troy

Here at DHMC

Well we are back at DHMC. Pam was admitted yesterday afternoon after running a fever at home for 3 days. The fever spiked for the 2nd time on Sat. nite so they decided to bring her in for some testing to make sure she does not have an infection.
The good news is lungs are clear and at first glance no sign of infection. Fever seems to have gone away an they are thinking she had a virus.
The bad news is Pams counts plummeted to the lowest yet and she is Neutropenic again and will probably be here for a couple more days until the counts get back. It appears that her very fragile immune system wiped itself out fighting this virus.
This has reaffirmed what we already know: Pam has a very compromised immune system right now and will continue to have for quite a few months. It is really important that she be shielded from sickness as much as possible.
Troy and Pam

heading back in

Unfortunately, I spiked a temp again last night after running right on the borderline for inpatient most of the day. We've heading down today to check in, get the thorough tests done and figure what causeing this fever. Feeling pretty lousy, too. We'll update when we know what it is.
Pam

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Pam was released on Wednesday! She was doing so great they had to let her go. We were very excited and Pam was feeling pretty darn good. We arrived home and Pam was able to spend a few minutes with each of the boys before bed.
Unfortunately a fever followed her home :(
She has a had a raised temp for the last couple of days and is feeling pretty icky. We actually went down to Porter Hospital on Thurs nite to get some blood work and a chest x-ray. Nothing came up so we came back home and have been monitoring the temp. ever since.
We are hoping that this will subside ASAP!
Troy

heading home!

Hello all ....
well, this little body of mine continues to surprise even me. Counts are in, another huge jump from yesterday, and everything else is perfect. So ..... I'M OUTTA HERE as they say. Troy's on his way to get me now and will leave early afternoon.

AHHHHH my own bed :)
Love - Pam

p.s. I really think they'll miss my daily dance sessions with ABBA though!

Counts ae coming in!

Well I realize it's been close to a WEEK since Troy lasted updated. I tried to log in myself three different times, but couldn't since Troy has two blog sites and I couldn't seem to get past the "On the Hill" site for the family.
Anywho .... getting back from my walk and time to update. As you can see from the title .... COUNTS ARE COMING IN!! When I've been saying I'm feeling great .... I mean, I"M FEELING GREAT! We started to see a slight rise yesterday, but needed another day or two to be sure. Well, ANC (absolute neutraphil count - the infection fighters of the white cells) needed to be at least 500 to be discharged and not considered neutropenic. Well, this a.m. they were 480! and since they increased 160 from yesterday, they were safe to say, I'm on the rise.
So what does that mean next? I'll go off my horse pill anti-biotic that I take, and if no fever arises over 24hrs. ... good to go! Time to free up my room for someone who actually needs to be in the hospital. :)
Troy came down last Wed. with the kids for a visit, which was THE BEST medicine for all of us. He stayed the night, while my amazing, forever giving, loving parents (did I mention how terrifc they are?!) came and got the kids and brought them to Bristol to stay with till Sat. Troy, in turn, left here on Thursday to an empty house in Bethel when he started "coming down with something" and had a fever of 100. Out you go!! It was a 24 hr. bug and he felt great Sat. to visit but not stay. Troy, the boys, my sister Jen and family all came to visit on Easter, along with the Easter Bunny. (the nurses are loving the chocolate!) Troy stayed from Sunday and went home today to be with the boys for the rest of the week and releave my folks. They're just counting the days to head of to "the cousins", Becky & Mikes's, this weekend for spring vacation.
It's been so great to have so many thoughtful emails and daily visitors.
We'll update again in the next two days
Love - Pam

So far, so good!

We are at day +5 (5days since the donor cells where introduced) and everything is going smooth so far. Pam is feeling good and doing well. I brought the boys down to see her today and that was good medicine for everyone! She is only hooked up to IV once a day for a couple of hours so Pam has been walking the halls of DHMC every chance she gets and is putting in the miles. She is in good spirits and feeling very positive. Please feel free to drop her an email to say hi: tptsparadee@yahoo.com

Troy and Pam

They say the third time is the charm!

Hello everyone. We are at DHMC on Saturday April 4th, 2009. Pam recieved her non-related donor cells yesterday afternoon. This is her 3rd transplant and as they say "you can never beat a good team 3 times in a row" and we have a good team! Pam continues to be an amazingly strong person. We realize that not everyone has all the info so here is the quick catch up:
Last December Pam had a transplant of cells from her brother Doug. The PET scan in April showed success! Cancer free!
We had a follow up scan in Sept. that showed a relapse. A few small spots had returned. CRAP.
We decided to not tell anyone. Pam was completely healthy in every other way, back to work and feeling "normal". We just couldn't have everyone acting differently around us due to this. We didn't tell the boys either.
In the meantime Dr. Meehan met with us and laid out the game plan. We started with a "booster" of Doug's cells to see if they would knock it out again. A PET scan in December proved that as unsuccessful. So Pam started a chemo regimen in January to prep her for a non-related donor transplant. At this point we started to let people know what was going on as they asked us how Pam was doing.

Here is the deal with this transplant: Much more risk to Pam being her 3rd and a non-related donor :( That is a little nerve racking. The potential for longer term side effects is also greater :( She will need to be very careful for the next several months to not get an infection as this could be very dangerous.

That brings us to today. Cells are in and hopefully getting to work! Pam feels pretty good today and will try to walk around the hospital as much as possible while she is still up to it. Her counts are already dropping and will continue to do so. She can take visitors and would love to see people during her stay here (probably 3 weeks).

Please send e-mails to Pam or I if you want to check in or get her phone # to say hi. If you want to come visit the rule is yes IF: you have NO illness, or have had NO illness in your house!!!!! Better to be safe.

We will update this blog every 3-4 days if you want to continue to check in here.
Troy and Pam