Fred Hutchenson Cancer Reseaecg Center-Seattle

If you notice there "time gaps" in our postings. This is because once updated Michael will stay in the same treatment mode for months. During this time there are no specific changes in his health or activities. I believe the long stable stretches for his cancer treatment are over!
Michael and Sue have been in Seattle since mid-October. Sue took this time to prepare our living quarters in a comfortable and livable manner. Micheal started at the Seattle Cancer Care Center (SCCA) on the day after he arrived. SCCA is the treatment center for transplants with-in The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center The Hutch) and they worked with Michael daily to prepare him mentally and physically for the forthcoming treatments. He was on an outpatient basis; however, there was daily blood work and medications to beef up his systems and monitor his anti -immune system. Large doses of Vitamin D, trace minerals, and always fluid levels.
As of November 18th he was declared ready to start treatment. This started with the placement of a Hickman Port (semi-permanent shunt in his chest that is connected to arteries just above the heart) that is used to add or remove fluids from his system. On Friday the 14th Michael started his chemo treatments. The first day was 15 hours of chemo then fluids and back to chemo. He handled that experience very well, just some mild nausea. The next two days were repeats of one of the two treatments (Chemo) he started on Friday. These were seven hour days and he is still on an outpatient basis. Doing great!
Michael went to SCCA every morning for blood work (counts were falling like a rock which was the plan). Then, he would have a review of blood work and and a minor work-up and was released. All was going according to the doctor's plans.
Starting Wednesday he lost his appetite, lived on protein shakes and begin to experience a noticeable loss of energy. This curtailed his activities ans he begin to sleep more.
Saturday morning brought on a real change in his condition. Michael had not experienced any temperature changes, then bam, just like that, he spiked a fever of 101.4 F and his antibodies fell to a new low. This was not unexpected and had been predicated by his med team.
What it did was get him placed in the University of Washington Hospital (Wa Mu in the local dialect) for observation, treatments with antibiotics and IV fluids in big bags. And there he rest at this moment and will most likely be there until Thursday.
Current Status: everything is going according to plan! While Michael's current situation sounds of concern, I believe it is just one of the steps to the transplant plan. If the schedule continues to play out, SCCA will harvest his stem cells next weekend and return them to a "cleaner" system about December 14th.
Stay tuned, the gaps in reporting are a good sign of progress.