Michael sailed through three days of intense chemotherapy. The doctors explained that they were using very strong types of chemo. Their plan was to take Michael's blood and new cell count down to rock bottom. They did and his biggest issue was a loss of appetite and a fever that put him in the hospital for five days.
The issue was a reaction to chemo and a very low white count. This was soon rectified and his condition rebounded to the point that the staff was able to collect his stem cells. His count was sky high and this process took hours, not days as was a possible. This collection is now in the freezer, like a batch of black-eyed peas.
Currently, the Cancer Center is monitoring his blood counts and new, good, cell growth, post chemo. They will return his "saved" stem cells for the redevelopment of his bone marrow. This should take place in mid-December and is done through an IV port and is the actually transplant.
Now, this step will bring on a new set of challenges and possible side effects (a long list not really needed here). So, we go from fast paced activities to a wait and see what happens approach!
Just as a summary, everything is going better than anticipated. Well, the BCS is still messed up; however, if you take part you take their rules.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Tanigable Progress
The doctors in Seattle, Anchorage and Alaska Medicaid all got on the same page, as of 14 Oct. 2008. The result of perfect alignment of the stars has Michael in Seattle at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center as of Tuesday morning (10/15). Sue has been in Seattle since Saturday, last and has worked to make our apartment homey and more comfortable.
Meanwhile, Michael is ill (food poisoning or treatments): however, they have him in the hospital
and on the mend. He will have two weeks of testing, poking, prodding and other medical test. At that point, assuming he is stable, the real work will start with a harvesting of blood and in mature stem cells. Then, big time chemo and a month for recovery.
Sue and I will be there as he hoes into the hospital for recovery before the transplant. Then we will split time in Seattle and Atlanta, starting in mid-January 2009, depending on Michael's needs.
That is as far into the future we can see and plan for with any confidence!
Meanwhile, Michael is ill (food poisoning or treatments): however, they have him in the hospital
and on the mend. He will have two weeks of testing, poking, prodding and other medical test. At that point, assuming he is stable, the real work will start with a harvesting of blood and in mature stem cells. Then, big time chemo and a month for recovery.
Sue and I will be there as he hoes into the hospital for recovery before the transplant. Then we will split time in Seattle and Atlanta, starting in mid-January 2009, depending on Michael's needs.
That is as far into the future we can see and plan for with any confidence!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Step # 2 - The Transplant
The time has come and we are finally headed for Seattle. Michael starts treatment there on October 15. The firs t two weeks will be for testing; i.e., EKG, scan, pulmonary function, bones, MRI, Urine, dental, etc. Two days after he arrives he will be sedated and will have a bone marrow biopsy and have a “port” put in called (Hickman catheter). There will be classes on nutrition, and how the caretaker will handle the “pump.” I will go initially and Bob will come later in the month around the 29th.
About 11/3 he will have LOTS OF CHEMO, along with some medication afterwards that will cause his stem cells to mobilize. The intent is to kill all the cancer, and for 3 or days they will gather his stem cells and freeze them for later use. After 30 days, they will do even more heavy chemo and do his auto transplant (using his own stem cells) around 12/3.
At this point, he will get to feeling sicker by the day, and when he needs it, he will go into the hospital for 2 to 3 weeks. When he gets out of the hospital, he will go to the clinic everyday hooking up to fluids and medication.
40-60 days after the auto transplant, they will do 3 days of “light” chemo”, a day of rest, radiation, and the donor transplant. (This is about late January)
After this transplant, we watch him and go into the hospital when he gets sick and pray he does not reject. We will there about 100 days after the donor transplant, putting us getting out of Seattle in May or June, 2009!
All of these times are “ball park,” and we will just do the best we can day by day. KEEP US ALL IN YOUR PRAYERS.
Love Sue
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Contributions to Help With Michael's Transplant Expenses
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Sunday, June 29, 2008
Hurry-Up and Wait
After Seattle, Michael's doctors put him on a second chemo regiment and told him to get some exercise and sunshine. Anchorage in early spring is OK for exercise but not sunshine. Storms roll in from the northwest on a frequent basis. Sunshine, when found, last only a few hours and is, at best, anemic.
Solution, head home to Georgia for a month of visiting with friends, camping in the Smokies, a road trip to North Carolina, some work, Sue's cooking and sunshine in abundance. We are having another hot and dry spring.
Back in Anchorage for more blood testing and doctors probing and measuring what ever needed such actions. Michael will continue the origional chemo treatment of thylidamid, which is one pill a day, every day. The new chemo treatment will be administered IV, twice a week, and is to reduce ( the level of mutated white blood cells. In plain terms, kill the Bad-WBC. A bout with puneumonia delayed this but all was underway by mid-May.
With both types of chemo in progress we are at the Hurry-Up and Wait stage. This is an old saying from the Army, you were always made to hurry-up in preparation for training, mass movement or some event that was to take place. After hurrying, as required, one could wait endless hours in line, formation or the field for "something to happen".
We are now at this point! All initial testing is complete, a donor has been selected, the clinic is providing us with instructions for Michael's care and needs, post bone marrow transplant patient. Housing is available, we think, and we are making preperations for three to four months in Seattle, which is the normal recovery period. Plans for the pets and house are still unsettled but will come into focus. Friends are working several types of fund rasing events that are doing well. A note of thanks here, friends and strangers have been most generous with their help and prayers.
Waiting. Waiting for the correct blood count of Bad-WBC. Then we will shift to the hurry-up mode!
Solution, head home to Georgia for a month of visiting with friends, camping in the Smokies, a road trip to North Carolina, some work, Sue's cooking and sunshine in abundance. We are having another hot and dry spring.
Back in Anchorage for more blood testing and doctors probing and measuring what ever needed such actions. Michael will continue the origional chemo treatment of thylidamid, which is one pill a day, every day. The new chemo treatment will be administered IV, twice a week, and is to reduce ( the level of mutated white blood cells. In plain terms, kill the Bad-WBC. A bout with puneumonia delayed this but all was underway by mid-May.
With both types of chemo in progress we are at the Hurry-Up and Wait stage. This is an old saying from the Army, you were always made to hurry-up in preparation for training, mass movement or some event that was to take place. After hurrying, as required, one could wait endless hours in line, formation or the field for "something to happen".
We are now at this point! All initial testing is complete, a donor has been selected, the clinic is providing us with instructions for Michael's care and needs, post bone marrow transplant patient. Housing is available, we think, and we are making preperations for three to four months in Seattle, which is the normal recovery period. Plans for the pets and house are still unsettled but will come into focus. Friends are working several types of fund rasing events that are doing well. A note of thanks here, friends and strangers have been most generous with their help and prayers.
Waiting. Waiting for the correct blood count of Bad-WBC. Then we will shift to the hurry-up mode!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Seattle Road Trip
Michael, with Sue in tow, flew to Seattle last week. They spent two days at the University of Washington Medical Center-Seattle. They were the guest of Sean, and wife, Laura McCann and Mike McCann. The McCanns, boyhood friends of Michael, made the visit much easier and getting around a snap.
The purpose of all this was to meet the doctors and staff at the Medical Center and prepare for the bone morrow transplant and recovery. There was bad news and good news that came out of the session. The bad news is that the cancer is very aggressive. This will require additional chemotherapy, pre-transplant, and then the use a donor for the transplant. This procedure is more complex and has more variables than using Michael's own cells for the transplant.
Now the good news, the donor transplant produces better results and the expectations for the duration of a state of remission is much longer! The recovery time, post transplant, will be extended to four months, about twice the time as we initially thought. So time in Seattle will be extended for Michael's outpatient treatments and recovery.
The Social Services from the Medical Center provided a tour of housing options and Sue was impressed with the facilities, their location and choices . There is a Shuttle Bus service that loops from the Medical Center to housing units and will make stops at shopping locations.
Michael experienced two full days medical exams, process explanations, facilities visitation and his required activities and contributions that will be needed for a successful transplant and recovery. Sue was on the same schedule and then added the housing tour.At this time Sue jumped on a plane and went back to Anchorage for a rest. Michael will spend some quiet time with the McCanns and take in some of Seattle and the local area.
The Medical Center has started the search for a donor match. It will take at least six weeks to get to a point where the transplant will be scheduled. This will allow time for Michael to take the stronger chemo and get his blood count down to acceptable levels.
The purpose of all this was to meet the doctors and staff at the Medical Center and prepare for the bone morrow transplant and recovery. There was bad news and good news that came out of the session. The bad news is that the cancer is very aggressive. This will require additional chemotherapy, pre-transplant, and then the use a donor for the transplant. This procedure is more complex and has more variables than using Michael's own cells for the transplant.
Now the good news, the donor transplant produces better results and the expectations for the duration of a state of remission is much longer! The recovery time, post transplant, will be extended to four months, about twice the time as we initially thought. So time in Seattle will be extended for Michael's outpatient treatments and recovery.
The Social Services from the Medical Center provided a tour of housing options and Sue was impressed with the facilities, their location and choices . There is a Shuttle Bus service that loops from the Medical Center to housing units and will make stops at shopping locations.
Michael experienced two full days medical exams, process explanations, facilities visitation and his required activities and contributions that will be needed for a successful transplant and recovery. Sue was on the same schedule and then added the housing tour.At this time Sue jumped on a plane and went back to Anchorage for a rest. Michael will spend some quiet time with the McCanns and take in some of Seattle and the local area.
The Medical Center has started the search for a donor match. It will take at least six weeks to get to a point where the transplant will be scheduled. This will allow time for Michael to take the stronger chemo and get his blood count down to acceptable levels.
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