Day 14 (But who's counting?)

Yesterday was rough for Don. He was dehydrated again and felt the "worst" he has during either transplant. His electrolytes were off, so he got magnesium in the morning. He has had a low grade fever and intermittent chills for the past few days, but never reached the magic 101 that triggers another antibiotic. The cultures from his central line have come back clean (YEAH!). The GI symptoms were back yesterday and he was unable to eat or drink much.... diarrhea off and on, etc. Stayed in bed all day.

This morning his energy was better. Fever was gone. His white count was 0.48 and hemoglobin was 10.5, so the transfusion & Procrit have helped. His platelets have come up to 180. Not normal by any means, but MUCH better! They gave him fluids and some potassium today. His big worry now is his hip instability. He gets along well on the crutches, but is guarding against bending or doing anything that would stress the hip. We will see Dr. Richard Nicholas on Friday morning. He is the chief of surgery and a specialist in bone tumors (orthopedic oncology). We are both hoping that this is simply a case of a worn out lining in the joint and not osteomyelitis or a bone lesion. It is difficult to get a good MRI of the hip, because the metal in the prosthesis distorts the beam. His PET scans have all shown increased activity in that hip, with a differential of inflammatory process vs. osteoarthritic changes. I am sure there will be more tests next week. At least we should have a game plan before we come back to Texas.

We have watched the weather reports in the Dallas/Fort Worth area with great interest. I can't wait to see what my rose garden looks like when we get home! The air is clear and cool this evening with a nearly full moon. We had a torrential downpour with local flooding this morning. When the humidity is low, the skies are beautiful and clear and it is quite pleasant in Little Rock. But we discovered that can change very quickly with a little mugginess! We are anxious to get home to our friends and family. God bless you!