Dodged another bullet, but finally the treatment has begun!

Sorry it has taken so long for an update. I tried to get the laptop working using the wireless here at the hotel and of course it wouldn't work. Got it going tonight - totally by accident -- I did write down how I did it so hopefully I can reproduce it again tomorrow.

When we got to Duke last Thursday Peter had a chest xray and an ekg. When we met with the transplant team, they said there was a cloudy area on the chest xray that might be pneumonia, so to eliminate that Peter had a CAT scan that night.

Friday they said all was good - no pneumonia. Since he was supposed to have his old port removed and new port installed that day, he needed another bag of platelets so that his count would be above 50. Well, as far as we know, he has not been above 29 since July. Needless to say, it did not get that high so they decided to postpone the surgery until today.

Yesterday he moved into the Adult Bone Marrow Transplant (ABMT). He is in reverse isolation. That means that visitors must go through 3 sets of double doors, then wash hands for 15 seconds, and then go through another set of double doors. All doors to patient rooms are kept closed. Gone are the days of gowns and gloves. That is not necessary unless the patient is in contact isolation.

All the nurses are great - they are trying to make this ordeal as easy as possible. Peter says the food is good, but remember, I am not a great cook, and don't cook very often anyway.

So far we have met the social worker, nurse clinician, physician's asst., attending physician, physical therapist and the volunteer who is on the floor on Mondays.

I got to Duke about 10 this morning and Peter had had his first radiation treatment. He says you pretty much get into fetal position and hold that for 20 minutes while being irradiated. He will get this 2x/day for 3 more days.

He was not a happy camper today. He was scheduled to have his surgery at some point today, but no one was sure when. That meant he could not have anything to eat until after the surgery. He was just a bit grumpy without food. They finally took him at 4:30 and he became a nice person again after he ate at 6:15.

Thanks for your continued prayers and offers of assistance. We really appreciate it.

Wendy