Saturday~Blogging from Home

To make a reeeeeeally long story short and simple....We're Home! The new team zipped us out of there lickety split. Steve and I left Chicago Med Center Thursday night after he had two transfusions of red blood cells. We arrived home about 10:30pm with a police escort joining us at mile marker 115 on the toll road (it freaked me out but found out it was just Christopher doing his thing after I called for advice and told him there was a loud noise under the car :). Anyway we partially unpacked and headed for our own bed....aaahhh at last. The next morning, Friday, we hitailed it into Fort Wayne to see our Doctor Adhami so Steve could get a transfusion of platlets. While it is wonderful to be back on home turf, what Steve and I call "our emerald island with a purple hue", the news of two future chemotherapy treatments before the transplant sought to dishearten us as did the recent news of Primary Myelofibrosis.

The plan now is for Steve to stay fairly isolated at home since his counts are at the lowest right now. He will go to Fort Wayne 3 times a week for transfusions until his counts come up, when they come up he will go into Parkview Hospital from Monday-Friday and receive high dose chemo on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. When he is done he will come home and bottom out his counts again, then when he recovers his counts they will do it all over again. Confusing? Let me recap that for you...after his counts recover he will have chemo in Fort Wayne two more times before the transplant...inbetween the two chemo treatments he will come home to recover if he doesn't have any problems, such as fevers or infections. Home health care is coming out to help monitor his health and maintenace his new apheresis cathetor.

While his counts are so low he is at great risk for infection and a host of other problems however he is managing himself so well and we both have learned so much about the type of precautions to take and how to react to warning signs that we feel comfortable with him being at home instead of the hospital during the recovery periods. He does better at home and I do better when I am with him.

Well I have to go for now...Steve requested I check on his newly planted bushes.

In this world we will surely have trouble but let us all be of good cheer...Jesus has overcome the world...so we do not lose heart for He is our sufficiency in ALL things.

Blessings of Hope and Peace,
Dawn