Friday +150 (Evening) From Rochester

The day began early with blood tests at 7:00 AM. Then Jackie had a Pentamadine breathing treatment at 10:00. Finally we met with the BMT nurse coordinator and doctor beginning at 1:00 PM.

Jackie's blood tests were good. We had mixed results from last week. Her RBC (Hgl) was down a bit to 10.3 from last week's 11.3. Her WBC count was 2.9. That was down a bit from last week's 3.2. Her neutrophils were also down a bit to 770 from last week's 900. Her platelets were up to 124 from last week's 110. All-in-all the doctor seemed happy.

They believe Jackie's bone/muscle pain may be GvHD. It seems it is possible to have GvHD present in the muscle tissues. They performed an enzyme test and found nothing abnormal. They will continue to monitor the situation. They want her to continue to decrease her Cyclosporine. If the pain becomes worse they may require a muscle biopsy or additional immunosuppression. We learned from the nurse coordinator that GvHD will always be a possibility. She said that they have seen flare-ups even 5 years after transplant. This can happen if the new immune system comes under stress. For example, they sometimes see flare-ups if a patient develops pneumonia.

Jackie had a good today. She felt good today with very little pain. She also ate well. The doctor is a bit worried about the continued weight loss. She has lost almost 70 pounds. During the last month she has lost an additional 10 pounds. They suggested she might want to take some appetite enhancing drugs. We both laughed. They were serious. If the weight loss continues, she will likely take pills that cause her to become hungry. Go figure!

The best news of the day was that the doctor's feel she is doing well enough that she will not need to return to the Mayo Clinic for 2 months. Of course if her situation changes we will come back immediately.

Until Later...

Bruce and Jackie
From the Mayo, Rochester, MN

PS. We have to come home. Jackie forgot to put the suitcase by the door in Pryor. We arrived in Rochester with NO clothes. The first thing we did was go shopping.