Chemo Round 3 Day 26

Today has been another up and down day. This morning, I had no fever and was scheduled for my CT scan. Last night, they told me I would have only IV contrast but this morning they decided I needed oral contrast also. I got two big containers to drink. In Jacksonville, I think we still use cherry flavoring. This was not cherry. I think it was supposed to be orange. I did OK till I was in the hallway waiting for my CT scan. I started to have some nausea from the contrast. I told somebody I was getting light headed and the next thing I know I was in the CT room. They asked me if I could stand up to get on the CT table and I said yes. I was wrong. The next thing I know I was slumped on the floor and had passed out. They went ahead with the scan. By the time they finished, I was starting to get shaking chills again. I got some tylenol when I got back to my room and went to sleep.

Teresa was baby sitting Ian this morning so she did not get to come up till this afternoon. By that time I had woken up and my temperature was down, although not normal. When Teresa got here we went over the mail and watched some TV. My labs today were about the same.

This is when things began to turn around a little for the day. My CT scan showed I have small abcesses (infections) in my spleen, my kidneys, and my lungs. I might have them in my liver also but I cannot remember. This explains why I am still having fevers. My doctors believe it is a fungal infection and they think that as my white count goes up, I will improve with a change in antibiotics. The bad news out of this is that it takes 14-21 days of treatment to clear up. I may be able to finish as an outpatient depending on how I do and how I tolerate the medicine. The medicine is called amphotericin. When I was a resident it was known as ampho-terrible. It can cause high fevers and severe shaking while you are getting it and for a few hours afterward. Fortunately it is dosed only once a day. The other problem with the medicine is that it has a risk of kidney damage. I guess if that is what it takes to get better, that is what I am going to have to do.

Praise our Lord!!! He has answered our prayers. I did get some extremely GOOD news today, I have a donor. This just shows us what God can do and all of you with your prayers. The donor is a 10 point match(out of 10) and is a 24 year old male. That is about as close to an ideal donor as I can get. They have asked the donor to pick March 5, 6 or 11th to donate. Depending on what day he picks, determines when I go in. Right now they said it would be no earlier that February 28. That assumes that I can completely knock out this infection by then. (Please keep this in mind when praying for me.)

I had an MRI of my head tonight to make sure it was OK also. The doctor just wants to make sure he isn't missing anything. I won't know the results of that for a while.

My temperature was going up some this evening so I took some tylenol. They will give me a test dose of the amphotericin tonight.

Once again, God has a plan. Some things today weren't all that great, but overall I think this was a significantly good day.

Please continue to pray for me and my family so that I can get well in time for the transplant. I hope God is blessing you as much as HE blesses me. May you have a good day tomorrow!

Doc