good luck to phil.

May the Ides of March pass quickly, and Phil's transplant take place uneventfully and successfully!

Thank you for letting us know, I hope all continues well!

He just got his second dose of post transplant chemo, and has another on Monday.  His red blood cell count is low, so he'll probably get another transfusion tomorrow and platelets next week. His appetite is shot and he has an aversion to food.  His wife brought him some strawberries today and he could eat only 6.  Hopefully, he will get some appetite back.  He says he's sleeping about as well as he can, given being in a hospital.

On the issue of my elbow, things continue to improve.  I have a special brace that my therapist invented and can be modified to give me the angles I'm allowed to flex my arm.  We started at 15 degrees, then up to 30, and now I'm at 60 degrees.  The doctor said to start me on light exercises this coming Wednesday.  I still have to wear the immobilizing brace when not doing my exercises in the other brace.  No idea how much longer I'll have to wear it, but I'm not hurrying anything.  The little finger is still numb, but does flare with some pain every now and then.  It feels almost like a bad burn.

Last edited by joekc6nlx (3/19/2022 6:20 pm)

I learned something today about chemotherapy.  I was under the impression that chemo would interfere with the stem cell transplant.  Phil said that it's to kill off the white blood cells so they don't attack the stem cells.  He's got another round of chemo this afternoon, he's nauseous, has an aversion to food, sleeps erratically, and generally feels run down.  He's allowed to walk around the ward when he feels like it, so he's not bedridden.  Still, his attitude is pretty good. He keeps saying to look at the big picture.  I wish there were something we could do, but he's getting the best care possible.