Erika's Treatment Update -- Week 12

Hi!

I hope you're all managing to stay cool this holiday weekend, it's boiling out there! The nice thing about spending half of my days at Stanford is I'm in a nice air conditioned unit the entire time :P

Thankfully this week has been pretty uneventful. I did have to go back into the hospital Tuesday at 2am, however I was released around 8am so it wasn't a huge deal. I'm still having daily fevers, but they're letting me take Tylenol and keep an eye on them on my own rather than having me stay in the hospital. I can't wait for the fevers to finally stop, they're physically draining and wearing me out. My sodium has finally come up to a normal level, however I have to remain on a high sodium diet, which is causing a lot of uncomfortable bloating and weight gain. The good news is that in 10 days I'll be able to introduce dairy to my diet again, hurray! I'm dying to have cheese!!! My counts continue to do well, I did receive a unit of blood yesterday, but that is expected. I've actually been getting a day off here and there since things are starting to stabilize (can't have more than a day off though cause my magnesium drops too much).

I had my big bone marrow biopsy on Friday. As usual I was anxious the entire week before and had trouble sleeping the night before. I begged and even wrote my attending BMT doctor a poem in hopes that he would do the procedure for me (he's VERY good) and he agreed. It was actually the best experience I've had and the first time I didn't cry, cuss, or scream bloody murder throughout the whole procedure. I should be getting some preliminary results next week. According to my doctor the goal is to have at least 30% donor cells in my marrow at this stage, however I'm hoping for a much higher number than that (more like 90%).

Well I'll probably write my next update when I get the results of my biopsy, that will be a big determining factor on how my body is accepting the donor cells. Hope you're all having a great 3-day weekend!