Day 151
The spinal tap had its predicted effect on John. He spent Friday afternoon and the entire weekend on his back to reduce the pain from his headache. I gather that in extracting fluid from the spine, the balance of pressure in the brain is thrown off, blood vessels expand and one gets "the mother of all" migraines.
John didn't want to go in over the weekend, but did take some painkillers that were prescribed and I picked up Friday night. Monday morning, I took him in and he threw up while they were doing his blood test. He spent the rest of the day in the clinic's triage getting (I'm not kidding here) a "caffeine drip". The idea is that caffeine consricts the blood vessels in the brain, restoring the balance and reducing the pain. Think of all the work one could get done if you had a permanent IV and could get a caffeine drip direct to the blood anytime you wanted! I had to sit there drinking coffee the old fashioned way.
The triage floor at the Center is a valuable half-way house solution. Elsewhere, they might be able to prescribe painkillers or admit someone into the hospital, but having a bed for a day and some intensive care can be all that is needed. John certainly did feel like a new person when we left.
Interestingly, the clinic was orgainized so that all the people he had appointments with were notified where he was and came to him. We had a session with the dietician, who will allow him to have fresh fruit and vegetables if they are carefully washed.
The transplant coordinator also came by and we were able to meet her. She says that the donor has checked out well physically and is scheduled to have the 5 days of shots, followed by a full day of stem cell filtering. She will have a special courier wherever the donor is standing by with a cooler. He or she will personally deliver the stem cells that day. Pretty cool (literally).
I'm being very sensitive to any physical or emotional signs from John that might signal changes in his condition. His appetite has been down a bit in the past several days, but that could be from the headache. Yesterday he had stomach pains, but there are lots of reasons for that sort of thing. His spirits were much improved late in the day. What worries me though is that he has been complaining of bone pain, which is pretty unique to leukemia and might hint at a relapse. We will know that question when his marrow biopsy comes back later this week.
Today, John has various appointments in the morning and then I have a caregiver training session for part of the afternoon.
John didn't want to go in over the weekend, but did take some painkillers that were prescribed and I picked up Friday night. Monday morning, I took him in and he threw up while they were doing his blood test. He spent the rest of the day in the clinic's triage getting (I'm not kidding here) a "caffeine drip". The idea is that caffeine consricts the blood vessels in the brain, restoring the balance and reducing the pain. Think of all the work one could get done if you had a permanent IV and could get a caffeine drip direct to the blood anytime you wanted! I had to sit there drinking coffee the old fashioned way.
The triage floor at the Center is a valuable half-way house solution. Elsewhere, they might be able to prescribe painkillers or admit someone into the hospital, but having a bed for a day and some intensive care can be all that is needed. John certainly did feel like a new person when we left.
Interestingly, the clinic was orgainized so that all the people he had appointments with were notified where he was and came to him. We had a session with the dietician, who will allow him to have fresh fruit and vegetables if they are carefully washed.
The transplant coordinator also came by and we were able to meet her. She says that the donor has checked out well physically and is scheduled to have the 5 days of shots, followed by a full day of stem cell filtering. She will have a special courier wherever the donor is standing by with a cooler. He or she will personally deliver the stem cells that day. Pretty cool (literally).
I'm being very sensitive to any physical or emotional signs from John that might signal changes in his condition. His appetite has been down a bit in the past several days, but that could be from the headache. Yesterday he had stomach pains, but there are lots of reasons for that sort of thing. His spirits were much improved late in the day. What worries me though is that he has been complaining of bone pain, which is pretty unique to leukemia and might hint at a relapse. We will know that question when his marrow biopsy comes back later this week.
Today, John has various appointments in the morning and then I have a caregiver training session for part of the afternoon.
