My fashionable haircut
Sibs,
Yesterday was the ugly Melphalan chemo infusion (as an outpatient) and this afternoon I’ll return to UofM to be admitted for my Bone Marrow Transplant/Stem Cell Recovery.
LAST-MINUTE PRE-ADMISSION PROCESSES
I prepared for my admission to the hospital by getting the recommended “pre-chemo buzz haircut”. The medical staff advised that, since it is certain I will lose my hair during this treatment phase, many patients find it better to get a buzz rather than experience the emotional trauma of having it come out in large clumps in the shower or on the pillow every night. Thus, my new image.
Yesterday’s schedule for a chemo infusion was much like every other infusion for the last six months: go to the lab for the blood draw, meet with the docs regarding the lab results, go to the infusion area and get the drugs. Two things were different than normal:
– it took THREE HOURS for my blood analysis to get posted in the computer, messing up the schedule and making me and the docs very unhappy. We did not get home until after 8:30pm.
– the Melphalan chemo is nasty and required special measures. First, Melphalan is one of the those drugs that give you nasty mouth and throat sores, so they advise you to eat/chew ice chips continuously while getting the infusion. Ice cools the mouth and throat, and reduces blood flow, thus limiting the impact of the chemo in those area (or so they say). Second, this drug has special administration requirements so it took about 2 hours, along with 1 large bag and two large bottles on the IV tower, to get this into me.
COMMUNICATION FROM ME WHILE IN THE HOSPITAL
I have been trying to develop a better mechanism than daily emails for keeping you updated on any medical news during my hospitalization – some of you may want to know on a daily basis how I am doing; others may find daily email to be overwhelming. So, I have started a personal blog – short for web log. Click here: www.larrygauthier.com
A blog is very much like a public journal or diary, designed for one person to share his/her experiences and ponderings with a large community of people. For the most part, blogs are intended as one-way communication, although you can press the “Send Feedback” button and reply to a posting – just keep in mind that your feedback will be visible to the entire group. For more private replies you should probably send me an email (which I will be reading while in the hospital).
For phone calls please DO NOT call the hospital directly, see email instructions with cell phone numbers.
That’s all for now. Next Transplant Update will be from the hospital via the blog (assuming that the patient wireless network functions properly).
-larry