Post Transplant Update

Here's an update from Margaret:

The last few days have not been her best. I went to visit Cindy on Sunday and now I have a better understanding of life as a Mayo patient. First – the house they are renting is great – very peaceful, plenty of room and most importantly away from the hospital. Cindy’s day starts with her morning appointment at the Mayo. In the morning they check all of her blood and platelet counts, she meets with a dietician, the doctors, nurses etc… Since she is now back on IV antibiotics she also gets her IV. If the doctors or dietician feel that she needs any extra fluids or potassium they may also give her that. She is usually home by 9:30 and if all goes well is finished with the Mayo until her evening antibiotic IV.

On the days I was there the nausea had really picked up and she was having a hard time eating anything – although one evening she was able to eat a small Hershey bar and a bag of peanut M&M’s – odd choice for our normally very healthy eater. Unfortunately I think the nausea has only gotten worse as the week as progressed.

Early in the week Cindy was having a fever everyday. On Monday it was high enough that she to go back to the Mayo and start the antibiotic. She is back on a 7 day antibiotic regime. She is still battling the fever – it has gone as high as 105. The worst part of her fever is the chills. At one point I was sitting outside with her – it was 90 degrees outside and she was wearing pants and shirt and a sweatshirt and she was still shivering. Her only relief is Tylenol which she says doesn’t work at all - I guess she won’t be a spokes person for Tylenol. She really would love to be able to take some Motrin.

Everything seems to happen at once – on top of the nausea and fever her hair is gone!!!! It started to fall out on Sunday and on Wednesday she had her hairdresser shave her head. Her Dad said she looks great!!! She did pick out some very stylish scarves, bandanas and hats to wear. As you can imagine they all look great on her. With such a beautiful face she doesn’t really need the hair.

The good news is – her blood counts are starting to come up and she should be feeling better in the next day or two. She is still hoping they will let her come home next weekend. We are looking forward to having her back to the hazy, hot, humid east coast. Cindy is absolutely amazing and is showing so much strength and courage as she fights this battle.