Day 2

I was hoping to never use my blog for this purpose again, but I guess I don't have much of a choice, and as Henry Kissinger once said,

The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.

Since we don't really have any alternatives, here we are. Jeff was admitted to Hershey Med Center yesterday afternoon and had his first round of chemo (through a peripheral IV) last night. He had his new central line "installed" this afternoon and is just finishing up round 2 now. This particular chemotherapy regimen, known as MEC, is the same as his second round from the first time. He'll have three more day's worth and if he doesn't get a fever, will be discharged from the hospital on Thursday. At that point, his blood counts will be dropping and we'll need to go to Day Hospital everyday for check-ups and blood transfusions.

Hopefully, the MEC wipes his bone marrow clean and sends him into a remission. On Day 14 they will do a biopsy, and if all looks well, they'll give Jeff a booster dose of Mark's stem cells in hopes of stimulating some graph vs. host disease, which has an anti-leukemic effect.

AML relapse after a stem cell transplant is not a good thing, but Dr. Claxton is hopeful that this round of treatments will work to keep Jeff healthy for a long time.

Our new address is:

7 West Main Street
Suite 301
Hummelstown, PA 17036