We're Still Friends, Right?

A big "shout out" to all my peeps in Colorado! My Aunt Taryn's sixth grade class made a bunch of get well cards and sent them to Mommy last week. They made her cry, but she said it was a good cry. She says, "Thank you!"

September 19 was Mommy's first anniversary of her transplant. So we scooted down to the hospital, and while I was shakin' my groove thing at the party I couldn't help but think back to the very beginning of this ordeal when the doctors said the goal was to have Mommy off all the medicines and back on her feet after one year. Hmmmm.

Speaking of celebrations, yours truly just turned the Big 2 a few days ago! I threw myself a party, but nobody showed up.

So, I took it on the road again and we partied with mommy in the hospital.

When I got home my Dad tossed me in the wishing basket and stuck a hat on my head. The hat said, "Your next two wishes will come true Charlie T!"

I don't like baskets so I said, "How do I get out of it, Grandma?"

Either the hat isn't too smart or I don't enunciate that well, because next think I knew, the hat yelled, "A hockey outfit for Grandma!" And then....POOF!

I think she liked the outfit okay, it was the knee surgery she had to endure to get the outfit that put her in a sour mood. She threatened me with grievous bodily harm if she ended up in cyberspace, but since she abandoned me this morning and went back to Denver....

Knowing that I only had one wish left, I wanted to make it count. So, after much thought I said, "Two billion marshmallows."

All I could do was cringe when that dumb hat yelled back, "A tube up mommy's nose!" Then a loud POOF!

The phone rang a few seconds later, but luckily we have caller ID, so when the "University of Utah Hospital" appeared on the display we just let it go to the answering machine. Let's just say I waited a few days before I ventured up to the hospital to see mommy again. I believe they call this a "cooling off period."

They used the tube to drain some fluid from mommy's tummy, which had blown up like a basketball. This helped her feel quite a bit better and they actually pulled the tube out yesterday. Unfortunately, her fever came back last week so they started her on another round of antibiotics that should be done in a few days. And they are reducing a couple of medicines that they suspect might be causing some of her tummy troubles. They are pretty confident she isn't having a GVHD or CMV flair up, so hopefully she can start to feel better soon and come home.

In the meantime, I am scouring the house to make sure there isn't any spare tubing laying around that Mommy could get her hands on when she comes home. But I'm sure those were just idle threats.....right Mommy?

Try And Keep Up.

So, on Wednesday, September 9th, mommy went back into the hospital for treatment of that nasty infection and they found the clot in her gonadal vein. They started her on some IV antibiotic that seemed to make her feel better and gave her shots for the blood clot. They also pulled out the infected PICC line in her right arm and put a new line in her left arm. On Monday the 14th they switched her antibiotic to an oral pill and sent her home. Unfortunately, the medicine was so heavy duty it sent her tummy into a tail spin. Because the IV form of the medicine needed to be taken every 6 hours and is only stable for 2 hours, it was impossible for her to take it at home. So, on Tuesday she went back into the hospital.

Because her tummy was hurting they did another CT scan and learned that she did not actually have a clot in her gonadal vein. But, the new PICC line they put in her arm was hurting so bad they did an ultrasound and found a blood clot in the vein in her arm. So, she kept getting the blood thinning shots.

She stayed in the hospital until Friday the 25th, when her course of antibiotics was done. Just before she was discharged they found that she also had a clot in the main vein of her neck. So they made plans to take out the PICC line in her arm and put a central line back into her chest this coming Thursday.

Mommy came home Friday evening and was feeling pretty well. On Saturday she still felt good, ate some food and was even able to braid Amelia's hair. However, Saturday night she started feeling lousy again and had a fever most of the night. When Daddy took her into the clinic Sunday morning (today) her temperature was nearly 103 and she was having a hard time breathing. So, they put her back into the hospital and started her on some more antibiotics.

Hopefully we'll know soon what kind of bug she has and if it will respond to some medicines she can take at home.

Two Things You Don't Want To Hear From Your Doctor

Number 1: "In my entire career I've never seen this before."

Number 2: "It always makes me swear whenever I see this particular infection."

Statement number 1 was uttered by one of mommy's transplant doctors after Mommy's latest CT scan showed that in addition to a partial bowel obstruction, she also has a gonadal vein thrombosis. This is a blot clot in....you guessed it, her gonadal vein. It turns out these are often found with abdominal infections, although nobody knows why. They are treating it with shots in mommy's tummy that will thin her blood.

Statement number 2 came out of the transplant doctor when it was learned that mommy has a particularly rare and nasty bug called stenotrophomonas maltophilia. And because all things in the universe are connected, this same bug prompted the ob/gyn doctor who was treating mommy for the gonadal vein thrombosis to then repeat statement number 1.

I don't know why the doctors haven't seen this bug very often, I see it every time I make a puppet out of raw meat and then leave it under my bed for a few weeks.

Because the PICC line in mommy's arm was infected with the bacteria, they had to remove it. They will put in another line in a couple of days. They also believe the clot is harboring this same infection, but they are not sure if the infection came from the clot, or from the line, or somewhere else.

We should know fairly soon if the infection is going to respond to the heavy-duty antibiotics. Right now mommy is doing a lot of sleeping.

Next time mommy goes to the doctor she only wants to hear, "Oh, I've seen a gazillion of these and they always make me use happy words like 'sunshine' and 'powdered donuts.'"

p.s. I've been looking for the right time to use this song, but then myself said to me, "Charlie, there is never a wrong time for Aldo Nova!"