Tuesday, September 29,2009

I thought that Ralph could write his own blog today but he is very tired so I will do a quick update and he can write later.  Yesterday Ralph ate 1/2 an omelet, 1/2 a yogurt, and an ice cream cup.  He slept nearly all day and only woke to use the restroom.  Last night we watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and he was able to stay awake for that but went back to sleep by 8:30.  He stayed alone all night and did fine.  This morning he ate more for breakfast and they are starting to make noises about releasing him.  I will let you know when.  We will be going to Jackson as there will be 2-3 appointments per week to check up on GVH.(Graph vs Host)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sep.27, 2009 Sunday

Hi to all of you,  I have a big praise today.  Sonja and Ralph's sister Laural came up to sit with Ralph last night so I could go home to Louise's and get a good nights sleep. 

I went to bed at 8:00 and woke at 6:30 this morning.  When I got to the hospital Ralph was lucid and much stronger.  Sonja and Laural said that he had slept all night except for bathroom breaks.  As he had not slept at all the night before this too was a blessing.  Sonja said that he watched all of "Overboard" with them which also is more normal. 

Ralph's blood counts are up for the second day so they consider him engraphted.  So many blessings.  Next big hurdle graph vs host how much just enough to kill the B cell or too much?  Pray Pray Pray and thank you so much for your words of comfort and love.  What would we do with out them.

 

Sharen

Friday September 25,2009

Ralph is doing much better today.  They have taken him of the med. that was causing hallucinations.  The Dr. said the med. will not be all out of his system for another day.  I hope that this is true.  Ralph still seems confused at times but is much less so then yesterday.  Is doing electronic design work and talking about it as he sleeps.  Once and engineer always an engineer.  Ralph enjoys getting all of the cards and notes that you send him and still chuckles at the funny ones.  He has started to ingraph and so as his blood counts go up his mouth will get better and his brain less confused. 

 

Thank you so much for continuing to pray for us I know that the road would be a lot tougher  with out your love and prayers.

 

Sharen

Thursday Sep.24,2009

Well, I will try to do this by myself.  Ralph is totally out of it.  He is worried about things that are not there and keeps picking things up and  working with them and then putting them down when in reality he doesn't have any thing in his hands.  This freaked me out.  The Dr. said some of the meds can do this so they are changing them around.  He has mucousus of the mouth, throat, and GI track.  Mucousus is ulcers in his mouth that really hurt.  He has a hard time eating (1/2) yogurt for breakfast )  Now that they are also in his GI track It hurts when he is done eating too.  In one of his more lucid moments he said," I remember when I use to enjoy eating."   Hi  tongue is swollen and he has a hard time making me understand what he is saying.  All of this is really hard to watch.  The nurse Sharon said that he will not remember much of this time so that is good.  This is the low time when we didn't write in the blog last time.  This will last about 4-5 more days before it gets better.  This is just the transplant stuff that is common to them all in more to lesser degrees.  Then we get to do the graft vs. host stuff.  Ralph's sister Laural is taking the train from Battle Creek to Ann Arbor to day to visit.  This will be good for me.  (that sound selfish) 

 

Garett continues to work on getting our new house built.  I got to choose siding colors.  I'm sticking to gray with white trim and I think a red door. 

 

Sharen

Sunday the 20th of September

Ralph is on day +4 which is when they expect you to bottom out.  I guess they know, because it took Ralph the best part of an hour to sign in he kept falling asleep.  He asked if I would write to let you all know that things continue to go as expected.  He is in and out of sleep and is unsteady on his feet.  He still is able to get up and sit in a chair or go to the bathroom but hasn't walked in two days (laps).  He is getting anti nausea drugs and anti rejection drugs.  The latter make him very shaky so simple eye hand tasks take longer.  I am staying with Ken and Louise and when I get home I am able to decompress from the day, talking to them and sometimes watching T.V. This and a good night sleep seems to keep me from getting to stressed.  I am knitting and reading and making Christmas gifts while I watch Ralph sleep.  Oh ya, I also play games of spider solitaire and regular solitaire.  We are good and God continues to bless us with his presence and the meeting of our needs.

 

Thank you for your prayers and your friendships.  We trust God to continue taking us through this valley and to walk with us as we continue to work towards healthiness. 

Sharen 

Tuesday the 15th September

we got here Wednesday in Ann Arbor we had our first appointment at 6:30 AM which was to connect a neostar to my body, then off to labs for blood draws with the port hooked up getting blood from me is a piece of cake.  Then meetings with the Doctor then we were ready to check in at 5:00 PM so Wednesday was a long day.  It seems that the days between then and now have kind of run together but I had chemo on Thursday,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Sunday also started the anti rejection drugs also Monday continued the anti rejection drugs and no chemo today I had a full body radiation and slept most of the rest of the day.  I was going to get my new Stem Cells today but they would not get here until after midnight so I will get them in the early morning.

 

Please continue to pray for us and may God continue to Bless us all.

September 10th

Well this is just like dejuve all over again I am back in Ann Arbor getting a shot of chemo to prep me for another bone morrow transplant which will happen in 5 more days.  This time I will be getting the stem cells from an unrelated Donner that is 19 years old Sharen will  keep track of me to make sure I don't start going after 20 year old woman and listening to load rap music or letting my pants hang down to my knees with my butt hanging out.  How cool is it that someone 19 years old is willing to be a stem cell done

 

When we found out that I needed another transplant it always seemed way off in the distance but all of a sudden the time is here and we came to Ann Arbor and we look back and are amazed how fast the time has passed.  We needed to get here by 6:30 and that is in the morning a time I wasn't aware of for a long time.  That was when they reinserted my Neostar which looks like a tassel coming out of your breast with 3 tubes which allowes them to give and take at the same time.  then it was off to the lab for about 15 tubes of blood for testing and at long last I was admitted into the hospital and the first thing I saw when I looked at the marker board in my room was a Welcome back to 8A and about every 10 or 15 minutes one of the nurses from my last visit came in to say hello and welcome back.  It isn't nice to be here for more treatments but its very nice to have people remember us and be happy to see us.

 

Please continue to pray for us and may God continue to bless us all.