Match Found! Postponed Chemo

Good News this morning!

They've found 3 possible initial donor matches for Ray on the registry so far. Next step is to:

#1 ask if the donor is willing (they always have the option of opting out) & 

#2 If the donor is willing, preform a more in-depth donor blood work typing to ensure the donor matches Ray's HLA antigens (thus greater chance his body won't reject the cells).

Yesterday was suppose to be the start of Ray's second round of chemo, however because his white blood cell count (determines his ability to fight off infection) had dropped even more, it's been postponed for one or two weeks to see if it rebounds any. His doctor wasn't sure if the continued drop was due to the chemo treatment or the disease itself. The good news was that his platelet count had rebounded somewhat (although still nowhere near where it should be). The bad news because of the platelet rise is that I must begin giving him those dreaded Fragmin shots to his stomach again. But hey! we can handle that if it means his platelets are better & no need for any transfusions!

Yesterday the doctor asked Ray how the weekly steroid pills were working out for him, was he waking up in the middle of the night wanting to clean the house yet? Ha ha! Yeah right! So this morning it dawns on Ray why he wasn't tired & stayed up way later than usual last night - the mega dose of steroid pills he pops every Wednesday! He's out right now pitching horseshoes & talking about playing tennis again. Just can't hold the man down. I certainly want him to do things that he enjoys but at the same time I want him to be more careful & not expose himself to injury nor illness.

So Super Bowl Sunday is fast approaching & we'd like to go to the Club House for the Party & snacks. Although we realize that with the flu that's going around lately it's probably not a wise thing to go where there are crowds of people, we can't just stop living. We just need to take a few extra precautions & be vigilant about washing our hands & not touching them to our face...

We remain confident that Ray's doctor is doing all that can be done to help Ray. I actually discovered on 'YouTube' a seminar that his doctor presented this past October. In viewing it, the information that he shares is exactly what he has told us during our consultations with him. It explains Ray's situation very well. The video is 1 hour long but in viewing it myself, I think just the first 20 minutes of it provide info as it relates to Ray. The rest gets more technical & will lose you. If anyone wants to know some of what we're dealing with, I'm providing the link here. As it relates to Ray, keep the following in mind; Ray falls into the category of high risk patients & he's on the "Vidaza" med he refers to & is a patient that they want to preform the stem cell transplant on within 3 or 4 months.

Here's that link: Click here for Dr. Komrokji MDS Presentation 

And that's all for this post folks.