February 7th Update

Dear Fods,

I know that it has been a while since the last posting. Things had been going well since Christmas and we were settling into a somewhat normal lifestyle. I had been going out to breakfast with FOD Marian, Eileen and Susan on Sunday mornings, seeing movies with the family, and even going out to dinner! On January 27th, Dr. Porter even told me that I was in remission and to do whatever I wanted to do -- even go on a trip. I was going to physical therapy 3 times a week and things were turning around. On Wednesday, I stopped the antibiotics and steroids and by Friday I was beginning to feel miserable. Sinusitis and abdominal pain began coming on with a vengenance but with no fevers I thought that I had pulled something in PT. There was pain on both sides of my ribs and I could hardly move and my head was splitting.

By Monday afternoon, I was very uncomfortable and not able to take a deep breath anymore and the sinusitis was in full bloom. I knew I should go down to Penn, but instead went to see my family doctor on Tuesday who could order a CAT scan and blood work. Of course, when she saw me she thought that I needed to be hospitalized immediately. I was running a fever, my heart rate was rapid and I could not sit up in the chair because of the abdominal pain. We went to the Grand View emergency room and had the CAT scan and blood work -- after 9 hours -- which suggested that I either had a bowel infection, colitis, or ischemic bowel (low blood supply to the bowel) so I needed to be admitted on Tuesday night for IV antibiotics and further observation. They did consult everybody, oncology, surgery, GI and ENT. On Wednesday and Thursday I was very uncomfortable and by early Friday morning the pain was unbearable. The whole right side of my face became swollen and I could not swallow. Frankly, the docs were not sure what to make of me and my condition.

The abdominal pain by this time had slowly gotten better. So Friday morning, the oncologist suggested that I go back to HUP because he saw 20% blasts in my blood which means that the leukemia was back in my blood and in full bloom. Luckily, he gave me a high dose of decadron (steriod). Within 3 hours, once again, the miracle of steroids took hold and I was significantly improved. I was transferred by GVH in time for a Friday rush hour drive in an ambulance ride down to Penn.

We got to Rhoades 6 at about 6:00 PM and our special friend had a very spacious corner room waiting for me. Oncology and ENT saw me right away. ENT probed my sinuses for what seemed like hours and they are pretty sure that it is a bacterial sinusitis. The whole right side of my face was swollen and my eye was red and very painful. They added a few new antibiotics and increased the decadron. Slowly but surely, I am feeling better.

Later today, I am having a CAT scan of my abdomen done to see if that has resolved itself. It was most likely some type of an abdominal infection. We just got back from the opthamology department where they dilated my eyes and checked my eye pressures. They think that the eye problem is an inflammation of the actual eye, but because I am on so many heavy duty antibiotics there is nothing more they can do except for wetting drops. Unfortunately, there is more hearing loss and it is very difficult to hear normal speaking. There is still no hearing on my right side.

The oncologist at HUP said that my blood looked clear today <2% abnormal cells. She said that the GVH oncologist probably saw more blasts in my blood because the bone marrow was working overtime to fight the abdominal infection and was putting everything it had into the fight. So that was good news. She did not see the need for a BMB (thank God!) and I should be out of here on Monday or Tuesday.

Sorry for the delay in posting. Joe will keep you all current while I am at HUP.

Love to you all,

Debbie