Showtime!

It's been a long day.

Steve and I both slept well last night, then loaded up the Expedition with Steve's gear for his month-long stay.  Laura D, I guarantee your gifts are part of his "7-Eleven."  Thank goodness it's out of my reach, too much caloric temptation in the house.  Molly was our wingman today.

We got to Prentice at 8:30; at 9:30 we paged the Stem Cell Coordinator from the lobby to let them know we had waited an hour, which was fine with us, but not with the hospital.  Steve was savoring his last few moments of freedom.  Within moments someone from Patient Services swooped down and escorted us to the 15th floor.  Steve pushed his cart, which I gotta tell you, got a LOT of second looks in the lobby.  We will bring a printer and hopefully a contraband fridge in the near future.

He has the icky room of the floor.  We had to laugh, this is his 7th inpatient admission, so we had heard about the "one room on the floor with one teeeeny window."  Actually, we like the room, it's completely removed from the nurse's station, with all it's noise and activity.  The floor is completely full, so it is fine for now, although I do miss the wonderful lake and park views.  You can see the new Children's Memorial Hospital under construction from Steve's room; it is going to be spectacular.  A nice rooftop garden is below him, and a west exposure.

The stem cell transplant requires three "lines," so Steve had a third jumper cable (lumen) added to his double lines late this afternoon.  Life is much easier with a PICC, and he has grown accustomed to living with one.  This is how Mary's cells will be infused into Steve's body! Isn't that amazing? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripherally_inserted_central_catheter

The staff is giving him a few units of red cells tonight to get his hemoglobin up.  It was at 8.0, which is good for him; chemo eats up reds and platelets, so it's just part of the process.  Our advanced practice nurse feels that since his first 3 cycles of chemo went without complications that he may sail through this last pre-transplant round easier than someone that had struggled with earlier regimens.  That was encouraging news.  Still one day at a time!

Megan and Kevin went to see him this evening, so the kids feel better once they see Dad settled in and comfortable.  We are all pros at navigating Streeterville, the Dan Ryan, and I-55!


I am going to share a few photos here to show you how much better he looked today versus the day of diagnosis, April 30.  He was very ill in April.  When you look back in time, you can see changes in his appearance.  He was up to 220 pounds two years ago.  He has been as low as 162 since April, and today was up to 171.  All things considered, I think he looks GREAT!  


That's all for tonight, keep him in your prayers and thoughts along with others in need.  ~sr

4/10 Just before the news...

8/10

5/08

5/09