We received our work-up schedule on Thursday last week. During our "Caregiver" class we learned about "Day minus one, two, etc". They count the days up to transplant as minus. They consider your transplant day as your birthday or "Day Zero" then every day thereafter is "plus".
Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
July 18 (Day-10) | July 19 (Day-9) | July 20 (Day-8) 2:00 check-in RMCC for physical and sign consents with Dr. Brunvand, BMT Specialist | July 21 (Day-7) | July 22 (Day-6) | July 23 (Day-5) 9:00Admission to PSL hospital Insert Central line and begin chemo treatment. Fludarabine | July 24 (Day-4) chemo Fludarabine |
July 25 (Day-3) chemo Fludarabine and Busulfan | July 26 (Day-2) chemo Fludarabine and Busulfan | July27 (Day-1) No chemo day of rest to metabolize chemo... Harvest stem cells from donor | July 28 (Day-0) Transplant stem cells to Jody, probably late evening. "Birthday" | July 29 (Day+1) | July 30 (Day+2) | July 31(Day+3) |
I will begin posting daily starting with "Day Minus Ten" and go through "Day Plus Three" then go back to weekly posts "Week Plus One" and so forth. From "Day Minus Five" through "Day Plus Five" will be the toughest on Jody, so please watch the blog for updates. Today's post will be a little longer, but the following days will be shorter. I hope to simply to let you know how Jody is responding.
We were faxed Jody's protocol today. Jody will be given Fludarabine (floo-DARE-a-been) the trade name is Fludara® it is an anti-cancer chemotherapy drug. The drug is used for Treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and acute leukemia. In addition she will receive another chemo drug called Busulfan (byoo-SUL-fan) the trade names are Busulfex®, Myleran® (Myleran is another name for busulfan). Busulfan is used to treat chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and is also used to treat other certain blood disorders. The primary use in Jody's case is a conditioning regiment prior to her bone marrow transplant. She will receive both drugs through her IV.
As you can see by the above calendar she will receive the bone marrow transplant on Wednesday. This date is designated by her BMT team as her birthday. "She will be re-born with the donors stem cells."
As I mentioned in the beginning, I would tell you about our day. We went to church, had breakfast, went to a street art festival and then to dinner at Ling and Louies.
Jody and I found a beautiful Catholic Church nearby the hospital called Saint Ignatious. Being catholic, I wanted to go and Jody decided to go with me. We attended the 7:30 mass. The church was beautiful and everyone came up to greet us. We said our prayers took in the solitude and really enjoyed ourselves.
Following church we decided to go to Boulder for the Art Festival, but before we stopped off for breakfast at "The Original Pancake House". Jody had a big old stack of pancakes. We had a really nice day, shopping and looking at the art and jewelery.
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