Reporting from Seattle...again!

After a somewhat restful night on a hard bed ;) we headed to the clinic this morning. Here is how our schedule went:

8:00am Registration with Registrar (this was quick and painless)
8:45am Fasting Arrival Lab with Draw.
WBC =.96(L) [norm is 4.3-10.0]
RBC = 3.39(L) [norm is 4.4-5.60]
Neutrophils = .13(L) [norm is 1.8-7.00]
Platelets = 58
ALT and AST (they look at the liver) are both in the low 70's

9:00am Radiology for Contrast - prep for CT Scan, (drink the icky contrast over the course of an hour, and get an IV line put in his arm, because they cannot put the die through the Hickman.)
10:15am CT Scan (Terry did get a cheese stick and a couple crackers and a small can of juice after the scan. Lucky!)

11:00am LTFU Consult for Pre-DLI Exam (a two hour allotment of time with Q&A, prodding and poking to check glands, skin, etc., etc.,.... This is where we found a bruise on his arm where they put the needle for the scan - too few platelets!)

1:00pm Pulmonary Function Test (the great breathing test that just seems to be training for The Wolf's roll in The Three Little Pigs. They claim that this knowledge is important. We are sure that they do like that knowledge. By the way, Terry did get a good score on that test. YEA!)

2:00pm Prep for Bone Marrow Procedure

3:00pm Bone Marrow Biopsy (She had to go in three different times to get it where it needed to be and had to poke around a lot to get it where it wouldn't hurt so bad...it was really bad a time or two. They took three times more marrow than normal, and also took a piece of bone and a piece of skin for testing. The good news for this part of the day was that they only had to do one side. WooHoo! Happy Day!) After the procedure we each got a little can of juice and a few Lorna Doone Cookies.

4:30pm 6th floor for add on procedures Nasal swab to check for sure on the cold symptoms, photographs to compare to the earlier photographs and any that might come later, and a G Shot/Neupogen to help the Neutrophils that were too low. FYI - Neupogen lasts for just a day and Neulasta lasts for a couple weeks.

5:30pm back to the SCCA House.
We were finally able to eat...had a quick dinner and now Terry is resting.

So, what do we have to look forward to? Tomorrow will surely be a crummy day for him as he usually feels somewhat sickly after drinking the contrast and of course after having a bone marrow biopsy.
We will go in daily for blood draw and visits to learn the results, especially to check the counts and get another shot if needed. At this point we are on schedule, but we also know how quickly things can change around here.
We'll keep posting to let you know how things are going.

We send our love!!!!!