Home Again

I know its been a week and I thought I would have updated this thing before now, but such is life.

I was able to come home this afternoon after 6 days in the hospital.  I went in with the chest pains and had those dissipate for a day only to come back very hard the next day while Lynn, Mom and my Dr. were all in attendance.  Both of the episodes were treated with heavy pain meds which had them subside fairly quickly.  The best news of the week was that the pneumonia in my lungs must have been causing the pain as the nerve fibers went haywire.  There was nothing associated with my heart..  In addition to the pneumonia, I grabbed a staph infection for good measure in my blood.

All of this meant more tests and more tests.  The infectious disease team was treating me for the staph infection with antibiotics pretty much 24/7 for the week as they assessed the issue.  We found out the cultures were negative today so the antibiotics can be cut back, but I will be on an IV from home for the next couple of weeks.  We will have  nurse visit to set us up with the treatment, IV set up and they will let us do the honors from home the duration.

While all of this was going on, the Dr. ruled out the option of straight chemo as the next step and we will be going to the transplant when the infections have cleared up.  In prep for the transplant, I completed a battery of tests for the next stay...  EKG, another CAT, pulmonary testing and plenty of blood.  I don't think they will be wasting any time once the infection clears up and will go straight to the Karmanos Cancer Center in Detroit.  The good news is that they have found a donor and have begun the process to have that sample verified.  I'm not sure of the process, but in my conversation with the transplant coordinator, they have to have the donor come in for some additional testing.  The donor is what is referred to as a "perfect match" which indicates they have met a set of criteria that is more superior than others.  We'll try and get more details for that soon and pass along.

Been feeling kind of "blah" for the past few days and hope to get more energy back during the time at home.  Thanks to all those who visited, called and sent messages.  Looks like I'll be home for Thanksgiving, which is a big plus and then head into the next hospital the following week if the time line holds up (which they never do).

And last, maybe, just maybe Michigan can find a way to outscore Wisconsin this week while the Buckeyes attempt to handle Iowa on the road...  of course, both could go the other way as well...