February 26th................Update

Charmaine continues to be doing extremely well. Her days now are very near normal. Occasionally she will have some fatigue but not often.

She is tolerating all of the meds well with few side effects.

We only have to go to Emory every three weeks for Dr. visits.

Her hair is growing like crazy. It is about 1 inch long , salt/pepper, and feels like mink. I think it is going to be beautiful.

Thanks for all of your prayers and continued support for her.

Sam

February 13th..........Update

We went to Emory Friday for a routine Dr. visit. All is just fine with Charmaine now. She still has excessive iron deposits on her liver but is taking a new drug called Ex Jade to correct it. It will take some time, maybe a year to go away. The side effects of the drug are very mild and livable.

Charmaine was home for the snow. I can't imagine that beauty without her seeing it here.

The Dr. told her she could go to church again now. She is so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! excited. Been trying on clothes all evening getting ready. We will go tomorrow morning for the first time in over a year.
Just can't sit close to a large group.

We now are going every three weeks to the clinic.

The only new thing she has going on is a cramp on her left side in the lower hip area during the night sometimes. Can't figure out exactly what is causing it. Fells like in the muscle not the bone which is a good thing. She is still taking steroids which can cause some joint problems over a long use.

Her daily routine is very near normal now. It is unusual for her to even take a nap now during the day.

Will try to update you all weekly on her progress.

Thanks for all the prayers for Charmaine.

Sam

Feb 2..................5 Months post transplant!!!!!!!!

Today is Charmaine's 5 month anniversary after the stem cell transplant!!!!!!!!!!!! Boy how time flies with her home.

She is doing extremely well now. For the past week she has been feeling as if she has never been sick. Little or no side effects or fatigue. She has cleaned and reorganized every cranny of the house.

We did find out from the MRI that she has excessive iron deposits on her liver. The Dr. has ordered a new drug for her called Ex jade to reduce this and take it away. We are waiting now to get it. It has to be ordered by the Dr and comes in the mail??????

Her hair is about an inch long and a beautiful salt/pepper color and feels like velvet. Much thicker than her hair was before.

We only have to go the clinic every 2 weeks now for check ups.

She has started her Sprycell meds (the chemo pill to prevent the leukemia from reoccurring) and is tolerating it very well.

Thanks for all your continued prayers and concern for her.

More later...................

Sam

January 24th......Graft Verses Host Disease

We went to the clinic Friday for her routine check up. Generally Charmaine is doing good. All of her counts still are in the normal range except for the iron level. Normal iron count is around 20 but hers is 2000. It is normal for the iron count to spike after transplant but usually comes down. There is a new med that lowers your iron count that she will have to start taking but before she can start they have to do an MRI on her liver which we will have done Monday.

She also had to stop wearing her contacts because of dry burning eyes and some matting. We have an appoint with an eye Dr. at Emory on Thursday.

She started taking Sprycell again Saturday. That's the chemo pill to help prevent leukemia from coming back again. It is making her nauseated and weak. Hopefully these will go away as she gets used to taking this again. She will have to take this the rest of her life. This drug will lower her white cell count for a while so she is being bombed with antibiotics to prevent infections during this time.

She still has splotchy red spots on her skin on her back and arms. also, she still has some ulcer like burns in different areas from the radiation and chemo treatments. These are treated with oral meds and topical lotions.

She has had a nagging hacking cough for 2 or 3 weeks. No infection but quiet annoying for her.

All of the above problems fall under Graft Verses Host Disease the Dr. said. He said she has chronic GVHD. This is her body trying to fight off the new stem cells she got. It is normal to some degree and even favorable but can be deadly if left unchecked. Sometimes people 2 years after transplant have some problems surface due to this.

Will update you on the liver results. We were a bit concerned when he ordered the MRI on her liver.


Sam

January 15th

I haven't updated lately but Charmaine is doing good now. She is almost over the side effects of the chemo and radiation had on her body. She still has some fatigue but it is minor now because she is still taking steroids. She developed a very bad cough and head cold but the antibiotics have nearly stopped that.

Still having to live in a bubble for the most part for a while longer. Getting a little stir crazy having to stay home all the time.

Her hair is about 1/2 inch long now and is a beautiful salt/pepper color and feels like velvet. Her hair came back black instead of brown. They say a hair color change is not uncommon after transplant.

Her finger nails and toe nails are healing back slowly but ok. She lost all of them which is not uncommon.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and concern for her.

Sam

New Year Day 2010

She insisted on staying up last night to see the new year in. At times in '09 she wasn't sure she would get to see it.

The Dr put her back on steroids due to a mild rash and they are making her jittery and hard to sleep. The cough he said was just a virus she has picked up probably from the kids. Gave her some new meds to help that. Still coughing pretty bad but feels ok.

The results from the FISH test came back negative. This means they can see no live leukemia cells in her system.

Happy New Year to all.

Sam

December 30th.......Update

Charmaine has been doing very well but has developed a nagging cough that has me concerned so we are going to the clinic today for an unscheduled visit to get it checked. I am sure they will xray her chest especially since she had the blood clot earlier on.

She has been around the grand kids some and might have picked a bug of some sort???????

I will post you all later on the outcome of this visit.

Have safe, happy, and prosperous new year.

Sam