The Ups and Downs

The ups and downs of post Bone Marrow Transplant are many. The biggest toll comes on the emotions. Melodina has been improving in many small ways every day since we left the hospital. We are planning to attend a meeting for Ski Instructors and Coaches this Sunday at the club where we both hope to work part time this winter. That is truly something for Melodina to look forward to. An emotional high if you will.

The biggest health issues Melodina faces now are twofold. First she needs to eat. She needs to eat healthy and lots to gain weight. Up until Monday she was continuing to loose each time she was weighed. Today for the first time in a long while she weighed in at the same weight she was on Monday - no gain but no loss either. Believe me this is a victory.

The second issue is that she still has the CMV virus. Last week the lab measured the CMV at 1700, not too bad and definitely manageable. Today this week's test came back and the measurement is 119,000. That's way too much. She has been re admitted so that she can go back on the nasty drug Foscarnate. Foscarnate has bad side effects including an often rapid depletion of electrolytes that need to be replaced quickly so that organs can function properly. We are hoping that the schedule of IV drug administration can be done in such a way that she can have many hours outside the hospital each day. Hopefully she can still make the instructor/coaches meeting Sunday. I will keep you posted.

Sometimes the workings of the BMT unit at the hospital are unfathomable. Melodina has made it known that she does not wish to go back to that unit. Just today he expressed her wish to be admitted to 8A rather than 8B. Instead of talking to her about it, patients were moved from 8B to 8A freeing up rooms. She is now on 8B again. This is a huge emotional setback. I'm sure it was done for some sort of efficiency reason but nobody bothered to talk to Melodina about it. Crazy eh! The 8B medical staff just don't understand the emotional stress they place on their patients from time to time.

So the cancer/BMT roller coaster continues up and down, up and down. I'll let you know where it goes next.