I am writing from the University of Chicago hospital. Neal had a bad rash last week which lead into diarrhea and vomiting by the end of the week. Neal spoke with his doctor on Sunday and we agred to come to Chicago early this morning. We saw the doctor at the clinic and he sent us right over to the infusion lab to get Neal started on fluids and anti-nausea meds. From there he was transfered to the hospital (which is across the street). The doctors feel this is graft vs. host disease from Karl’s cells attacking Neal’s organs because the cells recognize them as foreign. This is not uncommon for transplant patients especially since Neal has completely converted to Karl’s cells. He is having a dermatology biopsy this afternoon and an endoscopy and colonoscopy tomorrow to confirm the GVH. He will then go on drip steroids for the rest of the week which means he will be here until Friday. I am spending the night tonight and I will determine the rest of the week when we get results from everything.
The GOOD NEWS is that all of Neal’s numbers look good!! His doctor feels that the tumor is even smaller than last week. Yahoo! Go God!
It’s been about a year since we have been on the transplant floor so it’s nice to see some of our old nurses. They take such good care of patients up here.
Please keep Karl in your prayers. He ended up having another surgery last week. He ended up having an infection in part of the skull bone so they have removed that and will replace it in about 2-3 months. Looks like he will come home tonight. The good news is that the MRI last week didn’t show any new tumors only the infection!
You should probably add Neal and Karl’s parents to your prayer list. This is a lot for them to take in.
More when we know more!
On the journey,
Trish