BMT Day +14

3/1/11

Teri has not had any major opportunistic infections (infections by common or super bugs that take advantage of her lack of immunity) – that’s the good news.  That is the highest risk in her current state until Ben’s stem cell seedlings take root and begin to produce flowers (WBCs etc) which we expect later this week or early next week.

On the wall of Teri’s hospital bathroom are pictures of horrible mouth sores warning her of the consequences of not rinsing her mouth in saline every day.  Warning:  those weary of blood, may not want to read on.  This is the expected post-chemotherapy mucositis where the entire lining of the mouth, throat and GI tract breaks down, becomes ulcerated and bleeds.  I compare her mouth to a pizza (cheese = pus) where the pepperoni slices have fallen off leaving ulcers.  Pepperoni za anyone?  She is miserable as she shows me these ulcers and says it feels like one gigantic chancre sore covering her entire oral cavity.  This process has progressed to the point that she is spitting blood all night long, not sleeping much and her speech is garbled and marbled (like the King’s Speech).  Once her WBC rises, this will resolve, she’ll become more comfortable.  The continuous narcotic infusion is helping a great deal. 

Teri has made a window pane snowflake scale to communicate to B and his staff how she is feeling with her mucositis etc.  She places the number of large colored papercut snowflakes in the window that corresponds to her pain level from 1 (worst) to 5 (the best).  Today, a typical day, she started out at 6 am at one snowflake (not good) but by mid afternoon got up to 4 snowflakes (pretty good). 

We are stilling fighting the insurance company over coverage of Teri’s previous autologous (self) stem cell boost (or mini transplant) and round of chemotherapy in November which means contesting our own institution since we are self-insured.

The good news is that after another round of negotiation following initially declining to return our ‘admission’ (literally) deposit to us, the hospital finally returned it without an apology.    

Every morning and night for quite some time, Teri has been conducting a little ritual.  I just learned about it and wanted to share it with you.  When she awakens, she thanks God for giving her another day to live and intends to live it to her fullest ability.  She also prays for one friend who is also undergoing transplant as well as others on the BMT (bone marrow transplant) and 4NT (cancer) wards.  Finally she thinks of family members who are also going through their own challenges.  Each night she communicates via phone with a healer in India who helps her medicate and transmit positive energies to others in need.  She is a giver.

Correction:  For those of you who wondered, Teri will not grow 3” taller as a result of the stem cell transplant from long tall Ben.  It will be closer to 2”.