Sunday, September 25, 2011: Day +32

We are spending the evening going through a week's mail from home and of course, watching football. Tomorrow will be a day when we have more information that will determine Ron's progress and continuing treatment. The results should be back from the bone marrow biopsy and blood tests. Hopefully, the CMV virus will no longer be in his blood. Also, the medicine for the virus can damage the graft, so blood counts might drop for awhile. Ron had to go back on one of his rejection meds today because there was some flare-up of graft versus host rash. He did not feel well this morning but has improved during the course of the day. There are no indications that the biopsy will not be leukemia free.
For some bone marrow transplants, a patient receives his own harvested stem cells. For some, a patient receives stem cells from a related donor (family member if there is a match). Ron's donor was unrelated, so even though the donor was a match and had the same blood type as Ron, there is a higher incidence of graft versus host disease and complications.

Both of us are anxious to be back at the apartment, so our family visits can be enjoyed there ---although the escalator rides with 3 of the grandchildren were pretty special today! They also enjoyed looking at the artwork, legos, and playing crazy birds while Cale and Jess spent time with Ron. Precious moments. It is always good to see our siblings and spouses, too.
Love to all, Ron & Jan