Day 49--No Reason to Whine

Tomorrow will mark the official halfway point in Torger's first 100 days post-transplant. It's still hard to believe things have gone so smoothly this far...as yet, no infections, no bad GVHD, not even a need for any urgent transfusions. Really, at this point, we have absolutely no reason to whine. Next week, on Day 57, Dr. Tse will do another bone marrow biopsy to check for signs of leukemia and to see how well the cell engraftment is progressing. At that point, he's said he'll consider letting us reduce Torger's lab visits to twice a week, but only if he's comfortable with the results. We're really hoping this happens because right now the time we have to spend in the lab every other day feels like our greatest health risk...it's the time of year when everyone's coughing and everyone is fighting colds or the flu. Torger gets his blood drawn at the Bone Marrow Transplant Infusion Center (lovingly known as The BIC), which is a special, smaller infusion center specifically for BMT patients who are severely immune-compromised. That keeps Torger away from the larger Infusion Center, which serves a much wider range of patients with a wider range of maladies and more bountiful selection of germs. But even BMT patients, caregivers, and nurses still get colds, and yesterday it felt like we were surrounded by wheezing, rattling coughs, and juicy sneezes. We wouldn't be so paranoid except that we're usually there for a pretty long time...they draw the blood and then we sit and wait until the results come back from the lab before they'll release us (in case Torger's counts are off or he needs a transfusion). The BIC nurses are also the ones who change the dressing on his Hickman catheter, arrange for his magnesium delivery to the hotel, and tend to other regular routine business involved with his care. So it's never just a "pop in and get out" type of visit. Yesterday, Torger wore his mask for the entire time we were there, to try and keep the germs away. I didn't have a mask--although I'm going to bring one in the future--so I just kept wiping myself down with Purell. Neither one of us can afford to get sick right now. Even with all the antiviral medication Torger is taking, he's still at huge risk of infection, and pneumonia can be a very common--and lethal--complication after a transplant. Dr. Tse has said he wants to keep us out of the hospital as much as possible for this very reason, which is why I now give Torger his fluid and magnesium infusions at home. But for now, we still have to do our every-other-day visits to The BIC...so I guess I'm whining about that a little after all.