Day -7 and -6

Hi Friends and Family.

We admitted yesterday, Monday 27 June, around 2 PM. It was a very different feeling walking on to C2West this time around. We were greeted like we were walking into a resort. "Ah...Ms and Miss Carter. We've been waiting for you! So glad to see you have arrived. Let me show you to your room. Bed 18. This way!" And then nurse Amy, who we know so well, says, like the resort hostess, "Have you been familiarised with the plan?" We'll commence the conditioning plan shortly. In the mean time, settle yourselves in and I'll be back shortly". Perhaps like a resort...but one I wish not to be at. 

The afternoon proceeded to progress in true Ellie fashion with unusual reactions to the first medication. The medication had to be stopped. Ellie had numbness of her lips, tongue and teeth but fortunately the strange symptoms stopped there, and the medication was able to be resumed. Nurse Amy furiously aimed to keep on schedule with this conditioning plan, despite Ellie not being the most cooperative with having to take a new (jumbo!) oral capsule. Who can blame her? Then, after lots of Obs (VS) checks, and more side effects (dizziness, flushing and vomiting) from another new medication, which also had to be stopped, we finally, restarted and finished that med. At 9:30 PM we finally were able to settle down and we both collapsed into a deep sleep in our new private room. Until I woke up to a screeching IV alarm at 1 AM, but that's no biggie and we're all quite used to that. Then, at 5 AM, the very scary Busulphan was started. By the time Ellie woke at 8 AM she was feeling pretty flat. She had periods of engaging with her class via her telepresence Bot, eating and drinking here and there throughout the day. But then, at around 2:30 PM she fell asleep and proceeded to sleep until 7 PM, missing Marilyn coming in for a stint to be with her and then Paul arriving. The fact that she slept throughout the afternoon was a good thing as another important new drug, ATGAM, was being administered and the team were watching her very cautiously for side effects, including hive-like rashes and high temperature/fever. Fortunately, it all went well, as Paul has reported. She has woken up bubbly, hungry and the tow of them are finishing off a Harry Potter movie as we speak. :)

Stay tuned for the next few days...