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Joe Hood - Journal

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Posted 2014-09-11T02:34:55Z

Worst Day Yet

On a positive note, Dad's Staph infection is healing nicely.  Yesterday they removed the infected central line and put in a new one on the other side of his chest (sorry for the graphic picture).  We requested special microbial patches (which they accommodated) to help protect the entry site and reduce the risk of any kind of infection.  The old site is healing nicely and has already scabbed over.  He's using some special body wash to reduce any Staph which may live on his skin which is also helping significantly.  His blood pressure and blood sugars have remained very good today.    [...]

Posted 2014-09-10T03:51:30Z

Hanging In There

Joe had a better day today.  He continues to be in good spirits and didn't feel as nauseous today as he did yesterday.  I was greeted today with "I felt much better today".  Which, frankly, is amazing since his blood counts continue to drop.  [...]

Posted 2014-09-09T03:23:32Z

Day 3

We're officially 3 days past Day Zero - Stem Cell Transplant Day and Joe still has all his hair and overall doing very well.  He's definitely starting to feel fatigued and feeling the side effects of this process - nausea, etc.  He was pretty drained at the end of the day today, but we did get a walk in to help to continue to strengthen his bones.  He's lost 11lbs so far.[...]

Posted 2014-09-08T00:59:01Z

Taking a Turn

Joe had a pretty good weekend.  Saturday was a pretty good day in good spirits and overall felt good, however, he does have a staph infection in his central line - not good. On Sunday, his blood counts started to drop as anticipated and by Wednesday he won't have any immune system.  The surgeon is removing the central line at 5:30 am tomorrow and it will be out for 48 hours and then will be reinserted in on the other side of his chest. Of course this is very concerning since his immune system and platelets (ability for blood to clot) are all compromised.  His nurse today described the staph infection as "getting angry".  It's very red with drainage.  He also has a sore by his mouth that the doctor didn't like today and is taking a culture to see what is going on there.  On the positive side of all of that, he has no fever which is excellent given this recent turn of events.[...]

Posted 2014-09-06T04:14:54Z

It's ZERO DAY!

In the Stem Cell Transplant world, your transplant day is called Zero Day.  Today Joe had his Stem Cell Transplant.  He did great with virtually no side effects.  He started the day with a hot shower while he was still disconnected from Gertie, then started two hours before his transplant with lots of IV fluids, had the transplant about 11 am which took about an hour (5 bags of stem cells), followed by two more hours of IV fluids.  Some of his blood levels did dip a bit low today so he got two units/bags of blood this evening.  Having transfusions like this is not unexpected during this process and we anticipate this will continue over the next couple of weeks.[...]