Moving Forward, I think

Kristi had 3 doctors appointments today, including blood work, chest x-ray, and pulmonary (lung capacity) tests. There are are many more to go:

• Dental (done)
• OB/GYN (done)
• BMT labs (done, see image above)
• Chest X-ray (done)
• Pulmonary Function (done)
• EKG
• ECHO (cardiogram)
• Bone Marrow Biopsy
• BMT Clinic educational appointment
• BMT Pharmacy appointment
• Dietary consult
• Social Worker appointment
• Finance consult
• Up-date H&P
• Admit Conference
• Start Bactrim
• Depopevera shot
• Dentist: Fill Cavities
• Central Line Placement
• Admit Day

As you can see this is a long list. However, we think it's the "One Month Out" list, especially since there is an Admit Day on it, though there is no actual date on that one.

News, almost

K's been on the phone a lot today. Her transplant coordinator has been trying desperately to move things forward. Right now, there is some hope that she can just skip the consolidation chemo altogether. This would be great since chemo is 1) basically poison so minimizing it is good, and 2) relatively unnecessary if she can get the transplant early since it will completely wipe out her immune system anyway. Also, early transplant means that I can spend more time with her during and after. School starts in the middle of August. No news on the swollen lymph node yet. She has a number of hoops to jump through to get Medicaid's approval for the transplant including a drug test, blood tests, and possibly yet another (medically unnecessary) bone marrow biopsy. The picture above is Kristi standing in the window of our new Warnock Engineering Building office. You can almost see her place down at the end of 1^st south.

A Minor Delay

Kristi had a CT scan yesterday to examine a superficial lump on her throat. At first they thought it was a clot, but the ultrasound done on Weds showed that it wasn't. The CT didn't produce any new insight, so she had a "fine needle extraction" (FNE) biopsy today. It looks like it's an abscess. While this is no call for alarm, it will delay her consolidation, which was scheduled for Monday. Dr. Shami is fairly sure that this isn't associated with Leukemia; most likely it was caused by the Hickman central line. We won't know for sure till all the tests come back.

I finally got around to processing her CT data today. The image to the right is a Maximum Intensity Projection (MIP) of yesterday's scan. The radiologist and I get along great now, which allowed me to get the absolute raw data. As far as volume datasets go, this is nearly perfect, clean, isotropic data. Sadly, K has a few oldtimey fillings that caused some beam hardening. I'll probably have to fix this by hand so that she doesn't look like a snaglepuss when I render her.

A Match!

Kristi had a surprize meeting from her Transplant Case Worker at her doctors appointment on Monday. The word is that they have a "Very Good Match" for her! This is terrific news. We are anticipating that the transplant may take place in about a month, which is well ahead of the original schedule. She's going back in for her "consolodation" chemo treatment on Monday. She'll be at Huntsman all week. Unfortunately, this means that I will be bringing her home in a Neutropenic state. We will have to watch her very carefully. As usual, if she has a fever, she will be admitted back to the Hutsman immediately. I have been working hard to fortify her place against the ravages of Pidgeon droppings that I suspect are a source of potential infections. Also, yesterday she had her midline removed from her arm. She is completely free of tubes sticking out of her for the time beeing. We are hoping that they can do the chemo with a regular IV. It's very nice not to have daily line flushes, which eliminates the risk of line infections that send us to the hospital for days.

Here are some shots by Pete from one of the stops on KP's Cancer Cat Scramble. The shot above is of the Fastest Female Julie Holms posing with Kristi's parents at a stop on the race. The Park Record's Anna Bloom did a nice piece on the event.

Alley Cats

The race should be staring in about 15 minutes. BTW, slight change of location; since Galavan is booked right now, we are meeting across from Galavan on 200 south. See you at the finish line!!! Congrats to Joel for First Place Male! He gained 30 minutes at the "Huffy Toss" with a record seven throws!

Aaron the agro-organizer.

Roni the ticket pimp.

A sweet ride!