As
I said with my last post, my transplant was moving forward. An unrelated near
match has been identified, contracted and has agreed to be the donor. The match
is a near match (8 of 10) but the areas of mismatch are not one that are of
concern for my doctors. We have come up with a plan that we are in the process
of executing one thing at a time. One of the early tasks was to get dental
clearance.
11/1/13
– At my dental clearance appointment I was found have two teeth in question. One
that possibly needed to be pulled. I was
able to get an appointment with an oral surgeon on 11/4.
11/4/13
– at the appointment with my oral surgeon it was decided that the tooth needed
to be pulled. After consulting my oncologists and transplant doctors, the oral
surgeon was given to go ahead to pull the tooth. This ended up being the
correct decision being a fairly large infection was found at the root of the
tooth. Also on 11/4 I went back to my dentist and had a tooth filled.
11/5/13
- I had my visit with Dr. Feldman of the The John Theurer Cancer Center with I
continue to receive positive results. I was given the OK the begin cycle 12 on
Ibrutinib.
11/6/13
– I went to work and had a fairly normal day but at the day went on I began to
feel like I had the chills and had a bit of a headache.
11/7/13
– At around 2:00 AM my wife noticed I had been sweating heavily. She took my
temperature and it was 103.7. She immediately called The John Theurer Cancer
Center. She was told to give me Tylenol and if my temp didn’t come down to
bring me to the emergency room at Hackensack University Medical Center. The
Tylenol worked. I went to my family doctor, Dr. Eric Hansen and he gave me a
thorough exam and put me on a stronger antibiotic. In addition he ordered a
chest x-ray and blood tests. We had the x-ray right away (which came back
clear) but were not able to get the blood test done being we had to head off
the Hackensack to meeting with Dr. Rowley, my transplant doctor, to review a
number of things for the transplant. Knowing about the fevers, Dr. Rowley made
sure all the blood tests were completed plus he had some additional tests run(all
test were negative). When I left Dr. Rowley my temp was normal but I did feel
like I have the chills.
11/8/13
– At around 12:30 AM, my chills had gotten worse. My temp was 103.3. My wife
called the Cancer was told to bring me to the emergency room. The emergency
room again put me through a battery of test and I was official admitted into
the hospital a few hours later. I was put on broad span IV antibiotics. Dr. Goy
came to visit me in my room to examine me. He ordered a CT of my head (which
came back negative).
11/9/13
– The trend of having a high fever in the early AM continued. At about 2:00 AM
my temp was 103.3. I was given Tylenol and it brought my fever down. I went for
a PET scan in the late morning, I was feeling pretty good. When I returned my
fever was normal. Over the next few hours I remained that way. At 10:00 PM my
temp was 98.9.
11/10/13
- I was wondering what my temp would be at 2:00 AM. Well, 2:00 came and went
but I slept right through it. I guess the nurses didn’t want to awake me. At
4:00, the time when they come and take my blood, I had asked for my temperature
to be taken. It was 102.7. Not 103… but not what I wanted to hear. I had a good
day. As the night nurses are coming into work I am taking a pool as to what my
temperature will be at 2:00 AM. By the way… the nurses here at Hackensack
University Medical Center are awesome.
11/11/13
– My temp was 99.0 at 2:00 AM. This was great news. I felt strong all day. When
I met with Dr. Mateo he said I should be able to go tomorrow.
11/12/13
– My Temp was 99.0 again at 2:00 AM and 98.4 at 7:00 AM. And truly am ready to
go home today. I think this storm has past. Hopefully this is not a sign of
things to come. Maybe it was God’s way of putting me through some marathon
training as my transplant approaches.
Did
the dental work have something to do with the fevers? I don’t think we were
able to prove that one way or the other. It does make sense that if an infected
tooth is pulled that maybe the infection could get into your system. I guess the lesson learned here is that next time to prepare for a transplant I will not take the dental piece so lightly and get it covered much more in advance.
So
what does this all mean from the prospective of my transplant? How does it
impact my transplant? Maybe not at all. At this point all our plans for
transplant are still on. The plan is:
11/13/13
– Receive Rutuxan as out patient
11/18/13
– I go to a transplant class
11/20/13
– Catheter installed
11/21/13
– I’m admitted into the hospital for chemo
11/25/13
– The donor makes the donation
11/26/13
– The stem cell transplant happens
So my new journey has begun. I look forward to telling you about it.
No evil shall be allowed to
befall you, no plague come near your tent. For he will command his angels
concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you
up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
Psalm
91:10-12
More to come…
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