A Day in the Life of Devin
Just a short little page to update family and friends on Devin's progress while undergoing treatment for a relapse of leukemia and his second bone marrow transplant. Devin is currently in remission and we plan to keep him there FOREVER!
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Thursday, July 31, 2003
A Sad Day
Devin got his fifth dose of ATG today. We got him out of bed and in his chair for several hours as well after he took a shower. He did balk at doing PT but eventually did it. His arm, where the PICC line was, is feeling much better although it has flare ups whenever I ask him to do something he doesn't want to.
His doctor is happy with his progress so far and his nurses are happy to see the triple lumens so they don't have to juggle medications quite so much. His platelets had dropped so he got a platelet transfusion today. Nicholas is spending the night with him and Dad this evening.
I met a lady on the internet in October 2001, we both had babies born in May/June 2001. Her daughter, Eliana, had just been diagnosed with leukemia and in a twist, she was here at Vanderbilt. Since that time, Hollie and I have maintained contact, seeing each other in the clinic as well as sharing news via the internet. Eliana had a bone marrow transplant in February 2002 and despite incredibly long odds, was still with her loving family more than a year later and doing reasonably well. Eliana had frequent hospital stays but still defied the massive odds against her. She lost her valiant struggle today. She was such a little tiger, a tough little fighter. When I would go see her in her room, she would tell me Bye Bye, wanting me to leave rather than come see her. She loved it when Devin would rattle balloons for her, giving a big belly laugh. She beat those odds against her for so long and finally her little body just gave out on her. She was such a sweet, special little spirit and we will miss her greatly.
Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Owwie!
Devin's chief complaint today was his right arm and shoulder being sore. This is the arm that the PICC line was in and it is not at all uncommon for it to be sore for several days.
His hickman is looking good, he has red, white and blue lumens...a very patriotic device for him. I know his nurses feel better about having it in and Devin enjoys having his hands free now. Of course, he is still very puffy and his hands are swollen, making it hard for him to do a lot.
PT came in today to spend time with Devin. He did Beanie Basketball and walked around in his room. He is doing well.
Yesterday, 250cc of fluid was drained out of his right lung. Woo hoo!! It came back totally clear, no sign of infection. The doctor was not expecting that much and was amazed that Devin had no symptoms at all from that fluid being there. He feels the fluid was caused by the drug Devin is on. It makes excess fluids seep out into various parts of his system...which is why he is so puffy even with his kidneys working well. Dr Frangoul doesn't think that we will see a repeat but we will be watching it closely and getting x-rays frequently.
Overall, Dr Frangoul seems to be pleased with Devin's progress and feels that the ATG is working. While we are not seeing major, startling changes, there are some changes. The amount that he is running to the bathroom is drastically down even though we are still seeing blood. Dr Frangoul said think of it like your arm has had all the skin peeled off it. You will bleed and ooze. As you heal, you will still bleed and ooze but it diminishes as you heal. This is what we think we are seeing with Devin and that healing is just taking time.
Tomorrow is another ATG day. So far, Devin has been handling the ATG very well even though he feels rather crummy while getting it.
His counts today were: WBC 12.3, his PCV dropped to 27 so he got a blood transfusion and his platelets were at 81.
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
Triple Lumen Hickman
As I am writing this, Devin is still down in recovery from having his new Hickman put in and the PICC line taken out. He went down about 2:30 this afternoon. In addition to having the Hickman in, he also had the fluid taken from his right lung and sent off for cultures.
When his last Hickman was removed, it was done in his room and he was given the drug, Versed. He complained the entire time during the procedure that he wanted the "white medicine" (Don't ask me the name, it is white, it puts him out and starts with a P). Even as the doctor was leaving the room, his little voice called out "I weally wanted the white medicine!" To have the Hickman put in, he does get the "white medicine" but we put a note on him that said Dear Dr P, Remember to give me the WHITE MEDICINE please! Love, Devin As they were taking him down to surgery, he held a concert, by popular demand. Not only were His Gals™ there to harmonize, there were other nurses, residents and interns who joined in. The Pediatric Critical Care nurses poked their heads out to applaud when the rendition was over.
Devin took a shower this morning for about 30 minutes and then was in his chair for a few hours. During that time, Physical Therapy came in and played Beanie Basketball with him and had him on the stationary bike as well. I can see why he prefers PT over me....I make him do a lot more than they do! He gives me more grief though and is more likely to do what they ask him to do.
He had a rough night, he was up every hour or so to use the bathroom. It seems like when he is getting less dilaudin, he uses the bathroom more. That makes a very restless night for not only Devin but anyone who is spending the night with him. Kaity managed to sleep through it all though. I made curtains for his door window and I think that helped cut down on the light in the room.
Because of the fluid on the right lung, he was started on yet another antifungal medication today, caposfungin.
I am not exactly pleased to see his WBC was up to 16.6 today. I would like to see that drop. His PCV was 33 and his platelets went up to 95.
Monday, July 28, 2003
Storms!
We had some severe weather this evening so I am way behind. I will post details of Devin's day in the morning. He is doing well and was up for quite a bit today. He goes in tomorrow to have his Hickman put back into his chest.
The Physical Therapist brought in a stationary bicycle for Devin today. He managed to do 5 minutes on it and spent about 3 hours in the chair today. Every time I asked him how he felt, he responded with a hearty "Great!" Greg said he had a fantastic day with our dude.
A few nights ago, Chaplain Webb, from Greg's unit, stopped by to visit Devin and left a recorder with him. Devin can't play it but he likes to blow it and make his own brand of music with it. Today, an up and coming musical talent was born. "Devin and His Gals" His nurses, Linda, Yolanda and Adelle, all sang (or danced) to You are My Sunshine and Oh, Susanna while Devin provided the music. Greg was actually impressed at how well they sounded.
Devin has mom, Kaitlyn and Kierynn spending the night with him this evening. He is unimpressed ;)
I have his counts for today but they are at home, I will make sure they are included when I add details later.
I got his counts for the day: WBC 12.6, PCV 33 and platelets were 77.
Sunday, July 27, 2003
Mean Mom
Devin was feeling well enough to moan, whine, gripe and complain :) He really did not want to get up and out of bed today but was bullied out. After he took a shower and brushed his teeth, I managed to keep him out of bed by not allowing his bed to be changed yet. While he was sitting, he also had to kick the ball around, alternating feet, lift it over his head, clap hands over his head, march in place and practice using his breathing thing. He really thinks I am sooo mean. He complained steadily the entire 3 hours he was in the chair. "It has been an hour, can I get back in bed now? You said I could be out less than last time, it has been longer already! My stomach hurts, I need to get into bed. It has been 2 hours, you said I would only have to be out 1 hour. I don't want to kick the ball. I know the doctor said I have to get up but can I do it later?"
His right lung still has fluid in it but it is not any worse and not spread. He is still quite puffy but went down quite a bit today. He is peeing a lot more and everything else has slowed down, which we take as a good sign. He got his third dose of ATG today and did very well with it.
Devin is turning into a little fiend when it comes to getting benadryl. He likes how it puts him to sleep so he is constantly asking for it and complaining that his dilaudin doesn't work. His amount of dilaudin was moved back, it is now on demand only rather than having a constant dose delivered at a very slow rate. Despite what he say, I can see where he was not really needing the pain medication.
It was a very uneventful day, other than his continual complaints. He even was snitty with Ryan, who was spending the day with him. His counts today were WBC 13.1, PCV 31 and platelets were 87
Saturday, July 26, 2003
Boring is Good
Yes, sometimes boring is good. In our situation, we much prefer boring. Devin is doing just as well as he has been for the past two days. He is retaining fluids like mad so there is concern about his kidneys even though every test shows they are working well. In just over 2 weeks, Devin has gained 14 lbs. We *know* this is liquid weight but he was give lasix to help him get rid of some of it. He got a second dose today.
Devin is using his breathing thingy but had a second chest x-ray taken today, I am not sure of the results of it yet. Over the weekends, there are different oncologists on duty from his main doctor, Dr Frangoul. This week it happens to be Dr Viviana (Lavan) and Dr Yang. Both of these ladies think that Devin is not in as much pain as he was and had his dilaudin turned down. I happen to agree with them and think for the last week that Devin is not in as much pain as he complains of. You can see when he is really hurting and when he develops pain to try to weasel out of something. It is amazing how his stomach pain shows up when he is told he needs to get out of bed or go brush his teeth.
His output has certainly slowed down and we are seeing no visible blood! Yay!! There is blood present but not a large amount. His blood pressure was high again so he is now getting blood pressure medication twice a day rather than just once a day. It looks as if tomorrow he will have several antibiotics stopped. He will also get his third dose of ATG tomorrow.
Greg and Linda, his nurse, got Devin out of bed several times today. He sounded so good on the phone when I called to speak to him. Nicholas and Greg are spending the night with Devin tonight.
His counts today are looking well. WBC 10.4, PCV was 32 but he did get blood late yesterday evening. His platelets rebounded on their own to 136.
Friday, July 25, 2003
Gotcha!
Devin was less than pleased today when his doctor said he needed to be out of bed. Between me and his nurse, we got him up, showed and in his chair. Even though he complained steadily for the entire time, he stayed out of bed for 3 hours.
He was feeling well enough to play a joke on one of his nurses. Anthony, the infamous nurse who showed Devin the straw trick, normally works night but today was working a day shift. Devin had gotten a hat the other day, a crocheted hat and we put it around a ball to stretch it out. After looking at it, Linda (his nurse) and I decided it looked like Devin's head and the plan was hatched. We put the ball with the hat on the pillow, another pillow under the blankets to look like Devin curled up there and set the stage. Devin was crouched beside the far side of the bed and Linda handed him a syringe loaded with water and went to find Anthony. When Anthony came in to take his temperature, Devin bounced up and shot the water at Anthony. He missed so Mom handed him another loaded syringe. Devin's aim was better the second time around and he got not only Anthony, he managed to get Linda in the face as well. There were a few interns and the resident outside the door watching this and laughed at all the silliness. Later, Devin lay in bed and made faces at Anthony who was sitting outside at the desk. Dr Frangoul was very pleased to hear our Devin was out of bed for so long. We had hoped for just an hour but managed to wrangle 3 out of our dude.
Even though he is feeling better, he has a little bit of fluid on one of his lungs. He got a nifty breathing thingy (that is a technical term) that he takes deep breaths into and a little ball goes up between arrows. We want to keep his lungs functioning well. He has ran a fever for 2 days so one of the drugs that he was taken off of, azactam, he was put back on. We may be able to take him off another antibiotic in a few days.
Devin got his second dose of ATG today and seems to be doing well with it. He also had a second dose of IVIG. Both of these take up one of his IV lines for many hours and there was discussion of putting a second PICC line in his left arm. Right now, the word is that his Hickman (chest) line will be going back in early next week and rather than a double lumen (line), Devin will be getting a triple lumen. Right now, his IV pole has 6 different pumps on it so that all of his medications can get to him. His biggest risk is a bacterial or fungal infection so everything is being covered as well as we can.
His counts today were WBC 6.6, PCV 30 and Platelets were 67. We can expect the platelets to drop from the ATG but if that happens, he will recieved a platelet transfusion.
Once again, it is just so wonderful to see our Devin with us again today!
Thursday, July 24, 2003
Devin!
Our Devin dude is back with us! After watching him lay around sleeping or in pain for 2 weeks, we had our dude with us today. He was very tired from the effects of the ATG yesterday but when he woke up, he was a chatter box.
It was so good to see him acting more like himself than we have seen recently. He is still puffy, still having problems but he is alert and Devin!
I got the comment section working. I do have the archived comments saved and for the few that made comments between systems, I have entered them in the correct day. Hopefully HaloScan will be a little more reliable than BlogOut was being.
Kierynn and I are spending the night with our very chatty Devin. Woo hoo....Devin!!
Wednesday, July 23, 2003
ATG Started
We went ahead today and started ATG with Devin. This is used in some kids prior to a transplant and we are hopeful that it will work with Devin and allow his gut to heal.
Devin felt pretty crummy most of the day, with muscle aches and stomach pains. The ATG can cause flu like symtoms so it is not surprising. He was medicated with tylenol prior to getting it and again after it ended. His temperature did go up to 101 but came back down. A skin test was done prior to starting the ATG and he did not really react to it. He will be getting 6 doses of this, every other day. We should see some results in the next few days.
He had an IV put in his left arm the other day and it has been bothering him so it was taken out and a new one put in. He was also taken off his Diflucan for Vefen...a different drug that basically does the same thing. One of his antibiotics, azactam, was also taken off. We are hoping to get him off some more of his medications soon.
While one of his medications was running today, he had to be taken off the pump that gives him a constant low level of pain medication. You could really see the difference in him between when he was getting it and when he was not. He rests more easily and his face is not as tense when he is on the constant infusion of it.
You can see some minor changes to his web page here today. I am working on the photo archive, right now it will take you to a blank page. I made the blinking cancer awareness button for another web page, I may change the color of it to match Devin's page better. Our comment section has been hit and miss for about a week so I switched to a different one. I am not sure if I will be able to access the comments archive when they are back up but if I can, I will copy them and put them up as well.
Devin's counts today were: WBC 8.8, PCV 32 and platelets 116. We can expect these to plummet and crash over the next few days as he gets the ATG.
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
In A Rut
Devin seems to be in a rut as far as recovery goes. We can see teeny itsy bitsy signs of improvement but nothing that is spectacular. He is still cramping, he is still bleeding. I honestly think he is not cramping as much as he says and that he mainly wants the benadryl. I am basing this on the fact that saline works for him the majority of the time that his pain med pump is turned off to run something else.
The frequency (as well as volume) that he has been running to the bathroom has decreased but he is still bleeding. Certainly not as much but still bleeding. His blood is being checked several times a day to be sure he is not bleeding internally and so far, his red blood cells have been more than keeping up with whatever is being lost. This morning, his PCV was at 32 and it went to 28 by noon. Because of that dip, he was given a blood transfusion.
Devin's blood pressure was up today as well as his weight. He is now up to 56 lbs, up 10 lbs since he was admitted. Granted, most is liquid weight but it is still a gain. His kidneys are working well so that is not too much of a concern. He was tested today for steriod induced diabetes. His level was 160 and he is not considered to be diabetic until it reaches 200. We will keep an eye on it.
Sooo.....his doctor is once more leaning towards giving him the ATG tomorrow but will re-evaluate Devin in the morning. Dr Frangoul is pleased with his progress but wants to push Devin towards better rather than leave him in the current rut.
I usually only report his morning counts but he is having them done several times a day. We can tell a lot from these counts so it was quite a shock yesterday when a medical student came in and told Greg that Devin's platelets were at 30! The nurse saw the look of pure shock on Greg's face (his platelets were at 116 the day before) and quickly looked and reassured us that the student was incorrect. Today, we got his correct counts for the morning. WBC 11.9.....almost back down to a normal range meaning that he has no infection. PCV 31 and his platelets were at 147.
We had two sets of missionaries stop by and give Devin a blessing last week and we have asked people to add him to the Temple lists. We really appreciate those who have emailed to tell us that they have added Devin to their own prayer lists and similar things.
Monday, July 21, 2003
A Teeny Step Forward
Although we are far from out of the woods, we are catching glimpses of the sky through the trees. The weekend was to see if there were any signs that Devin was responding at all to his current regime of medications. Dr Frangoul was very pleased with how Devin did over the weekend. We are also now off isolation! This means no more having to wear a gown and gloves when the nurses come in or we go out.
We are seeing signs that his body is attempting to heal and because of that, we are not yet going to the drug ATG. We will hold off for a week to see what happens. This could change again if Devin's body does not continue its forward progress. If we can get the blood in his stool and his stomach cramps under control, he will be allowed to come home.
Since he did seem to respond to one of his steriods, Remacade, he is getting that again today in a slightly higher dose.
Once of his nurses, Miss Yo, is with him today. She has not been his nurse while we were on isolation and he is very happy to see her. The pair of them sit and call each other names and make fart jokes.
Sunday, July 20, 2003
Uneventful night!
Yay! Devin had a very great night, he slept through and was not having to get up to use the bathroom. He made up for lost time when he got up though :( We did discover that he actually had been given the wrong dose of his pain medication and that may have helped him sleep more easily through the night. Since it seemed to help him out and by doing so, let his gut rest, his doctors have increased his dose of pain medication some to see if it continues to allow him rest.
Our guy now has an IV in each arm since he has so many medications and not enough lines to get medicines in. They have to balance what is going in with each other so that means that during certain medications being given, he is taken off his pain medication.
We found a wonder drug for him during those times called Placebo. The power of suggestion is an amazing thing with him and if he THINKS he is getting his benadryl or pain med, he relaxes and goes to sleep. Obviously, if he is in pain, we are going to give him medication but for the most part, we try the saline first and see if that helps. Nine times out of ten, the saline works fine...little goof ball!
Ryan, Dad and Alex spent the day with Devin. He slept a lot but also was willing to talk and play a bit. Dad and Ryan are spending the night with him this evening.
His counts were not much off of yesterday...his WBC count is dropping back to a normal level, meaning his infection is nonexistant and his PCV and Platelets are not much different from before.
Saturday, July 19, 2003
Not Much Yet
It is still early in the day but so far, Devin does seem a little better. His face is not nearly as swollen from the steriods as before, he is not grimacing in pain when his tummy is touched and he is resting without the aid of painkillers. He did have a high volume of stool overnight but so far today, he has had much less.
Devin continued to do very well through the day. He was getting up out of bed to take a shower and was alert and watching TV. He wanted me in the bed with him so we squeezed together on his bed to watch TV.
We, along with his nurses, think we are seeing signs of improvement but only his Doctor knows exactly what signs he will be looking for.
Friday, July 18, 2003
Itty Bitty Bit Better
The day started out rather grimly, with Devin's doctor deciding that tomorrow would be the day to go to ATG, the last medication we can try. His main concern is that Devin will bleed internally to the point were nothing can be done.
As the day wore on, Devin actually improved a bit and was up several times, to put together a lego car and to walk around some. His doctor saw him again later in the day and after reviewing things, we have decided to give Devin's body over the weekend to respond to his current course of treatment before using the ATG.
Devin's platelet level is high enough that he is not actively bleeding, he has no active infections and we think he is improving, just not as fast as we would all like to see. He is still dashing to the bathroom but his cramping seems to be easing. For some reason, overnight is when he seems to take a step backwards rather than continuing the forward motion of the day.
Devin will be getting IVIG which is immune globulin, a blood product. It will be going through his IV and we hope it acts like a cream over his stomach and intestines, to allow them to heal more.
So we are in a holding pattern for the weekend, assuming nothing changes. If there is any change, then we will relook at everything and decide on our course of action.
His counts for the day were: WBC 30.3, PCV 35 and platelets 201.
Thursday, July 17, 2003
Not Going Well
Things are not going as well as they could be for our Devin Dude. While we did want to see GVH, no one wanted to see it the extent that he currently has. His entire stomach and intestines are ulcerated and shedding, for lack of a better word. This is causing him massive cramping and constant trips to the bathroom. He is getting steriods to help with the GVH and one of the side effects of it is swelling to the face. Devin has a fat, round little face right now from the steriods.
On top of the GVH, his central line (his Hickman catheter) had an infection in it. Since his GVH can't get under control while he is also fighting an infection, the decision was made to remove the Hickman. It was taken out yesterday and a PICC line put in. That is basically a central line put into his arm. The hope is that by removing the infection point, Devin's body can kick it and the GVH can get under control.
Sooo...right now, we are looking for subtle signs of improvement. His blood cultures have not grown anything today, his blood pressure was down and he has no fever. Of course, the steriods can mask a fever so he has blood cultures drawn frequently. He seems to be cramping less, there is no visible blood in his stool any longer and his overall volume of output has gone down. We have several more days before we will have to look at other options than his current course of treatment.
Because the PICC line is set up for short term usage, there is a constant balancing act of all of his medications and what can be run with what, what has to be turned off when something else is running. He is currently on: acyclovir, cyclosporin, diflucan, solumedral, gentamyacin, cellcept, protonix, azactam, flagal, adavan, delaudun and TPN/lipids (IV nutritrion) He also gets Benadryl as needed for itching. These do change on a daily basis, sometimes an hourly basis and is a job to keep up with.
Everyone is deeply concerned about Devin and are doing everything possible to help him turn the corner towards recovery. Please keep Devin in your thoughts and prayers.
His counts are way off because of the infection but his WBC was 30.3, PCV was 37 and platelets were179.
Sunday, July 13, 2003
Back In
Devin was readmitted to Vandy on Thursday, following a clinic visit. He had been complaining of stomach pain but had no fever or vomiting. We took him in and his doctor was sure that it was Graft Vs Host Disease (GVH) that we were seeing.
Devin was given pain medication and a biopsy of his stomach, to confirm it was GVH, was scheduled for Friday. Friday he got the biopsy and it certainly is GVH of the lower gut. We wanted to see some GVH and Devin certainly has it! His GVH is considered Grade 4 out of a possible 4.
Basically, his stomach is rather ulcerated and torn up at the moment. Because of this, he has an infection in his blood as well. He is not being allowed to eat anything and only sip water to give his stomach a chance to heal some. He should be able to eat again in a few days and in the meantime is getting IV nutrition to keep his weight up.
So, he is on pain medication, steriods to treat the GVH and antibiotics to clear up the infection. We should see some results in the next few days, signs that it is clearing up.
Devin had been on a morphine pump and experienced some itchiness...not uncommon with morphine. This itching got more pronounced and then Devin started seeing things and becoming hysterical when he was not in a semi sleeping state. The doctor on call looked him over and consulted with the oncologist. The decision was made to take him totally off the morphine and try a different drug. It was about 4 hours until the morphine was out of his system and he was put on dilaudan. (Not sure of the spelling).
Since the switch took place (at about 2 am), Devin has bounced back and acted more like the 7 year old we know rather than the slug who was seeing things. The dilaudan is at a much lower dose and although he is getting some itching, it is nothing like what he was getting with the morphine.
We know his counts for the day, even though we are not expecting them to be below normal. His WBC was 10.1, PCV was 26 and platelets were 156
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
Not much
Generally if there is not an update, it means nothing much is going on. There doesn't seem to be much use in posting daily "Everything is going fine."
Devin is still doing fairly well. He had a bone marrow draw yesterday and will be seen again in clinic tomorrow. We won't get the results of the bone marrow until next week some time. His counts are still climbing, up well into the normal range now.
He is having some complications which may or may not be GVH manifesting. The doctors are keeping an eye on everything and doing nothing at the moment until we know for sure what is going on. Devin seems to be lactose intolerant, something he had following his first transplant as well. Within about 6 months, he was fine. In the meantime, he takes lact-aide before he drinks milk or has any dairy products.
His magnesium was a little low so he gets that through his nightly IV fluids. We are still giving him 600 - 1000 ml of fluids a night as well as NG feeds. He is a nibbler at best right now.
Today he felt crummy most of the day and just dozed on the couch. He is not running a fever, nausea or any thing specific beyond what we already were aware of so hopefully tomorrow he will be feeling better. In any event, he is being seen tomorrow.
Saturday, July 05, 2003
Cruising Along
Not a heck of a lot has been going on here with Devin. We are just in a cruising along mode, things are going well. He had a clinic visit yesterday, rather than today, due to the holiday.
Dr Frangoul looked him over and just shook his head "There is just nothing going on with your son!" That sums it up very well. Devin is doing so much better than expected and is having little to no side effects at all. We would actually like to see a little more action.
He had gained a bit of weight since Tuesday so his NG feeds were cut back some. He is still be hydrated over night to make sure his kidneys are working at full function and to flush out any residual drugs.
Devin was very pleased to FINALLY be allowed into the pool. Our pool gets sun the vast majority of the day so he is only allowed in after 7 pm. He gets to sit rear down in an inner tube type float and just float around in the pool. He would much rather be IN the water but since he can't, this is better than nothing. There is just no way to 100% protect his chest tube site so until it is removed, he can't be submerged. We have these plastic covers that tape onto his chest, they are called Aqua-Guards. We use them when he gets a bath.
This evening we went on Ft Campbell to the big fireworks display that they put on each year. Devin ran around like a goof and had a grand time. He is still thin but he sure likes to get out and play and it just annoys him to no end that we are constantly telling him to get out of the sun. The radiation he had makes him super sensitive to sun and a sunburn could turn ugly very quickly.
I don't have his counts for yesterday but I know they were not too far off of his Tuesday counts. On Tuesday, he will go into the clinic and have his first bone marrow draw following his transplant. We are hoping to see 100% donor bone marrow being produced. Don't ask me how they can tell, it is very technical, but I know they can tell if it is Ryan's bone marrow that Devin's body is producing. What is even more interesting, if Devin's donor had been female, they would be able to tell that as well.
Here is a picture I have been meaning to put up of the two boys. It was taken a few moments before Ryan went downstairs to donate his bone marrow. Devin named his leopard Snow and Ryan's was named Tropic.
Devin and Ryan, June 9th
Tuesday, July 01, 2003
Rainy
The day started out rainy and yucky as Devin, Kierynn and I headed down to Vandy for a clinic visit. Nothing much went on during our clinic visit. Dr Frangoul checked Devin out, took some blood and confirmed his medications.
His counts today were: WBC 2.8, PCV was 33 and his platelets were 66.
After lunch, Devin got a little nauseated and his NG tube had to be put back down. He could not catch his breath so we pulled the tube back out. I think it may have started to go down towards his lungs rather than his stomach. We regrouped, tried it again and it went down fine. I checked it and it was in the correct spot. (To check the placement, you get a syringe of air, shoot it in the tube and listen with a stethoscope in his stomach for the whoosh of the air)
Devin mainly nibbled today. He is eating but not a lot. We are keeping a food diary to see if we can back off on the NG feeds.
