Jason had been great for the last few months. He had energy, blood work had been great and
he hadn’t felt that good for a long time. We were
excited that he could possibly go back to work around September.
The first part of July (it’s been always the 4th
of July weekend that something happens); Jason’s left bicep was slightly bigger
and tight. It got pink and the swelling
was reaching towards his forearm and wrist.
We called our doctor at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, and she was
concerned that it could be blood clots, so Jason was sent to the Emergency
room. The ER doctor just looked and
checked Jason’s arm by hand (no further exam), and thought it was just some
kind of skin infection. The ER doctor just
gave Jason antibiotic and told us to wait for a few days to go away.
Jason had appointment at SCCA a few days later anyway, so we
waited. The symptoms did NOT go away,
and got even worse. At the appointment,
doctors at SCCA quickly sent Jason for more blood work and ultrasound to double check there
were no clots in his arm. The ultrasound technician was surprised (almost amused) to
see what was going on with his arm. No
blood clots, but it looked like extra set of muscle was growing there – super muscle! (Boys were excited that Daddy might turn into
Hulk or Captain America!) The doctors
determined from the blood work result and ultrasound, that the tissues surrounding his
muscle was developing GVHD (Grapht Verses Host Disease –check the previous post
about GVHD). He was giving steroid to
treat GVHD, and the super muscle quickly shrunk to normal size within 24 hrs.
I’ll try to post more updates before we celebrate his 1 year
new birthday. I was told by many people whom I thought they didn’t even know
about this blog that enjoyed reading this.
Thanks for caring about Jason and the family.
Love,
Mayumi
No comments:
Post a Comment