Hickman line - Out (part 2)

We arrived at the SCCA with excitement. I told Ty to video tape the whole scene with his camera, and I brought mine to take some pictures.

The usual exam room was crowed with four of us. A Canadian PA came in and did usual check up on Jason. (She had such a cute accent; east coast/French-ish, with "eh" on almost every end of the sentence. I had to ask her where she was from, and she said she was from Canada.) She said that the line was a little bit different from the ones she was used to in Canada "eh", so she was going to have someone from SCCA to pull it out "eh".

So, another PA came in - a cute Indian PA; not native American Indians, but from India, dark skin, beautiful big black eyes with long eye lushes. Her english was perfect though. I had to ask again where she was from. There are large Indian population in Sammamish, and usually they have quite strong accent. I think their accent is... soothing... like Yoga. Anyway, she was from Oregon.

She started with some explanations; she had done this procedure before- many times, sometimes it gets hard to pull out or break, in that case, Jason would be sent to operation immediately, etc. She took out the dressing (a tape securing the line), cleaned the line and skin, and snipped off some stitches that was holding the line and the skin.



The Indian PA tried several times to see if it would start moving. She finally gave up, and said she would bring someone else to try for the last time before they send Jason down to operation. She said he was an experienced and strong doctor. The word "STRONG" scared Jason; he didn't look too happy. It was hurting him by the little Indian lady doctor, and now a strong male doctor was really yank it out.

As soon as the male doctor came in, Jason's smile came back. The doctor was one of the favorite doctors he had while he was at UW Medical Center. I had never met him, but I heard about him a lot; the Burger Master doctor. There is a burger restaurant in Seattle called Burger Master, and the doc was highly recommending Jason to go when he got better.

The exam room was REALLY crowded. The Canadian PA, Indian/Oregonian PA, the Burger Master doctor, and us. They did quick update, and the Burger Master doctor told me to come behind him to get better video shot of the main event. Also, he told Jason to turn his head to side, take a deep breath, and quick few yank... the line started to move! It was like a magician pulling a string of flags out of his finger. Within a few second, the whole line came out, and the Burger Master doctor put his hands on Jason's chest where the line was coming out to put pressure on. A few minutes later, they put the band-aid on, and the doc told us that we could go Burger Master anytime because Jason had been recovering really well.

Also, the Burger Master doctor asked us if we wanted to take the line home. Of course "yes". He put it in a urine sample bottle, and gave it to Ty.


Well, I tried to upload the video, but it didn't work. I'll try again later.

Thanks for reading the blog.

Love,
Mayumi

Do you feel punky?

I don't even know how to spell "punky". This new word "punky" has been a key word for us for the last few weeks.

Jason has been feeling great since he started the GVHD treatment with steroid and other medications. He started to eat normal, I don't have to force him to eat any more. He has been going for a short walk when it's not raining, he even offered to do some house chores for me (I had to think SAFE house chores for him-he still have a lot of regulation of what he can do).

So far so good. Doctors and nurses are very happy with his incredible progress, and even cut back on clinic visits (we only see doctors once a week, still have to go for blood drawn twice a week). But they always tell us "If you feel punky, call us ASAP". What is the symptoms of "punky"? Is it even a medical term? Does "hyper" cause "punky" from steroid side effect? From sound of it, some images of punk rock concerts came to my mind ..."punk", "funky", "fun", "jumpy". But I don't think he will turn into a punk-rocker anytime soon (doctors won't be concerned about it either). Also, I was glad to know that I was not the only one who asks what punky means.

What they want us to watch is sudden bad changes-not feeling good, tired, vomiting, fever, etc... Since my new vocabulary "punky" was added in my brain, instead of "how are you feeling today?", I say "Do you feel punky?" or "Are you punky?".

He has not felt "punky" yet, but one of the steroid side effect "hyper" has been keeping him from sleeping. He will be off the steroid in a few weeks, and I hope he will start sleeping well then.

Thank you all for your prayers and comments.

Love,
Mayumi

GVHD

Here is the definition of GVHD from Wikipedia:
"Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a common complication after a stem cell transplant or bone marrow transplant from another person (an allogeneic transplant). Immune cells (white blood cells) in the donated marrow or stem cells (the graft) recognize the recipient (the host) as "foreign". The transplanted immune cells then attack the host's body cells."

After a week + few days of miserable times, Dr.S. (transplant doctor) & Dr. M. (GI doctor)decided that Jason's symptoms (loss of appetite, nausea, fatigue, etc) were caused by mild case of GVHD in stomach area.

Last Friday (11/4), he started on steroid by IV shot to treat GVHD. Steroid tells the new immune cells to "chill out" a little so it doesn't attack Jason's stomach. But this means Jason's immune system is even lower now.

Just like a magic, all of the symptoms disappeared! Plus a common side affect of steroid "hyper" came along too. Luckily, after two days of IV shots, he has moved onto oral steroid which does not make him too hyper. Can you imagine my roller coaster ride with Jason?! He was so tired, sick, miserable, and all of the sudden, he was happy, energetic, hyper.

This ups and downs will continue for a while. Some people say little GVHD is OK (it means the graft is settling in the body), but if you don't treat it, it could be deadly. We are grateful that doctors took a proper action to treat it. It doesn't mean he won't get GVHD anymore. We still have to keep close eyes on any sudden changes in him.

Another good news is his blood counts are doing well, and we are now schedule to go the clinic only twice a week!

Thanks for your supports & prayers.

Love,
Mayumi