He's feeling better

Vlad's nausea is strongest in the morning after the chemo. He didn't eat much today; he was feeling some nausea this evening, but ate some dinner anyway. One of his awesome nurses, Jerusha, said the chemo will hit him pretty hard around Day 5 of the transplant and that he would be over it around Day 10. That's a long ways off. Seems strange to be so far down the road.

We went to the "Allo" Discharge class today. It's for allogeneic patients - those with unknown donors. Those patients have the strictest followup because they're at greater risk of GVHD (Graft vs. Host Disease), the biggest problem with these transplants. (It's when the patient's tissues are attacked by the donor's tissues. It's different from rejection.)

There are a lot of rules. For instance, he shouldn't go to crowded places, be in the sun, be near any soil (including houseplants), no fresh/raw food, no visitors who've been immunized within 10 days. He'll wear a mask a lot. And sometimes gloves. This will be normal for months.

Today I met Jerusha, his daytime nurse. She's from Alvin, which is where Kathy, his nighttime nurse, is from. Jerusha is such an amazing person, as is Kathy. I've never witnessed such thoughtful nursing; it's such a relief, such a comfort, their presence just immediately calms me. I know he will be so sick soon and to have this level of attentiveness is going to make things so much more bearable for Vlad. And it will ease the stress on the family.

I tried to log on from his room this afternoon, but the wifi wasn't working. There's a lot of construction going on there and apparently from time to time this happens because of it. It never did work for me today; I left around 8:30.

He can take twice his normal dose of Ambien tonight and is getting an anti-anxiety med, I believe it's Ativan. His lack of sleep concerns Jerusha. I left relatively early tonight so he could sleep. It's hard for him; they start poking him at 3:30 a.m. with all the chemo stuff.

I found myself so sleepy today. I haven't been getting enough sleep and all the driving around and packing bags and keeping up with the house just gets to me I guess. I fell asleep in the chair at the hospital and had a hard time waking up. Now, I'm going to bed for real.