It's been a while...

Almost two months since my last post. Sorry. I hope that most of you who actually read this have had a chance to call Mary recently. If not, here's the update.
Mary had a PET scan in January which unfortunately showed signs of progression of her lymphoma. Dr. Robin, her oncologist got right on it and consulted with his colleague and mentor Dr. Venu at Rush to begin consultation regarding a bone marrow transplant. When we got the initial news we thought that this was it; the last straw. There were several days of shock and then we got informed.

• Dr. Robin did a bone marrow biopsy to determine if there had been any lymphoma there...there was.
• He sent Mary to Ingalls to get a lymph node biopsy to see if the disease had morphed into something else...it didn't.
• Dr. Robin then scheduled Mary for her first of possibly three cycles of RICE chemo which would require a three night stay in the hospital.

On a side note, upon admitting her I became as sick as I had ever been with a throat infection which required me to go to the Dr. and to get a prescription and to take the rest of the week off of work. Thankfully, Mary was in the hospital being well cared for while I was racing to get well myself so I could bring her home on Friday.

• After the RICE, we were scheduled to visit Rush to see Dr. Venugapal (sp?) where we heard the first really positive news up to this point. Dr. Venu explained that because Dr. Robin had the foresight to harvest Mary's stem cells back in 1999 when she was diagnosed and had them frozen and stored at Rush, the issue of an autologus transplant (from one's own cells) was the best possible scenario for Mary. There would be no need to harvest after the lymphoma breached the bone marrow and there would be no issues of rejection from another donor.
• He also mentioned that Mary was for all intents and purposes healthy and had not received any damaging chemo in the past which would prohibit a transplant. Mary was and is an excellent candidate for this one time procedure.

Needless to say, we left Rush feeling more positive than we had in a couple of weeks.

• Two weeks later Mary was admitted for her second round of RICE. Again, it was a difficult treatment. She really hated the food, especially the fish. Also by this time her hair started to fall out and the only thing keeping it from flying all over were hair nets which she could just throw away in the morning when she washed up. By the time she got home on Friday she was ready to relieve herself of the dead threads and with the help of Nora, she did. As traumatic as at may sound, Mary's first comment after looking at her clean dome was that "the eye adjusts". Various knitted caps seem to help keep her head warm. And of course, they all match her outfits of jogging suits, sweats and sweat shirts.
• Today, March 6th, Nora's 20th birthday we went to Rush to meet with the transplant team. First we met Tina, the nurse who talked us through the process. Then we met Dr. Fung the actual head of the transplant program and then, most importantly (JK) the insurance coordinator. Dr. Fung should really be called Dr. FunGuy. He is warm, intelligent and very positive. He listened to and answered Mary's questions about the procedure and was extremely positive about the whole case. An interesting point is that he kept saying that this is the time. Her cells have been at Rush for eight years and he mentioned that they no longer really store cells as they have been doing in the past. He also mentioned that insurance rarely covers harvesting and storage in advance of need essentially telling us that what Dr. Robin arranged for eight years ago would not really be an option today.

So, we are waiting to see if Mary needs another round of RICE. If not, they are hot to trot to get this thing started. It will take about three to four weeks in the hospital and then some follow up visits and then... Mary will not be able to travel by plane for quite a while. She will be able to take car trips however. So eventually we will get to Pennsylvania and maybe beyond.

In addition to all of this, Nora has completed her second term of her sophomore year at Augustana. She's getting very good grades. She has declared Education as a major. Nora is very involved with her Sorority, Delta Chi Theta which will go into pledging as soon as she gets back from spring break. Speaking of spring break...Nora and her roommate and Mary and Aunt Debbie were supposed to go on a cruise last week. Obviously that didn't happen, but Nora and a four of her sorority sisters did go to Florida to see Aunt Carole and Uncle Daniel and to spend a few days on Ft. Myers Beach. I think all parties had a great time and we are most appreciative of Carole and Daniel's hospitality. Five girls in their condo must have been close quarters. But I hear they all got along well and had a wonderful time.

Me, I really don't miss the AV Guy. He had a lot of time to do things like posting blogs and such, but Conan the Librarian, though busy working a full day with only a 25 minute lunch break is having a lot more fun working with teachers and students. Conan also had a body image to keep up which has led him to the gym several times a week. All in all, I am ready to put in my two plus remaining years as a librarian at Thornridge and then call it a career.

Ok, that's it for now. Give Mary a call if you have a chance or drop her an email. Marymcnaughton@ mac.com (all one line, the space is to fool the spybots) In the mean time, keep us in your prayers. They seem to be working.

Peace to you and to those you love.

Rob