Not much more news- still having uncomfortable side effects from the medications but not too bad. She is ready to get out of the hospital- it's getting a little boring! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

Terry started feeling better on Saturday and is still feeling pretty good today although she was getting another headache. They are watching blood counts- she has a chart in her room on a wipe board where the nurses post them. The counts are still pretty low but that is to be expected. We'll keep you posted.

Well the donor cells are in! Yesterday around 3:45 the cells were infused. Last night a few hours later Terry's face and ears began to swell and she developed a fever. The doctors were very quick to manage the situation and seem to be monitoring closely- Dr. Martin was reassuring telling us that this does not mean anything about the stem cells. Today she has had a fever again and they think it may be from the chemo rather than the transplant. They are ruling out infection and are supposed to do a CT scan today of her chest to be sure. They do have her on antibiotics. We will keep you updated as we learn more. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers.

Tomorrow is the big day!! Terry is feeling better, the vomiting has stopped and the fevers have not been as big of an issue. The donor cells arrived today ready for tomorrow- they are thinking it will be sometime around noon. Thanks for all of your prayers.

Today was a really tough day. The chemo has started to get to her- lots of vomiting and nausea and she spiked a fever that had the doctors and nurses concerned. The last I talked to them it had come down some. Hopefully she will get through this rough patch quickly. I think she is feeling really weak, hopefully she can regain some strength before Wed. Thanks for your prayers.

So far everything is going really well. Dr. Martin is very pleased with the way things look and feels confident in her success this time around. So far she still hasn't gotten very sick- partly because they know a little more about how she responds to the chemo and have given her pre-medications to prevent the side effects. We'll keep you posted on her progress- so far Wed the 24th is still the big day!!

Terry is settled into the hospital. Yesterday was the first plasmapheresis- which went pretty well. They have been giving more chemo and so far she hasn't been getting sick which is really good. Tomorrow she will have another day of plasmapheresis and chemo, gearing up for next Wed. Let's pray this time the transplant takes! We'll keep you posted.

Chemo was started last Wed and the second dose was given on Saturday. The chemo that she is undergoing right now is used to reduce the amount of antibodies in her system which will hopefully make the transplant more likely to take. This weekend was a little tough because Terry had to miss this year's golf tournament and family reunion. Another dose of chemo will be given tomorrow and the plan is still to check in on Wed. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers.

Yesterday was another busy day- the HLA cross-matched platelets on Monday did not take. Platelets were at 2 from the first draw on Tuesday so the doctor called the blood bank to try and get more platelets- they found some but they were being donated at that very moment in Shasta. The doctor talked to the blood bank to have them transferred from Shasta to SF without the 2-3 day holding period since the patient has donated recently. They admitted Terry into the hospital since the platelets were to arrive around 9 last night. The doctor also spent quite some time yesterday with the insurance trying to get an approval for the chemo which isn't typically used for bone marrow transplant. They are supposed to be giving the chemo today and again on Sat, then Tues and Fri next week. They are still intending to admit her to the hospital on Wed. The extra-special platelets gave a big boost to 122!!! We'll keep you posted- thanks for all you prayers.

There have been a few changes in plans- and I guess some things are still undetermined. They might start outpatient chemotherapy today and still check into the hospital next Wed. The doctor is not completely certain about the plasmapheresis but may do it right before the donor cells are given. More extensive matching procedures have been done on this donor so this match is considered better. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Last week was a really busy week. Terry spent 3 days at the clinic receiving blood, platelets, and running pre-transplant tests and meetings. The tentative date set is the 17th and she is on house-arrest until then. Dr. Martin has been talking to other doctors trying to figure out what the best action plan is- they are going to try to first replace her plasma (I think this is called plasmapheresis) to reduce the number of antibodies and then give her chemotherapy- a little different than that she has already received. Then she will have another transplant, this time with a different donor which they have found already and will hopefully take better. We'll keep you posted.

Terry received more blood and platelets last week. It turns out that the platelets from relatives (they tried Jodi's which matched but didn't take) didn't work and they said that it is unlikely that the other relatives would work if Jodi's didn't. After those platelets she received HLA cross-matched platelets which did give her a better boost. There aren't any definite dates set yet for transplant but the doctor did say he would like to start within 2 weeks or so and that was last week. Tomorrow she sees the doctor again so hopefully we'll know more. Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers.