Feelin' the Love

Rick continues to be par with the course at this point. His blood counts have been steadily dropping, which was to be expected and is a good thing at this stage. He has had 3 platelet transfusions thus far and has started to receive injections to help stimulate his White Cell count. Late Tuesday/Wednesday he started to develop mouth sores, which are severely painful and make the simple act of talking and uncomfortable not to mention eating and drinking. He as also experienced an increase in his muscle and joint pains in the last few days. He has done an excellent job of making sure that he gets his daily laps around the floor in, but recently this has become more strenuous.

Emily dove over today to spend the day with him, he seemed to be doing well. We watched a movie and went on a walk, albeit brief, and then he promptly fell asleep. For the last week or so he has been having what can best be described as rolling nausea that would come in waves, but he never actually became sick.

The evening of his transplant Dr. Linker stopped by and when we were asking what we could expect he stated that next weekend (i.e. THIS weekend), he, would either be very sick, or not. This evening he became fairly sick. At this point we are unsure of how long these symptoms will last, or their severity. At this stage these side effects are not related to the actual stem cell transplant, there will be other issues and symptoms when the stem cells begin to engraft. We have turned off his phone at this point, but please feel free to call and leave a message he does enjoy hearing from you. His wall is covered in cards that he has received from all of you which are such a bright spot in everyone’s day. Additionally, the Hospital has a space when you can send patients messages online and they are printed out and delivered. Emily has tested this a few times and it does work so feel free to send a message by clicking on https://www.ucsfhealth.org/adult/contact/patient.html (his room # is L1122).

Becky and Emily are thinking of creating a Million Mile Driving Club with the number of trips and miles that they are collectively wracking up! It makes for long days driving over and back, sometimes leaving after work. Tori has been doing an amazing job of maintaining her sanity while she is away during this time. She has been excellent at calling Rick each day to check in, in addition to calling Becky and/or Emily. We too are appreciative of the support and people’s extensions of kindness during this otherwise crappy time. Continue to keep all of us in your loving thoughts.

Much love and thanks.