It is 7:30 on Thursday night, and I have just settled into my room at the IU Hospital. Megan and I drove down yesterday. We left Ethan in Toledo with her parents this time, and she will go back to see him on the weekends. It was hard to leave him, but we realized it has been a long time since we have had this much time together just the two of us. We walked around downtown last night and had a nice dinner out. We miss Ethan immensely, but also realized how much we missed us.
Today has been a long day. We arrived at the hospital just after 8:00. I had a new port called a PICC line placed in my right arm. So now I have one tube hanging out of my left arm and two hanging out of my right arm. I then spent the day in the bone marrow transplant clinic waiting for a room. They are full, so it was just a matter of waiting for someone to be discharged. I received my chemo this afternoon, and just got into my room about an hour ago.
Thankfully it was worth the wait. I am in a different area this time. I am in the new Simon Cancer Center, and it is very nice. The room is very large, has a nice flat screen TV, a view of the street (so there is activity and a changing scene outside the window this time), and it feels more like a hotel than a hospital. It is a much larger floor, so there is more room to walk around as well. Last time I was in the bone marrow transplant unit, and this time I am in the oncology floor. They said this is where patients with my treatment usually are admitted. The transplant unit is usually reserved for patients receiving transplants rather than their own cells. Last time it was probably just the only room open. I will miss the nurses that took such good care of me last time, but this is a much more comfortable and soothing setting.
The treatment is going well. On Monday we saw my oncologist in Michigan and he was pleased with my progress. My HCG was down to 50 on Monday! I did have blood drawn today and my HCG was back up to 176. This was an expected spike that Dr. Einhorn predicted would occur before the start of the second round of chemo. Regardless of the increase it is still a good number and is a significant improvement from the 7000 that I had when I started the last round. I should be able to easily knock that out with this last round of chemo!
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4 comments:
Good Luck! I hope this goes fast for you. I am sure Little Ethan will be glad to see mom and dad. We are thinking of you.
Megan
Rob and I were just talking last night about how inspiring it is to read your updates. Keep it up man. lp
GREAT numbers! Go get 'um Matt - finish the race.
I am glad you have a room with a view.
Talk to you soon,
Andy & Emily
Way to go, Matt! Keep up the good, hard work. Chris wants to make you a special brew in preparation for when you've got the "all clear" to booze it up a bit and celebrate! What's your favorite style of beer?
We love you and think of you all often. It was great to see Ethan last week - he's such a handsome little man. I wonder where he gets that from? --Aubrey, Chris, Lily
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