It's been a fairly scary and rough ride over the past couple weeks. Tim started his chemo treatment a little over a week ago. It's actually two different chemos -- one that was given by infusion over a couple hours, and the other that he had to take in pill form daily (2 in the morning, 3 in the evening). After only a day, Tim got really sick and wasn't able to eat at all. This worsened over the next two days. Finally, after discussing this with his Oncology team at Kaiser, everyone agreed that it would be best for Tim to stop taking the pills. Instead, Tim will be switched from the pills to the same medication this time infused by a “pump” device over 46 hours. It's likely that the constant low-grade pain in his abdomen is due to the cancer itself, so postponing treatment for much longer has to be balanced against the progression of the cancer. We're hoping that the next round of chemo in another week won't make him as sick as the first combination.

Paul's nausea is decreasing, although fatigue is still an issue. Now that the decision has been made to hold off on maintenance chemo, the remaining post-transplant care will be to monitor his labs monthly. Paul's most recent labs showed that his lab numbers are good. His Oncologist says that these good results mean the transplant has been very effective. However this doesn’t mean he’s cured since with most transplant patients ultimately relapse when the cancer comes back. Most of Paul’s dietary and activity restrictions have been lifted, although he still has to be careful about being out in public since his immune system is still recovering. He will meet with his Dermatologist later this week to determine the status of his parapsoriasis and what treatment to pursue.

Footsteps of Spring (Sanicula arctopoides)