Borg Tony

So Tony has had a really rough few days since the transplant. He got a pretty high fever and got some pretty violent chills. Then the chemo and radiation did their dirty work and pretty much destroyed his GI tract. He had consistent diarrhea and his stomach hurt really really bad. It was stopping him from sleeping. They finally gave him a pain button that administers morphine whenever he is in too much pain. That helped him to be able to sleep. He got really weak and just felt really crappy all of the time. They tried several different things to stop the diarrhea, but nothing worked so he got super dehydrated. Poor guy. It has been a real challenge for him to do pretty much anything, but he has been a macho man and usually tries to sit in his chair instead of laying in bed. He tries to only lay in bed when he is sleeping/resting. So after 3 days of feeling so terrible, he just started to feel a little better today. He still has a low grade fever, but his stomach doesn't hurt near as bad, and his diarrhea has let up. However, the chemo and radiation have continued to destroy his GI tract and he has now developed sores in his mouth and throat. He looks like he just got his wisdom teeth out. His cheeks are swollen and it is really hard for him to talk. It has made it almost impossible for him to eat, so they have given him a nutrition bag. All he had to eat by hand was a small cup of applesauce and a small cup of ice cream. He still feels pretty sick all the time, but he is just a little bit less miserable. Lets just say, we are all very excited for this to be over, but there is still a long road ahead. It's no fun to be sooo sick for soooooooo long.

So Tony wanted me to come and take pictures today of all of the stuff he is hooked up to. He has soooo many wires going into him. It is totally crazy. The bottom one is of his new port that goes into his arm. So now he has his chest port and his arm port. Both of them have so many IVs constantly pumping into them. So these pictures are just to give you an idea. 

Are you curious what it is that is actually going into him? Well here is a list of just the liquids they pumped into him today:

Aciclovir (Anti-viral)
Fluconazole (Anti-fungal)
2 different bags of Electrolytes
2 bags of Potassium
Meropenem (Antibiotic)
Vancomycin (Antibiotic)
Morphine (He has a pain button so he pushes it when he is in a lot of pain and it gives him a small dose)
Saline solution (He got really dehydrated 2 days ago so they need to give him the extra fluid)
Benadryl (For allergic reactions)
Ativan (Anti-nausea)
Opium (Anti-diarreah) (I know weird, right. That is what finally worked to stop his diarrhea)
Lasix (To get rid of all the fluid he is retaining)
Nutrition (That big white bag is all "food." He isn't able to eat much on his own)
Platelets (He got down to 15,000 with is crazy low. He got a pretty terrible nose bleed today and whenever he gets a shot it just bleeds. I walked in today to visit him and his gown had blood all over it. It scared me. But he should be much better now that he has more platelets. The other good news is they used o+ platelets and he didn't have an allergic reaction! Hooray!