I will start with the morning. Tony did 8 laps (1/2 a mile) at 1 a.m. because he couldn't fall back to sleep after they took his blood this morning. And he did those laps without his oxygen line. His oxygen has stayed in the 90s all day without the line. So that's a significant improvement. We got Tony's blood results back and all his counts are already bouncing back and coming up on their own. This is a terrific sign, so both Tony and I were very excited. His potassium is still low so he had to get another 4 bags of that and more antibiotics to fight what's happening in his gut. Unfortunately, because his platelets are so low, they can't do any of the decompressing treatments they would usually do in this situation with the colitis. But they did take another X-ray of his gut this morning and it showed slight improvement. So that is promising.
Today was a dreaded day because it is bone marrow biopsy day. They made us do his sponge bath right before they came up to get him, and he was really just not looking forward to the terrible procedure. Turns out, there is a better way to do bone marrow biopsies and we discovered it today. We are both equally happy that there is a better option, and really annoyed that no one told us this before. With this option, they give him partial anesthesia, then they use a CT to see where the best place to put the needle would be, and then they draw out the marrow. He was partially awake, but he doesn't remember anything from it. The tech said we just have to voice in the future that he wants this specific kind of Bone Marrow biopsy, which we will obviously do. But we are upset no one had ever mentioned this as a potential option in the past. He's had 6 biopsies done "the old fashioned way." We will find out results from this biopsy on Monday and then they'll do another one in 2 weeks to find out if this chemo session has put him into a temporary remission. (Bone marrow transplant is the only "cure").
He was a bit silly after he came up from the biopsy. We asked if he could get himself over to his bed from the transport bed. He said yes, and then immediately started snoring. We got him moved over to sitting on the bed, and he was talking about never doing a biopsy the old way ever again, and then he fell asleep sitting up. Then he moved to the chair and decided he wanted to try to eat a LornaDoone. He was struggling to open the package so I asked him if he needed help. He said "you think I can't ... open...my...........Doodles." I finally convinced him to get into bed, and he immediately grabbed his phone and his reading glasses. I told him I didn't think it was a good time to text anyone. But he immediately fell asleep, so crisis averted.
The rest of the day has been focused on finding something Tony can eat or drink that doesn't hurt him. His intestines are distended and immobilized and every option they have given him in the hospital has whey in it and it upsets his digestive system. Our friend Anne offered to grab him some vegan protein shake options so he can start intaking some nutrients today. (The stuff they had him drinking here has this as its first 3 ingredients: sugar, corn syrup solids and whey protein. All 3 of those things are not recommended for an upset gut).
Overall it's been a better day. His feet are still very swollen, and so is his stomach/gut, but he hasn't been hooked to any IVs for the second half of the day, and the anesthesia granted him a really good nap (both in his bed and in his chair).
Today is day 14, so he should be halfway through it, and he appears to be through the worst of it.
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