Photos of Gloria's Journey

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Day 3 after transplant

Hello, to everyone --please forgive me for not writing for the last two days, I just could not make my mind and hands make a connection. They gave me some strong Benadrl and that made me sleep for hours. Last night they gave me two units of plasma and this morning I woke up to feeling a lot better, I have a lot more energy and can at least stay awake. Dr. McCardy keeps telling me that things are going as expected. Now they are ridding my system of the chemo that they gave me to get down to zero and now they are giving meds to make my marrow start to take effect. Thank goodnes they know what they are doing!
Not much of an appetite -- I have eaten jello, popsicles and dry cherrios. I did have a few mashed potatoes this afternoon.


One thing unexpected did happen today but nothing that we can't deal with --sorry to say that a child is coming in and I had to move to another room ! I do not feel that I am in the ocean anymore but thats ok. Now my room # is 10-739 and my phone # to my room is 804-649-5374.

Rodney has left to go home and I was glad he was here when I moved to my new room but he really hated to leave. I assured him that I am in good hands here with the nurses and that Friday will be here soon. I pray that God will take care of him and that he won't have spare hours to worry about me.I know that work will be good for him and keep him busy.

Ryan and Jennifer are planning on coming down tomorrow morning for the day. Sure am looking forward to seeing them. Tuesday my Dad and Step-Mom are coming down and then on Thursday Scott and Beth will be here. That will be a good.

Sure missed being in church today,but that will be the way it will be for a while. THIS TOO SHALL PASS. I did watch a church service on TV.

Thanks to all of you who have continued to pray for me and support me. The nurses are in awe of how many people back home have shown their support with cards etc. Even the nurses here have said that they are praying for me at their church and small groups.

God Bless, and Love To All,
Gloria

Day 2 After Transplant

This will be a short report tonight. Things are just about the same as yesterday, but she didn't feel like riding her bike, nor walking the hall, & she again slept most of the morning, after getting another platlet transfusion. She did get out of bed this afternoon & sat in lounge chair for several hours, while we watched some of the Va. Tech game on tv. She then tried to make a blog entry, but her fingers & mind wouldn't work together, so after 20 min. of trying, she gave up & got back in bed, where she is now, & she is fading in & out of sleep. She is very tired, & Dr. McCardy advised this morning that it will be 7 to 14 days until she turns the corner & starts feeling better----that's when her white blood cells start to come back. She said she feels like she has a really bad case of the flu, & that is what we were told would happen. She is hooked up to 6 IV bags at this time, & that is pretty normal. Dr McCardy is pleased that everything is going as expected, & she is blessed with really good & caring nurses. She does enjoy reading the messages that you wonderful friends send back to her. We will miss seeing a lot of you in church tomorrow.

Day 1 after transplant

Gloria had a pretty good morning, rode her bike for 10 minutes, etc. Blood work done early, & Dr. McCardy was in & said every thing was going as planned, but that her blood platlets were down, & she would need a platlet transfusion to boost that up. Prior to her transplant, needing a transfusion was not a real good thing, but now post-transplant, it is a good thing, according to the Dr. & she will probably need some red blood transfusions also, which will also be expected & not a problem. This is way over my head---thats why he's the doctor !!! Gloria was "perky" this am, but after transfusion they gave her some meds & she slept sound from 11:50 till 4pm, & since then she's only been awake for maybe an hour total---we watched some of the news to keep up-dated on "Ike" moving in on Texas. She's curled up in a ball on the bed, snoozing away now. She has not been eating much for last two days--- a piece of toast, Jello, & popsicles yesterday & just a little Jello & 2 popsicles today. This also was expected. They will start feeding her thru IV tomorrow. She still looks fine---just sleepy---chemo pulled her down. Thanks for checking the blog, & for your concern & prayers. Rod.

More news

They are still trying to keep Gloria asleep. She wakes up every once in a while and talks to Rodney. They had a little scare tonight when a blood test came back showing her hemoglobin was very low. After retesting they discovered that her port had not been completely flushed of saline solution. When the ran the test again it came back normal.

The doctors are still very pleased with her progress and have rendered her immune system to zero. This is the result of the chemo, which will continue to impact her over the next 7-10 days. She will most likely have flu-like symptoms for the next 10-14 days while her body begins to build back her immune system.

Rodney is doing ok, but I can tell the stress is getting to him. Normally he is not a worrier (yeah right), but waiting on test results is weighing heavily on him.

We continue to thank everyone for their prayers, emails, and blog comments. If you have sent her an email or posted a comment, don't expect a reply anytime too soon. However, they are reading your messages. Rodney is trying to go through the blog comments and pass them along to Gloria. 

Scott

Day Zero - the transplant

This morning started off pretty rough. Gloria was still pretty sick from yesterday's chemo. As the morning progressed, she started to feel better.

The transplant took place around 2:00 PM. It took a little over an hour and was administered through an IV. The doctor said everything looked very good and that what was collected from the donor was above average quality. Following the transplant Gloria had a hard time keeping warm and shook very badly. To help control it they gave her medicine, which knocked her out for a few hours.

Other than that, the transplant was very successful. When I have more information, I will post it.

Scott

my rest day before my new birthday

Rested very well considering that the nurses were in and out of the room every hour taking my vitals. Finally I stayed up at 4 am and read a book. They even took me off my IVs for 2 hours and that was nice to take a shower without all the tubes.

Looking forward to tormorrow for my new birthday and Rodney's and my 37th wedding anniversay. Alot of things have happened on that date. Who would have guessed that we would be spending our anniversay this way. I am so thankful for him and hope that the next years will not be spent in the hospital.

We continue to pray that the donor got harvested today and that the travel to MCV will be a success. The doctors said that things are going as planned and that I am still their "poster child' and they will be here during my infusion.

My Dad and Step Mom were here today for a visit -- it was really good to see their faces and to spend some time with them.

My brother from AZ called to set up a week to come to be my caregiver for a week -- I' m so excited and thankful that he would want to do that.

Well, I have been overwhelmed with all the cards that I have received -- I got 4 yesterday and 10 today -- the nurses are in awe that I have so much support from family, friends and church friends and school staff.

Please pray for my big day and that all will go well. I know that God will be there beside me all the way.

God Bless,
Gloria