Hump Day, I Guess

Today we learned a little more about Dr. van den Brink, the transplant doctor who will be following Jim's care for the next two weeks. We met him briefly yesterday. He happens to be the head of the Division of Hematologic Oncology here at MSK. We thought Dr. Giralt was the head guy but van den Brink is Dr. Giralt's and Dr. Horwitz's boss. He heads up the entire division. He is a physician-scientist and runs a lab here doing research on improving the outcome for transplant patients. Wow...we are doubly lucky to have him following Jim's case.  Van den Brink is an avid runner. On Monday he participated in the Boston Marathon. He runs in the New York City Marathon too. The nurses told us when he returns after a marathon he goes straight to the pediatric oncology floor and gives his medal to the kids.

Today is +6, the day Jim should be at his worst. Luckily he doesn't feel it. His platelet count is 17. If it drops below 10 then he will have to have a transfusion, which is not uncommon. Platelets help your blood clot so it's the simplest things like brushing your teeth that can be dangerous. He has to make sure he uses the hospital toothbrush and be extremely gentle. Even eating certain foods like chips or popcorn can cause the gums to bleed and open up the mouth to infection. He is being very diligent on rinsing his mouth frequently to prevent or minimize mouth sores.

The social worker, Chelsea, visited this afternoon. She is very sweet. She is responsible for making the arrangements at the Hope Lodge for us after discharge. Unfortunately we will not know when discharge will be until a few days before it happens. I'm getting ahead of myself thinking about discharge. There is much to be done before we get to that point. Jim rested for 2 hours between 4:30 and 6:30. It's hard to get up when you are comfy and warm under the covers. Sometimes his room gets a little drafty plus he gets chilled more often because of his low blood counts. We watched the Nightly News together and then he ordered dinner. He gets a pass on the exercising today. Can't blame him. If I don't exercise earlier in the day I get pretty lazy too.