My primary treatment plan is to accept and be thankful for all of the love and prayers that are coming my way from family, friends, colleagues, and others I’ve never met before.
My total care package, to include the application of my medical treatment, begins and ends with my wonderful wife. She selflessly resigned from her teaching position to attend to me full time. My children have also selflessly rallied hard around me: my two oldest have moved back home so, with the youngest, they all can both individually and collectively offer and provide their love and support. My parents are staying with us to help with the burden of running a household in addition to taking care of me. And my sisters all have visited and provided gifts and food and, most importantly, had their bone marrow screened as a match for my inevitable transfer operation. And lastly, I have been overwhelmed by the love, support, and prayers that I have received from friends, colleagues, class mates, and so many others that I hope I have been able to adequately express my gratitude to everyone.
Phase One Treatment
My medical treatment is led by a team of doctors from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and it is broken down into phases. I completed Phase One on Thursday, December 24, 2009. Phase One treatment began in the hospital where I stayed full time for the first two weeks of December. Hospitals are no place to be sick so thankfully I was allowed to receive the remainder of my Phase One treatment from home. Because I have to have my blood checked regularly to monitor my cell, platelets, and chemical counts, I have to visit the hospital every other day to be tested. I am lucky it is only every other day instead of daily. That will probably change during subsequent phases.
When I was admitted to the hospital for the first two weeks, I saw my team of doctors daily; but, once I was released to the In Patient Out Patient (IPOP) Clinic, I am seen by one assigned Nurse practitioner (LN) and a rotating team of Registered Nurses (RN). From what I can tell, the RNs do most of the work (blood drawing, vitals checking done, blood giving, etc.) during my IPOP visits, my LN does most of the administering of prescriptions and other more difficult care, such as spinal taps, and the doctors do most of the big, strategic thinking, such as determining diagnoses and what medicines will be administered during the phases.
Marrowish 