Going Home (we think...)

If all goes according to plan, Dad will be going home this afternoon. Monday night was fever-free again, though Dad had some difficulty sleeping. His white blood cell counts are continuing to recover, and the adjusted mix of antibiotics appears to be working against the staph infection without any further side effects. The platelets remain an issue of concern. It's still unclear whether Dad's body is producing its own in any significant number, since Dad has continued to receive daily transfusions, and when they tried holding off on the transfusion to see if the numbers would stay put or rise on their own, they just dropped further. But the doctors at this point believe that Dad can go home and return to the hospital for tranfusions two or three days a week, if necessary. The plan is for a nurse to come out to the house twice a week to draw blood for lab tests, and to schedule the transfusions accordingly. Of course, the more times a week Mom and Dad have to make the trek down to HUP for what often amounts to an 8 or 10 hour day, the less sense it makes for him to be home at all. There is some possibility that he will be able to recieve the transfusions at Abington Hospital; our prayer is that that would work and that the two hospitals will be able to cooperate in a timely and efficient manner.

Thank you all for the hundreds of prayers and other words and acts of love and concern for Dad during this hospitalization. By every measure, Dad is doing considerably better now than he was when he was admitted two and a half weeks ago. Given the extent of the myeloma's advance, as indicated by Dad's pre-chemo blood counts and the bone marrow biopsy, Dr. Stadtmauer has indicated that Dad will need to come back for another round of chemo at the end of the month. So we might pray now that Dad's recent gains will be preserved and increased by the next round.