Successful Transplant

Mark's stem cell transplant was today and everything went off without a hitch!

Once Dr. Tricot signed the orders to proceed with the transplant, the frozen stem cells were brought in inside a capsule and then warmed up prior to injecting them back into Mark. He was then given two bags of saline. The entire process took about 4 hours.

Mark was given a bunch of meds to help his nausea. If he continues to be sick, he will be given more saline tomorrow. Apparently most people tend to get ill around day 5, but Mark's sickness started right away after the chemo. He has been very nauseous this afternoon, along with being exhausted. Hopefully he'll get over it soon and without contracting any infections.

For about the next 48 hours, Mark will smell like sweet corn! He will also have a nasty taste in his mouth. This is from the chemical that he was injected with that preserves the cells.

Chemo Day

Today Mark was given the Melphalan chemo IV. Unfortunately he has been very sick from the chemo and can't even keep the pill to help combat the nausea down.

The transplant will be tomorrow. He will receive two bags of cells along with 2 liters of saline. He will then do lab work every day to observe his blood counts. This is when his counts will drop and he will become neutropenic again (highly susceptible to bacterial infections).

Mark will begin an antibiotic IV on March 15th (in addition to the three antibiotics he already takes) and will continue that for several days. He will also be given a Neulasta shot to get the blood cells brewing.

By the 5th day of the process, Mark will become very ill and that will likely continue for about 3 days. Once his white blood cell count stays at 500 for 3 consecutive days, engraftment will have taken place. Engraftment is the point at which the body starts to reproduce the white blood cells and platelets it needs and can once again fight infection. Engraftment usually occurs 12 to 15 days after the stem cells have been given back.

Mark's and Dianna's friend, Kim, is still in the hospital fighting a very nasty staph infection that he may have contracted in the cardiac ward. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Kim and Denese.

Please pray that Mark will not have to fight a staph infection like two of their friends have had to.

Ready for the Transplant!

Mark & Dianna met with Dr. Zangari today. While he's still being very cautious, he gave Mark the go-ahead to start the transplant process. However, instead of four days of chemo, Mark will be given one day of a chemo drug called Melphalan.

Mark is still scheduled for the stem cell transplant on Tuesday, March 10th.

New Treatment Schedule - Take Two!

Mark and Dianna met with Zangari's coordinator today and went over their new schedule.

They will meet with Dr. Zangari on March 5th. If everything looks good, Mark will start the high-dose chemo IV on Friday, March 6th. Pill form chemo will be on the 7th and 8th, and high-dose again on the 9th. The transplant is scheduled to take place on the 10th. (Exactly one month behind on where they were hoping to be).

Mark and Dianna would like both Kim and Kevin to know that they are in their prayers. Kevin's transplant was last week and unfortunately he is now in the hospital dealing with a staph infection. Kim's transplant was on Tuesday and he went into A-Fib and had to spend the night in the hospital. An A-Fib is where the upper part of the heart beats faster than the rest of the heart. Thankfully they are both doing better today.

Many things can happen during the stem cell transplant. Staph infections will almost always occur. The heart problem is rare but can obviously happen as well.

As always, your thoughts and prayers during the next few weeks will be much appreciated.

Good News!

Mark and Dianna met with the gastrointestinal surgeon today. The surgeon did see benign bubbles on the wall under Mark's diaphram. There are several different reasons for why the bubbles are there but the surgeon is positive that it's NOT because of a perforation. He got the opinion of two other doctors as well and they all concurred. The doctors said there is no reason to wait any longer to begin the high-dose chemo and stem cell transplant.

They will call Dr. Zangari's office tomorrow to see how soon before they can begin. Mark is more than anxious to get started and was hoping he could be finished before Easter weekend. Unfortunately due to the 2-3 week delay, that's not going to happen. Better safe than sorry though!

Mark and Dianna would like to thank everyone for being so supportive. It means more to them than you can imagine.

More Waiting

Unfortunately the news from Dr. Zangari today wasn't the best. Apparently the free air in Mark's abdomen has increased so they will be holding off on the transplant for now. Mark is scheduled to meet with a gastrointestinal surgeon on Tuesday, February 24th, to find out where the free air is coming from. If they were to go ahead with the transplant and the high-dose chemo leaked into his abdomen, it could be fatal.

Update

Mark went in for another CT scan yesterday and everything with that went okay. They ended up giving Mark another IV though which didn't make his day. Mark and Dianna are scheduled to meet with Dr. Zangari today so we'll have more info on how things will proceed later.

Congratulations to Kevin and Jackie. Kevin just had his transplant yesterday and everything went well for him.

Here's a picture of Mark with baby Carlos: