Day minus 7

Day -7

Jordan’s Levels Normal Range
Weight 55.1 kg
WBC 4.35 3.84 to 9.84
Hemoglobin 9.6 10.8 to 13.3
Platelet Count 158 175 to 345

Chemo Day 1 - Bulsulfan. Dr. Petrovic came in this morning and checked Jordan out before allowing the chemo to start. Jordan is in great spirits, feels great physically and is ready to get the show on the road. She’s happy it’s all taking place during the summer when she doesn’t have any classes to attend for school. However, she did bring 4 self study Advance Placement books to keep her occupied. She brought lots of other fun stuff to the hospital too, video games, laptop, ipod, books, gameboy, etc. She definitely is not technology challenged.

Dr. Petrovic gave us a little history lesson today on the BMTU. Apparently the first BMT ever done was in 1968 by a doctor named Goode. He performed this transplant on a child who was having immune problems. (bubble boy is how she said people recognize his illness). He gave the child a BMT and that person is still alive and well today, almost 40 years later.

Dr. Goode began the BMTU at All Children’s Hospital many years ago. Other hospitals have used the BMTU at ACH as a model on how to set up their units because this one has been so successful.

We also learned some sad news today. One of the other patients from St. Joseph’s that we knew, passed away recently. His name was Ovi Mendez and he actually came to ACH for a Bone Marrow Transplant (sometime in May I think). He started his treatment for the BMT (his brother was a perfect match) but he died on Day 8. I’m not clear if he died on his 8th day in the hospital of Day 8 after transplant. He died of multiple organ failure. He body could not withstand the treatment. He had developed Cancer when he was a young child, and was in remission but relapsed after 8 years. This was his second round and he had been through a lot of chemo, radiation and had encountered many awful side effects prior to preparing for transplant.

His dad was the Chief of Pediatric Medicine at St. Joseph’s several years ago, but has since been in private practice. We had spoken to him and his mom Donna many times during clinic visits.

I wasn’t completely surprised to hear Ovi had passed away. I knew something must have happened because when we toured the BMTU as part of our preparation, Ovi did not have a room up here. This seemed odd to me since I knew patients spent at least 4 weeks in the transplant room and it had only been about 2 weeks since Ovi had started treatment. I thought maybe he was in ICU, but didn’t find out what really happened until I talked to a nurse at St. Joseph’s today. We will pray for Ovi's family.

Jordan started the Bulsulfan today. This is the first chemo drug during transplant and it lasts for 4 days. This drug does not make you sick or have any other side effects. You basically don’t notice any difference when you receive it.

They are measuring everything she eats and drinks. It’s critical during transplant to keep hydrated and keep your nutrition levels as normal as possible. She doesn’t want to get a NG Tube in her nose, so she is focusing on eating every meal to keep her nutrition and hydration levels up.