Better and better but still not out of hospital
Hi all: Anna here again. John is still in Room 1179 at MD Anderson in Houston. His computer is still not connected to Internet, even though he's been issued an account at the hospital--(hardware problem we need an expert to solve). When I go back to Houston on Saturday(from Austin where I came this morning), will try to have a service call made. Maybe it'll be fixed before he leaves:)---Which we hope will be Monday or Tues of next week. Jay Byrd drove to Houston today in time to stop at Nit Noi in Rice Village and get them Thai food for lunch. I arrived in Austin in time to have puffy chicken tacos with Diane at El Chile.
John truly is getting better now. No blackouts or dizziness today. He is walking and moving about far better than yesterday and the day before. John told me he walked around the entire hospital floor twice just now without a problem. The "treatment" has been lowering the steroid, Medrol, to almost nothing and removing another drug, neurotryptaline, which sometimes causes dizziness. Both of these take a while to work out of your system, so they are still observing if this is truly doing the trick. Doctors don't want to let him go feeling shaky or blacking out for a few seconds after standing or sitting (with rapidly dropping blood pressure--postural hypotension).
Other good news is that results of the many many tests done over the last 2 weeks are all negative. No cancer, viruses, other infections, GVHD, etc. He is good to go as soon as he's demonstrating more of what he's done today. Also, John is looking pinker in the face, smiling more, and acting more himself--more wisecrack jokes, etc.
As you can imagine, this has required a lot of patience. The clinical team visiting him every day, is clearly staffed by very smart and very caring folks, and yet these problems are complex and hard to isolate. John has received so many different kinds of treatments and experienced so many side effects that everything gets intertwined and they admit they get stumped and have to try one thing at a time. We are very joyful about the progress now however.
And now for the answers to the 2 most crucial questions: 1) Yes, we are still awaiting a wonderful grandson in San Francisco and 2) Yes, Dillon is leading a fabulous life--with dog whisperer Cynthia and her husband, and he is attended by a harem of stylish young women at the Cotton Club store in River Oaks where he goes to work every day--to be petted, lain on, and walked outdoors (in beautiful landscaping next to Smith and Hawken), etc. At night he sleeps in the master bedroom at the foot of Cynthia's bed in a big dog bed and he gets to play in their fenced 5-lot yard in the Heights with her 13 other dogs (many of whom she has rescued).
Love, Anna and John
John (512) 784-7533
Anna (512) 431-6619
annac@interactiondesign.com
John truly is getting better now. No blackouts or dizziness today. He is walking and moving about far better than yesterday and the day before. John told me he walked around the entire hospital floor twice just now without a problem. The "treatment" has been lowering the steroid, Medrol, to almost nothing and removing another drug, neurotryptaline, which sometimes causes dizziness. Both of these take a while to work out of your system, so they are still observing if this is truly doing the trick. Doctors don't want to let him go feeling shaky or blacking out for a few seconds after standing or sitting (with rapidly dropping blood pressure--postural hypotension).
Other good news is that results of the many many tests done over the last 2 weeks are all negative. No cancer, viruses, other infections, GVHD, etc. He is good to go as soon as he's demonstrating more of what he's done today. Also, John is looking pinker in the face, smiling more, and acting more himself--more wisecrack jokes, etc.
As you can imagine, this has required a lot of patience. The clinical team visiting him every day, is clearly staffed by very smart and very caring folks, and yet these problems are complex and hard to isolate. John has received so many different kinds of treatments and experienced so many side effects that everything gets intertwined and they admit they get stumped and have to try one thing at a time. We are very joyful about the progress now however.
And now for the answers to the 2 most crucial questions: 1) Yes, we are still awaiting a wonderful grandson in San Francisco and 2) Yes, Dillon is leading a fabulous life--with dog whisperer Cynthia and her husband, and he is attended by a harem of stylish young women at the Cotton Club store in River Oaks where he goes to work every day--to be petted, lain on, and walked outdoors (in beautiful landscaping next to Smith and Hawken), etc. At night he sleeps in the master bedroom at the foot of Cynthia's bed in a big dog bed and he gets to play in their fenced 5-lot yard in the Heights with her 13 other dogs (many of whom she has rescued).
Love, Anna and John
John (512) 784-7533
Anna (512) 431-6619
annac@interactiondesign.com
Labels: Dillon, Graft vs. host, MD Anderson
posted by John Slatin at 2:33 PM
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