|
|
|
March 14, 1999: Continued on Treatments page. March 9, 1999: Went home from hospital. March 6, 1999: Drank half cup of cappuccino & ate a scrambled egg today. Throat spray & DMB swish & swallow started. Lots of visitors & cards. March 5, 1999: Temperature improved, went to surgery to have port-a-cath placed. We met Dr. Fisher, the third oncologist in the team. Greg received another unit of platelets while in surgery. A baseline echocardiogram was done. He tried to drink a little. He hasn't been eating, as he's been feeling so bad and his throat is starting to hurt. Received another unit of platelets. Greg's attention is turning away from himself today, and he's showing concern for the effects of his illness on the rest of the family. Initially grumpy this morning, his mood became more & more pleasant as the day went on. March 4, 1999: Feeling a little stronger after receiving a unit of blood during the night. Joints becoming more achy. He still has a fever. Jaw swelling seems to be going down. Had lots of visitors. Worn out by end of day. Received platelets during the night. March 3, 1999: Received L-asparaginase shot. Greg's feeling is really tired today, & complains of pain in his elbows. March 2, 1999: Leukemia diagnosis confirmed with bone marrow aspiration showing 98% leukemic cells. Lumbar puncture showed no leukemic cells in the spinal column. Methotrexate given in spinal column. They explained that the stem cells, which mature into various types of blood cells, normally take up about 5 percent of the bone marrow, but that his cancerous white blood cells had taken up so much room, that they had not left space for normal non-cancerous cells to grow and mature, so that he wasn't making the red blood cells, platelets, and non-cancerous white cells that he normally would. This was exerting pressure within the bones, causing his legs to hurt. (I had just thought it was growing pains). Furthermore, the leukemic cells had spilled out into the bloodstream, and were clogging up the lymph nodes, causing swelling in his liver, spleen, and neck. They were unable to place the port-a-cath due to fever, so a PICC line was placed. Received visits from the oncology nurse educator, social worker, and numerous family & friends. March 1, 1999: Admitted to pediatric floor. Discussed chemotherapy & side effects with oncologists Dr. Kirkpatrick & Dr. Hum. Discussed placement of implanted port-a-cath for IV chemo treatments. Greg will be starting phase 1, the induction phase, to drive the leukemia into remission by the end of March. Remission is defined as having no detectable cells present. Starting in April, phase 2 (consolidation phase) will take about 6 months, and will attempt to further reduce the leukemia cells that are hiding out. After that, phase three (maintenance), will take another two years of outpatient chemo. Then, he will get no chemo for two years, and if there's still no detectable leukemia cells, then they'll declare him cured. Platelets were given for his low counts, which explained the bruising on his legs. Gregory expressed anger & fear about diagnosis. February 28, 1999: Worsening facial swelling, development of petichiae (pinpoint bruises) on legs. Temperature increasing. Dr. Stevens was notified. Gregory taken to Hillcrest emergency room. Two hours later, lab & x-ray results are ready, and we are told that Gregory had leukemia & would need to be transferred to St. Francis Hospital, as they were the only facility that cares for pediatric oncology patients in Northeast Oklahoma. I kept thinking "No, my son's the one in room 2 with the earache". After they insisted that Greg be seen by Dr. Kirkpatrick at St. Francis, I decided to go along with their game, knowing that they'd see that it was nothing more than that. It's the middle of the night, so we stop at the house to gather a few things. February 26, 1999: It's Friday night, and Greg has been on amoxicillin for three days. As it takes that long to start working, I decide to wait out the weekend to see if he gets better. His face has started to swell around his jawline. February 24, 1999: Greg reported that his ear didn't hurt any more, but he developed swelling in his parotid glands, looking like a golf ball under the skin in front of each ear. I called Dr. Stevens, and he said that it sounded more like an outer ear infection than a middle ear infection, & that they usually prescribe amoxicillin eardrops, but since he had already started him on the pills, that they would just continue that. February 23, 1999: Greg complained of an earache. His sister Angela had started complaining of a sore throat the night before. I consulted my nursing books and learned that the usual culprit was beta strep, best treated with amoxicillin for 7-10 days. I had a 9-day supply, so I told her to take them. However, when my book also implicated beta strep in earaches, I didn't have enough amoxicillin for them both, so I called Dr. Stevens. He chewed me out for playing doctor, and called in a prescription of amoxicillin for both of them.
|
|
Sign my guest book! www dot gregsleukemiajournal dot com
forward- slash guest dot htm Richard Simpson is Greg's bone marrow donor Assistance with the web pages was provided by
George Kasica, The Celestis Foundation is seeking your support to offset some of the costs of fulfilling Greg Brown's dream of space flight. Contributions of any amount will help the Foundation to continue the Honorary Commemorative Spaceflight program on the next Celestis launch. Your contribution is not tax deductible, but is greatly appreciated. Please send your contributions to: The Greg Brown Fund All contributions is excess of actual launch related expenses will be donated to the National Marrow Donor Program.
Jill E. McGovern, PH.D. Send us E-Mail! gregb at netwrx1.net Last Updated: 02/11/2009 19:01 |
