Saturday, January 28, 2012

Day +155

Labs were fine this week. The only culture result that came back so far was C. diff and it was negative. I had some more vomiting on Monday because of mucus building up in my stomach again. The results of the chimerism test should be back relatively soon.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Day +147

Dr. Burt changed his mind about blood test frequency, so I'll be getting it drawn every 2 weeks for now. I saw my GI on Tuesday and she ordered more cultures, mainly for C diff once again, and added Sed rate and inflammation markers to my usual blood work. I'll followup with her in 2 weeks. If worse comes to worst, the colonoscopy at Northwestern should provide the answer to what's going on.

I had some more vomiting mucus yesterday that was similar to the week before, but it didn't persist as long. I managed to take Zofran and that calmed my stomach down. I've been fine since. Mucus seems to keep building up in my stomach because of post-nasal drip left by the cold. I'm still taking Mucinex D to help with it.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Day +140

Labs were fine again this week. Dr. Burt said I can start getting them drawn monthly now. I finally got my followup scheduled this week. I'll be in Chicago February 13th-17th for a CT scan, colonoscopy, blood work, and appointments with a new transplant GI (Dr. Craig retired) and Dr. Burt.

I was talking with the 3rd Crohn's patient who had the cord blood transplant earlier. She had a chimerism test done a little more than a month post-transplant and it didn't show any donor cells at that time, either. It may not really mean much but I think it's worth noting for comparison.

I made a trip to the ER last night/this morning. I was vomiting pretty consistently for a few hours, all mucus after the first few times and my stomach was empty. I felt really dehydrated and fatigued, and couldn't keep sips of water down so I figured it was worth going for IV fluids at the very least. Looking awful and saying "stem cell transplant" really cut down on the wait time. They started fluids, did blood work, an EKG, got a chest X ray, and gave me Zofran. The EKG was normal, my WBC were slightly elevated, and the X ray didn't show anything of concern. It was most likely a lot of built up mucus from the cold I've had, possibly a mild virus. My stomach had settled and I was able to drink and keep down water. They gave me a prescription for Zofran and let me go. I feel fine now today. Eating normally without nausea and without taking Zofran. Hopefully the mucus got cleared out of my stomach and it won't cause more issues.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Day +133

My labs were fine this week. All of the cultures came back negative, though. I'm still pretty sure I have C. diff based on my symptoms. The test for it just isn't very accurate. My GI wants to see again me before doing anything else so I have an appointment for the 17th. My cold is still around, but getting better.