Down at Duke

Presently, Mom is down at Duke recovering from the installation of her central line. Dad and mom arrived in Durham yesterday and got set up in a hotel there. They saw mom's stem cell doctor this morning at 8AM and then reported back to the hospital at 12:30PM, this morning (Thursday). During this second visit the central line was installed in her chest near the location of her other port she has been using for chemo thus far. They first removed the old port and then implanted the new line. They numbed the site around the central line before installation but did not put her out.

Throughout their research, Duke has found that hydrating patience prior to this chemo prevents potential bleeding in the bladder. So currently mom is hooked up to a very large bag of different fluids. Everyday she has report to the bone marrow transplant clinic at 8AM. Tomorrow (Friday), she will receive her BIG chemo. Saturday and Sunday she will be monitored to see if there are any adverse affects from the chemo. Their hope is to return to Roanoke on Sunday afternoon.

Other than the pain in and around the site of the central line, she is doing great at the moment. Please pray for her as she goes in tomorrow for her BIG chemo.

They are scheduled to return to Duke in two weeks for the stem cell harvesting that will take potentially two days. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. We will continue to keep you all updated through this blog as regularly as possible.

Thank you,

Robert