Friday-Saw Dr van Rhee. He said....

After taking infusers all night, Deb was in clinic for labs at 0700 am. At 0800 we were in the Spine Center for our last visit in those offices as they will be relocated this weekend and will reopen Monday in the 8th floor of the Rockefeller Center.

While in the 5th floor of the Spine Center, we had a three-ring circus as Dr van Rhee and his APN Kristen assembled the team of nurses, researchers, and administrators needed to test and enroll our daughter Amanda in the donor program next week for the Natural Killer Cell transplant Deb will have on Oct 4th. Deb was examined and her labs were checked. Dr van Rhee made some changes to Deb's orders. He wants her protected as she approaches the transplant. She is neutrapenic and has been sufferring from infections of unknown orgins. With no immune system of her own left, she has had a plethora of antibiotics. Of course those strong meds are causing her digestive system to rebel. He ordered her to be treated in the private rooms to keep her isolated more from other patients.

Deb has had stool samples, blood samples, urine samples, and a nasal-sinus samples obtained by use of a sinus wash. Finally, after days of looking for causes of the infections, they found that Deb has a e-coli infection and possibly others. Her meds have been increased and changed to fight this.

It's not cheap! Besides the IV form of the Vanocin, Deb has to have these pill form of the same drug to battle the e-coli. When I picked them up, I asked the price. $4,900 for 96 pills!

Dr van Rhee had the consent forms for Deb and Amanda ready so they could read and ask questions before being entered into the experimental program. Here's what they look like.

You've probably heard people say 'Doctor's Orders.' Ever seen one?
These orders guide all your treatment and are complied with very carefully by the techs and nurses and serve as the legal authority for treatments and meds.

Deb is scheduled to be the seventh test subject in this Natural Killer Cell test. It is carefully controlled by the FDA and we were discussing it with a classmate in the waiting area. Turns out our classmate is an MD internist who really wanted to be in the test but was turned down.  Here he is while he was getting his labs and weight as he came into the clinic
.

Amanda is now scheduled to collect the cells on next Friday. Monday at 11am she will get a physical. Blood samples will be drawn Monday and be sent out for special testing. It will take three days to get the results to determine absolutely if she is able to donate for Deb.

Amanda will get a line installed and then lie in a hospital bed while her blood is circulated through a large machine. The kinds of filters used will select out the specific cells needed. We do not comprehend the exact kind of cells since it is highly technical. These cells will be sent to Baylor University labs in Texas for processing and expansion. Dr van Rhee personally handles these cells in his 9th floor lab. Originally he was going to do the collection Thursday, but has been called to Washington, DC to the National Cancer Institute on Thursday. He will now do the collection and processing on Friday morning.

It ought to be an interesting month! Please pray for Deb's participation in this important test to give her a total healing from this previously incurable cancer as well as provide knowledge to help folks in the future.

Now, the secrets of this test might actually be found in the past! Dr van Rhee said this today!!! ???? What am I talking about?

A friend who is much more knowledgeable about medicine read a book about a missionary doctor in Africa many years ago. When he heard of Deb's situation, he sent a book about Dr Burkett and his work. Dr van Rhee read it and found some significant encouragement that his research is going the right direction in finding a cure for multiple myeloma as well as other cancers.

You see, years ago Dr Burkett was serving in poor African clinics with very limited funding and meds. He battled cancers there by bolstering the immune systems of the patients. Instead of drugs he didn't have, he used the natural processes of the patients. Not everyone succeeded but some did.

Today Dr van Rhee stated that much of the medical knowledge of the past has not been passed on to modern doctors very well.

Dr van Rhee's own father died of a disease named after the missionary doctor-Burkett's Lymphoma.
Small world!

Finally, Dr van Rhee left us with some good news today as he rushed out of the examine room.
"Your Light Chains are greatly reduced". In plain English, Deb's cancer markers are lowered since last tests.

Tomorrow we go in at 9 am. Deb has infusers and pills galore!

We've had a delightful visit with friend Tim Anders who spent the last two days with Deb in the Clinic. He returns to Atlanta tomorrow. His daughter Hannah is a new nurse working in Atlanta. Although Tim's parents and siblings are all doctors, he said the time here with us gave him a new understanding of the role of nurses and APNs.

The UAMS campus where we are is next to the War Memorial Football Stadium. The Arkansas Razorbacks who are based hundreds of miles west of us in Fayetteville, Ark,  play two games a year here at War Memorial Stadium. Tomorrow is one of the games. Tailgaters were already arriving. All this means Traffic with a capital T for us tomorrow!

Sunday Amanda arrives.

Blessings all!