Today is Day 55 of the magic 100 Days of intensive monitoring following Kim's transplant. Her health has continued to improve each day and we are all looking forward to spending the holidays thinking about friends and family rather than blood counts and medications.
The doctors have decreased Kim's out-patient visits from seven to three days a week. The appointments at the hospital still take about six hours, spent reading magazines and napping as a variety of IV medications drip in the background.
Many of the concerns we had earlier in this process are still present: Kim's immune system is and will remain compromised for some time. There are many limitations that can often be frustrating and an unexpected set-back or hospitalization are still real threats.
The preliminary results from her Day 30 bone marrow biopsy are extremely encouraging: Kim's marrow is now made up entirely of male cells. This suggests that her father's marrow has thus far engrafted successfully. So far, so good.
In the last two weeks, Kim has seen many quality-of-life improvements. Her energy, her strength, her appetite, and her love of shopping all are slowly coming back. She is still required to wear a duck-billed mask in public, but Kim has gotten used to it and, if anything, salespeople seem to become more attentive.
We will be spending Christmas and New Year's here in Houston. Kim's parents will both be in town and my family will be flying down from Connecticut for Christmas weekend.
Much thanks for all of your kind cards, letters, and donations. Kim and I are looking forward to getting back to our life in New York and planning a really fun wedding!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
All our love, Kim and Brian
After thirty-seven days of needles, nausea, and bad hospital food, Kim was discharged at six o'clock on the eve of Thanksgiving and is thrilled to be out. Today is Day 29 of the official '100 days' following the Bone Marrow Transplant. Our days ahead will carry a new set of challenges - daily six-hour out-patient visits, lots of tests, and intensive monitoring.
Kim's blood counts are steadily rising and we are now waiting for the results from the first of several painful marrow biopsies. This will determine the initial success of the transplant; whether the engraftment has thus-far been successful, and whether or not there are any leukemia cells present.
In the next two crucial months, we hope to see Kim's newborn immune system slowly take hold. She is ultra- susceptible to all manner of bacteria, fungi, and germs that would be harmless to most of us, but can have fatal consequences to a transplant patient.
So, for the rest of our stay here in Houston, her few public appearances are accessorized with a duck-billed surgical mask , latex gloves, and a red baseball cap. No surprise, she manages to pull it off with great style and grace.
Kim and I can not thank all of you enough for your kind cards, calls, and e-mails. I have read them to her each day and Kim is regularly moved to tears. Your caring and support have been completely overwhelming. Every night we have talked about how blessed we are to have such wonderful friends and family.
Chemo, radiation, transplant, and anti-rejection treatments have left Kim far more fatigued than we imagined (she says she feels like the Scarecrow from the Wizard of OZ) and she hasn't been able to respond to many e-mails. Please know that she has received them and can't wait to be able to start sending out notes of her own.
Thanks for helping us dance through the raindrops.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
All our love, Kim and Brian
I am happy to report that Kim has just made it over one of the many big hurdles this disease has put forth. Today her blood counts rose sufficiently for Kim to be moved out of Protective Environment and into a more traditional hospital room. Kim is, of course, thrilled to have been let out of "the bubble" and the doctors say she is making good progress.
Kim is still tired, but doing well.
Great thanks to everyone for all of your support.
As of Monday, $4847.00 has been collected in New York for the Kimberly Patterson Leukemia Research Fund. Donations continue to come in and there is already talk of additional fund-raisers in other cities. Kim and I and our families are absolutely overwhelmed with everyone's caring and generosity. Thank you so much.
All my love, Brian
Hi everyone. I know some, but not all, of you received the initial e-mail last week about a fund-raiser this Thursday at 19th Hole to raise money for Kim.This event was planned by two friends of ours with the intention of raising money as gift to help out Kim.
Since then we have found out that we have an opportunity to start a Leukemia Research Fund in Kim's name. Below please find the updated e-mail that went out today.
It was Kim's idea to look into donating any money raised to leukemia research at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Since she was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia in May, we have met a number of wonderful people who are fighting leukemia. Kim has felt enormous frustration in seeing these people have to battle so hard. Now we may have an opportunity to do something about it.
Kim had her Bone Marrow Transplant on Thursday, Oct. 28 here in Houston. She is now entering Day 5 of approximately thirty days in Protective Isolation as her new immune system develops. Kim is doing well. She's had some tough days and there will be more before she's out of the woods. As usual, she is amazingly upbeat. Nothing can keep this girl down.
For those few of you who haven't heard, I asked Kim to marry me on October 10. Her engagement ring has been the only piece of jewelry with her in isolation.
Brian