In Which Jon Gets a Certificate of Completion

Jon woke up today feeling much better. Phew. We packed up the apartment, jammed everything into the car, checked out of Hackerman and went to a series of farewell appointments. 

First stop, IPOP.  Labs showed that Jon is not an over-achiever after all: his platelet count got to 51.  The minimum goal was 50.  But this was enough to get him graduated. He also got two shots of EvuSheld, the limited-availability prophylactic treatment that protects people like him from getting Covid for a couple of months. It's not a vaccine, it's a monoclonal antibody that is "emergency authorized" for the immunucompromised, shown to be 77% effective. Better than the 0% protection he has had up until now.

Then we met with the Nurse Practitioner who works with Dr. Imus and Dr. Borello.  She is the one in charge of deciding if Jon could really go home for good, even though we already knew they had decided. She isn't ready for him to start on the blood thinners until his platelets are more solidly numerous, so he will have another blood test on Friday.  She said that Dr. Borello had seen Jon's name on the schedule and wanted a chance to stop in and say hello.  I had been thinking that we should write him a note to tell him how important his visit to Jon's hospital room was, a month ago. We got to tell him in person. He is such a mensch. I told him that after he came to see Jon, everything went smoothly (except for the week in the hospital with the lung infection, but whatever).

By this time it was 2:30 and we were half an hour late for the appointment at Interventional Radiation. But they don't seem to have a real schedule there, you can come early or late.  Jon described the line removal like this -- she snipped one stitch, then she grabbed the line firmly and pulled up with great force, using plenty of strength.  They had said it was going to be like a bee sting. He says that was not an accurate description. More like getting shot with a BB gun, complete with drops of blood on the sheets.  I am glad I missed that. 

We got into the usual 4:00 rush hour traffic and gradually headed south. 

And now we are really home. Jon has appointments on Friday and Tuesday, but it doesn't sound like he will need me. And they have decided that they don't change their protocol with information they get from a follow-up bone marrow biopsy, so why put patients through that?  Hear, hear. They know that there is still some myeloma in the bone marrow, and there will be follow-up treatments based on blood tests and a PET scan on Day 100. Eleven years ago they did bone marrow biopsies much more frequently, but Dr. Imus and Dr. Borello think that the costs outweigh the benefits of satisfying their curiosity.

I think I will post updates on Sundays for a while, until there is really nothing to report. I always answer emails, if you have questions or want more information.


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