Day 194 – Vidazzled and Befuddled, Two New Friends - and Here We Go, Graft vs. Host Disease

Jeff went to HUP today to repeat his labs from Friday because some of his liver function indicators were high.  While he was sitting in the waiting area, he saw a man we had just seen in the office on Friday.  Jeff remarked, “You look good today.”  The man replied with a groan and said, “A half hour ago I was throwing up in the trash can.  A nurse got me cleaned up.  I just started a new drug called Vidaza.” 

Vidaza, if you remember, was Jeff’s first treatment last fall.  It is a disease-specific drug for Myelodyplastic Syndrome.  Jeff told the man he’d been on Vidaza.  The man leapt up, sat by Jeff, and exclaimed, “Then you have MDS, too!”  At age 76, this man’s only option is Vidaza.  Hopefully, he will have better luck with it than Jeff did.  Jeff guessed that the man’s disease is too far along or for some other reason he is not a viable candidate for a bone marrow transplant.  Jeff did not get his name although he wishes that he had.  We might see him again at Dr. Porter’s office but transplant patients are typically seen on Fridays, other patients the rest of the week, so it seems unlikely.

While in the city, Jeff decided to go to the Reading Terminal Market to see the train layout.  At Market East train station, an 18-year-old girl “latched onto” him.  What?!  He told me that she jabbered excitedly, a flibbertigibbet who “doesn’t know she isn’t supposed to talk to strangers.”  She said she was from Lancaster, that her father told her about the city and that she wanted to find Reading Terminal Market.  She kept saying things like, “I don’t know what I’m going to do!”  And she kept talking about her father.  She had been to the Comcast building but had not stayed to see the show!  Jeff told her that he was, in fact, going to Reading Terminal Market and that she could walk with him.  Evidently, she never stopped talking.  They looked at the trains together and then went their separate ways.  Later, while Jeff was eating lunch, he saw her talking to another man who seemed to be pointing out places in the market that she should see.  I let Jeff’s story about the young woman sit awhile and then asked him whether she might have picked his pocket.  He laughed and said the same thought occurred to him and he still had his wallet.  I asked Jeff whether she might have been an Amish girl on Rumspringa.  He thought not.  He does wonder whether she was a runaway or if she was simply exploring the city on her own with plans to return home at the end of the day.  It was probably the latter but why didn’t he ask her?  Inquiring minds want to know.

For all the excitement of Jeff’s excursion, he said he missed me today, “It wasn’t the same being in the city without you.”  Ah…

Jeff heard from his hospital walking buddy, Jeff R., this week.  Although Jeff missed the call, he was relieved to hear the voicemail because he had feared the worst.  He has been putting off making that call; now he can call without that worry.

Tonight Jeff heard from Dr. Rager with his lab results.  He needs to start on steroids for what they believe is mild Graft Versus Host Disease.  They hope the liver problem is GVHD (rather than damage to the liver from the pre-transplant conditioning).  Dr. Porter wants to start Jeff on a conservative dose, see how it goes and he’ll see Jeff in the office next Friday.  He might see some benefit to his itchy skin, too – maybe his shoulder, also?  They’ll run the labs again, I’m sure.  Jeff says, “Now I’ll look like Ah-nold.”  Oh, sure.     

How about we pray for the Vidaza man, Jeff R., and the enthusiastic young girl from Lancaster.  And, of course, my sweetie.