Posts by Suzanne Sawyer-Espinoza

The PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) line is no more! After having one for 5 1/2 months, can't say that any of us will miss it. The picture doesn't quite do it justice for showing just how long it was, but you can see the bandage on Kendall's right arm that showed where the lumens came out. Then that line snaked through his vein up toward his…

I'm still not sure why Meal Train often puts the date as one day later, but I am writing this on Thursday, February 4th. Today is Day +7. Kendall is feeling very wiped out, but that is to be expected at this point. The doctor explained to us this morning that Days +7 to between Days +10 and +14 are typically the worst for how a patient…

I know there are many people anxious to hear how things have gone today with Kendall. He has thankfully taken a turn for the better. His fever has (finally!) broken, and tonight he was able to actually eat some solid food (bless you, spicy chicken sandwich and chocolate frosty from Wendy's!!). He's not out of the woods yet and still has several symptoms the doctors are monitoring…

Things aren't going great for Kendall right now. He has had a fever for the past four days, and last night his fever spiked to 106.3. He also has a rash that has been getting worse, terrible nausea (can't eat), and at one point he lost consciousness and had a fall. Kendall's doctor thinks that his body is fighting against the transplant, so today (Sunday) they gave…

Meal Train will only let me include one picture with each post, but I thought this one was pretty cool too of the chest X-ray.

The good news is Kendall doesn't appear to have any new symptoms. And he was able to keep down a smoothie earlier today. He still has a fever that hasn't broken and he really doesn't feel great, but the fever is a little lower right now. The chest X-ray didn't show anything new, so that was reassuring. And for your viewing enjoyment, here is a picture of…

The nurses sang Happy Birthday to Kendall and brought him a balloon and various donated gifts (a blanket, pillow case, book, journal, and a hat) to celebrate his "new birth" Day 0 today. I think I have mentioned this before, but the rest of his life will count up from this day (tomorrow is Day +1, and so forth). January 28th will forever be the anniversary of…

That red line is the stem cells feeding in to Kendall's central line in his chest. You can see that he's almost done. We learned that the doctors were able to get enough stem cells during the donor process that they could freeze an entirely separate dose. If this transplant doesn't take for some reason, then they will be able to act quickly to do another transplant.…

Kendall is in the middle of his transplant right now, and things seem to be going smoothly so far. His vitals have stayed good, and all he has to do is relax in bed. Compared to many of the treatments and procedures Kendall has had to undergo the past few months, today has actually felt relatively easy for him. He's very tired, but otherwise feels fine.

Six sessions of TBI (Total Body Irradiation) has been brutal for Kendall, but he did finish his last (hopefully forever) treatment today. He has to stand during the each entire procedure, which is difficult when you feel so weak and nauseous. Kendall did get a break today in the middle of his treatment, though, when there was a power outage that affected all of Salt Lake valley.…