And this little piggie went oui, oui, oui all the way to the hospital
Wednesday was Jay's day to see Dr. Ansari. His white count was not good at all so Dr. Ansari told him that he would get a shot and then have to have a transfusion of both blood and platelets. Because of the overload at St. Joe Medical Center, Jay was wanting until Thursday to go in and get the transfusion. Unfortunately, he spiked a 101.9 degree temperature on Wednesday night and had to be admitted to the hospital. The floor was almost full (for those in South Bend, you might remember when Memorial Hospital did not renew their contract with the South Bend Medical Foundation for testing. This has resulted in a major slowdown of test results getting back to the patients and doctors causing longer stays in the hospital. The patients are not happy and neither is Medicare so the patients are going to SJMC causing the overload.) and Jay was first put in a room with another patient but he was moved about midnight to a private room. He received 2 units of blood and platelets overnight. On Thursday, he got four units of blood and more platelets. He is finally sounding better on the phone and hopefully will get to come home tomorrow because he is really bored.
We had a family wedding this weekend but unfortunately Jay and I missed it. I have it on good authority that the bride was absolutely beautiful and her maid of honor was too cute. The ring bearer had curls just like Sean did when he was that age. We were sorry to miss it but sent our prayers and good wishes to them.
Thanks to our cooks of the week -- Karen Purkhiser, Mary Porter and Linda Fitzpatrick. The food is always so good.
Way to go Indians! Keep this up and we will be seeing you in the Dome.
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Information about Jay's treatment
Really want to send flowers? Read me first!!
Because of the risk of infection, Jay cannot receive flowers or plants and asks that you consider donating blood in his name instead. It's easy, painless and you get free cookies!! If you're in the South Bend area contact the South Bend medical center. If you're anywhere else, contact your local Red Cross for dontation times and places.
Got Questions?
Send an email to:
sean.fitzpatrick@mail.wvu.edu
sean.fitzpatrick@mail.wvu.edu
The 411
Over the past few weeks Jay was noticing that he was short of breath, and he was having trouble working-out at his usual pace. After a trip to West Virginia to visit Sean, Jay read an article in “Parade Magazine” that listed 10 symptoms that require immediate doctor’s attention, one of which was shortness of breath. He went to his family physician that week, who ordered a chest x-ray and blood work since he thought it was pneumonia. A few days later the doctor called back with the blood work, and said that Jay needed to see a hematologist since he was anemic. Before picking up Dianne from her routine Thursday chemotherapy appointment, Jay made a meeting with the hematologist. The hematologist, Dr. Ansari, took more blood, ran blood marrow test, and ordered 2 units of blood. Dr. Ansari thought that Jay had a blood disease called MSD. He was also told to get a CAT-scan on Monday. The results of the marrow test came back Wednesday morning, at which time Jay was told to immediately go into the hospital because he had leukemia. Jay was in the hospital for three weeks. He spent the first 7 days receiving continuous chemotherapy and stayed for an additional two weeks since his risk of infection is so great. Over the next three months Jay will be going back to the hospital once a month for a five day stay for more chemotherapy. The oncology team will repeatedly raise his blood cells counts then knock them back down with chemotherapy in the hopes of strengthening his blood production.
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