Wednesday January 11th Day 8 in the hospital

Hi All,

Yes, I'm still here trying to learn how to be a blogger, wanting to keep everyone updated on Detlef's condition. Tonight's update comes from Karma texting me throughout the day, and chatting on the phone tonight.

Some new updates from today include: Detlef officially has an infection. It sounds like they probably cultured it from one of the ports from his central line, and needed to start him on an antibiotic. I told Karma today that I think I would have been more surprised if he didn't get an infection. They just gave him some very powerful medications to wipe out his immune system, and add to that the fact that he has a central line coming out of his chest, and that is a recipe for infection. The oncologist said early on that Detlef would probably get an infection from his own body, which is what happens when you have a central line. There is a huge risk of an infection when you have a central line, even if you have a normally functionally immune system. Any time that you break the skin with any kind of a central line, there is a potential for infection. They will be trying to remove the central line as soon as possible, and replace it with a "Port-A-Cath". What a port-a-cath is, is a central line that is implanted under the skin. It goes into a large vein (the superior vena cava), but instead of coming outside of the skin, it is underneath the skin. So, unless it is accessed with a needle going through the skin, into the "port", the risk of infection is much less. When someone doesn't need an IV infusion, the needle is removed and the port-a cath is just underneath the skin. It is hard to explain, but there you go.

Detlef also got the results back from the cytogenic testing. They didn't find anything out with the testing that would change the current plan for chemotherapy. Karma is going to fax me the lab results tomorrow, and I will see if I can understand any more from looking at the actual lab tests.

Karma said that Detlef is feeling better today than yesterday. But still more tired than he was on Monday. He still has a decreased appetite. Karma said that Dietmar was spending some time with Detlef tonight, and that she and Juergen had spent time at the hospital earlier today. Everyone seems to be holding up okay, but we all need to realize that having leukemia is a long process. We are talking months, and possibly years. Everyone is going to need long term support from all of us.

Love you all!

Lisa