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Wednesday November 13 was a pretty normal day. We watched Anna shovel in more Cheerios than one would guess she could hold and wrestled Joseph into his clothes for the day. I taught my class at 9:00 then did the usual run-around to be sure things were ready for the lab class I teach in the afternoon. Annette had a typical day, preparing a case study for a Thursday presentation, and putting some polish on her final exam questions for the first year medical students. We had dinner at home, pasta with red sauce, and got the kids to bed. Annette was feeling tired so she tidied up in the kitchen a little and got ready for bed. I read through the two lab reports turned in that day, and thought I'd wait until I had Thursday's in hand before I started marking them up. I goofed off on the web a little bit, pricing out a new lighting system for my orchids. I was surprised to find Annette awake when I came to bed. She was having trouble getting comfortable due to some pain in her hip.
On Thursday we headed off to work as usual, except that Annette was limping a bit. By the afternoon she had to go in to the clinic since she was very sore. After an initial diagnosis of bursitis, she was sent back to work with some anti-inflamatory medication. Friday was also typical, Annette's hip was feeling better. So much better that, against doctors orders, she and Anna joined Joseph and me at the skating rink after dinner. Annette walked while I skated next to Joseph. I also cruised around the rink holding Anna by the armpits. Anna was delighted, I was in need of a chiropractic adjustment, and Annette was "fine". That night, she started feeling uncomfortable again.
Saturday I had a date with an orchid grower from Equador in Minneapolis. Annette was not feeling great, and if Tom and Mary weren't home I would have sent my friend Dave down alone to pick up the plants I had ordered. So after a nice smooch with my wife and kids I went to the big city for the day. I got home around 6:30 to an empty house. I called Mary and found out that Annette was in the emergency room. Her hip had become very painful and she had started to run a fever.
I called the ER desk, "Uh, hello. This is Peter Kebbekus. I understand my wife is there, Annette Boman. May I...".
The nurse said, "Yes of course. Hold on a sec." It struck me as odd, almost as if they were expecting my call. When I spoke to Annette she said not to bother coing down. That she had been told her white count was high and probably had an infection in her hip. She expected to get some antibiotics and be sent home shortly. The next call I got was from Tom. He told me Annette had leukemia and that it was time for me to get down there.
I arrived about five seconds before the oncologist on call, Dr. Thomas. He told us that Annette had acute mylogenous leukemia. And that she would not be going home for a while. After getting control of her hip pain and having surgery to put in a two lumen Groshong catheter, she received induction chemotherapy. Basicly this consisted of three days of idarubicin and seven days of cytarabine. Lucky for us, Annette responded well. Her white count came down from the 142,000 it started at, to around 500 by the end of induction chemotherapy. She came home on December 9, and recovered enough to enjoy Christmas with family.
Right after Christmas she was back in the hospital for "consolidation chemotherapy". This course was five days, Dec. 31 - Jan. 4, with cytarabine administered in two doses on days 1, 3 and 5. Once again the wonder drug Zofran helped Annette keep her appettite. She was able to come home on days 2 and 4 to nap and just hang out.
It is now January 18, and she has yet to rebound from the consolidation. She needed red cells (2U) once, and platelets several times to get to this point. It looks like she is done with transfusions for now.
We will be moving to Minneapolis on February 2nd. Her bone marrow transplant will be done at the University Fairview Medical Center BMT clinic. Annette will have a week of tests as an out patient. Then she will check in on February 10 to start two days of cytoxan, have a rest day, then she gets four days of total body radiation. Het transplant day is February 17. The basics of the procedure are available from www.marrow.org. She will remain in the hospital for another 5-7 weeks, until she starts making her own blood. Then we will be living near the hospital until 100 days post transplant. It is during this time that she can expect to have her worst troubles with graft vs. host disease. Supposedly the UofM has one of the best centers for treating GVHD.
If I have made this sound like a walk in the park, it certainly was not. We had several scary times, and Annette has suffered many discomforts, bodily insults and just bad days. Thankfully her principal oncologist, Dr. Bob Niedringhaus, has been terrific. Annette's parents and brothers have also made this time as easy as possible. Major kudo's to my dad for coming to help out when Annette got home from induction chemo, and to my mom for making the trip for Annette's return home after consolidation chemo. We also need to thank the "meal patrol". So many friends have cooked for us so that we could focus on keeping Annette rested and the needs of Joseph and Anna. And finally, we thank all of you that have had us in your prayers.
Last updated January, 18, 2003