ValleyRD Mailing List: Fwd: Lila Reiser update, Sunday, 9/25/2011

[Bob Heiser (w7ikt]

Lila is still very weak, not able to do much walking without help.  She also has a balance problem, She needs help to move so that she does not fall.  Getting her in or out of the RV is a major problem.  But, glad to report that she appears to be some stronger on Friday and Saturday.  Saturday afternoon, she was able to climb the 6 steps into the RV, with just a little help.  Before Saturday, we had found it helped if she got down on all fours and with a some help, we could get her up the steps.

 
This has not been a good week, except that Lila's sister, Carol,  came to visit and this was good.  It helped us get through a bad week.
 
The news that knocked us off our feet came on Wednesday.  We met with Lila's main doctor.  He told us that with all the courses of chemo, nothing had worked.  The chemo would knock the "Blast" cells down, but they always came back.  The doctor told us that they can not cure Lila.  Also, she is no longer a candidate for the Stem Cell Transplant that we were hoping for. 

 

Wednesday was a very long day at the hospital.  We had a blood test, a review, a doctor visit, a visit with another doctor, a blood transfusion and a platelet transfusion.  It started at 8:30 AM and we got home at about 9:30 PM. 

 

Friday was almost as long.  We spent from 8:30 AM to 4:45 PM at the hospital.  Lila had a complete physical, everything except a bone morrow test.  This will be rescheduled for sometime Monday.

 

Lila will be admitted to the hospital sometime Tuesday.  She has been approved for a new, experimental chemo program.  She is one of the first humans to test this new stuff.  They have completed "faze one" and Lila understood she will start in "faze two"  She will be in the hospital for 8 or 9 days, depending on how she tolerates the treatments.  On day 15, she will have a bone morrow test.  After that, she will have to have follow up blood tests and reviews.  We are hoping that these follow up blood tests and reviews can be handled by the Clinton, Missouri hospital.

 

We are hopeful that this new course of chemo will knock down the "Blast" cells for a while.  Not sure what we can do after this round if it does not work.  The question has been asked, if this works, would she be allowed to have the stem cell transplant.  Don't have any idea, will be a question we will put to the doctors next week.

 

More later.   Bob