DAILY NANCY UPDATE #108

Greetings. 

This is the one hundred and eighth in a series of DAILY NANCY UPDATES I will be posting until the amazing Nancy Neufeld Callaway is in full remission and we have kicked her leukemia on its ass. 

If you'd like to be automatically notified of updates to this blog-- just enter your email address in the window on the right beneath Nancy's picture and follow the prompts!

SATURDAY REPORT

The Sunshiny Superwarrior Goddess had a rough night's sleep Friday night-- so she was pretty groggy today. But that didn't stop her from doing a bunch of stretching exercises with her physical therapists. And best of all, thanks to her friends Kat and Noa (with some cheering on by her father as well), Nancy took a wheelchair ride out of her room-- and out of the ward for the first time since May 29th-- to sit out in the sixth floor lobby and enjoy some sunshine and the beautiful view.

Meanwhile, I had a long talk with her doctor today. If you know me, you know that patience isn't necessarily one of my strong suits. So I wanted to know when Nancy's beautiful mind would be fully back online-- and when we'd be able to take her home. And in a nutshell, here's what he had to say.

First, in the interest of accentuating the positive-- he reminded me of three extremely important facts:

• 38 days after her bone marrow transplant, Nancy is now in remission and leukemia free.
• She also has no Graft versus Host disease-- which is extremely common after a transplant.
• And according to her latest blood tests-- the virus which caused her seizure 19 days ago is now gone as well. 

Secondly, he told me what he and the rest of her team think is going on in her head. Most of the lingering confusion she's experiencing is typical of the post traumatic stress the brain experiences after a major seizure. Much of it is also a common psychological response to short-term memory loss after such an event. Nancy instinctively knows that something went wrong-- she just can't remember what it was-- yet she knows she's still in the hospital, surrounded by lots of doctors, nurses, friends, and family. As you can imagine, that kind of mystery creates a lot of anxiety. And even though they've prevented any more seizures, the powerful anti-seizure meds she's been on since June 27th have also taken a temporary toll on her ability to think clearly. 

So the decision has been made to begin lowering her medication doses and eliminating a couple of them altogether-- which should help with her mental clarity. We're continuing to be patient and reassuring her every chance we get that she's making incredible progress. And assuming she continues to improve at the rate she has, her doctor believes we should be able to take her home in a week or two, tops.

Bottom line: only two things still matter the most...

WE LOVE NANCY, and... 

ALL IS WELL!

If you'd like to send Nancy a little love (please no flowers, balloons, or food), PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THE ADDRESS AND NEW ROOM NUMBER BELOW:

Nancy Neufeld Callaway

City of Hope Hospital

1500 E. Duarte Rd.

Helford Bldg. Rm. 6127

Duarte, CA 91010

Meal Train For The Callaways