First day in Baltimore

Jenny and I arrived in Baltimore today at 11:00. Parking was the typical dizzying experience of driving around those parking garages we used to run up for exercise in Indiana (few hills). But I dropped Jen off at the front door and eventually met her in the HIPOP center. A few minutes later they had drawn some blood from Jenny (about 10 vials) and we were talking with Dr. Hesdorffer in one of the examination rooms. Dr. Hesdorffer explained the procedure, which was exactly as Dr. Brodsky had described it, so no news there. But it was good to have a refresher.

The big news was that Dr. Hesdorffer knew of a guy from WA who had Myositis and came to JH for HiCy treatment! I don't know why no one mentioned this to us before. . . I could have sworn we specifically asked if there were examples of using HiCy to treat Myositis but maybe not. Anyway, this guy was in really bad shape, bound to a wheelchair and couldn't really feed himself. But 2 months after HiCy he was skiing black diamonds in Washington state! (Dr. Hesdorffer made it clear that he had known how to ski before getting Myositis!) So that was good news. Apparently this patient has been in remission for a year now.

We learned that the greatest risk of infection comes from Jen's own gut. Apparently there are bugs in there hanging out that get out of control when the HiCy supresses her immune system. That is why she will take 4 different antibiotics in about 4-5 days. It also means that although she needs to be careful about infection from others, the doctor wasn't AS concerned about it as we thought he would be. We did wear masks in the hospital, which is oddly comforting. We also learned when and where we were going to go tomorrow. At noon Jen will have the line put in and then will be transfered to the HiCy area (floor 4b) where she will begin hydration and eventually the chemo.

We then checked into our hotel, which is fine. We walked down to an indoor market that sold lots of different types of food. Jen got a salad, but I couldn't resist a phatty borrito. In a bit here she is going to wipe herself (whole body) down with sterilized wipes they gave us in the hospital. She will do that again tomorrow morning before going in to the hospital. It will be good to get this started after so much planning. Jen has been a trooper and, although nervous, is also looking forward to getting started.

Go Pats!