Wed, 9/21 - Waiting for results

11:30am. Stefan's fan club came early this morning and did a sinus flushing, to remove any scabs that had formed (which they had tested for residual fungus, or something like that). Results of both the early morning flushing and the one they just finished have been positive, in that the findings do not indicate the necessity of a second endoscopy. So YAY! The fungus that nearly blew up half of Stefan's face was the fungus, aspergillus. Or astergillis. Don't ask me how to spell it - I just remember that it sounds like 'sasparilla'... So, um... yeah... don't ever suck root beer up your nose or you might need an endoscopy too. (Got a laugh out of you on that one, ;o) didn't I???)

Other than having a sore nose from all the procedures the past four days, Stefan is doing very well. He's in very good spirits. He's keeping up his positive attitude. If his energy level hasn't increased, at least it's not less than what it's been most recently, since he's still making laps around the halls. His appetite has increased somewhat, and he's gained back five pounds this week. How he managed to do that while enduring all the nasal scoping and sinus "exploration" this week, I'll never know... unless it's got something to do with him eating more of the hospital food when he can't smell it? That's my guess.

Stefan's cousin, Ted J., visited yesterday evening, as he was in town on business. Actually, Ted had been wanting to drop in and see Stefan for quite a while, but had to postpone visiting when Stefan had surgery on Monday. The visit went well, and they got to catch up a bit.

Today, Stefan has a small group of family visiting. Bruno, Diane, Bo, Hela and Zosia came for a visit this morning. Bruno and Bo had a dual-purpose visit, as they went to give blood to be tested, to see if they could be possible bone marrow donors. I'm sure Stefan is thrilled to have both his mother and mother-in-law visiting him at the same time while he's in the hospital... what man wouldn't be ecstatic? (said sarcastically). All kidding aside, both 'moms' were getting quite antsy to go see him, especially after he had an operation. It's a surgical procedure, common and short, but to them... it was an operation. So I guess they have to see for themselves that he's okay. And of course, they have to dole out their own medical advice on how/why he got sick (with the infection), what he should be doing to get better, toss in an old wives' tale here, some outdated medical advice there, and some very bad ideas here... and, well, you get the picture. Both babcias think they're somehow qualified to be doling out medical advice, yet they've never attended a day of medical school... hmmmm. Sounds like every Polish babcia I've ever met - they've all got a cure for what ails ya! And I love 'em all!

Okay... so what are we waiting for...? Oh, yeah... results from tests. Well, the lab results came in - he's got that 'sasparilla' fungus...Check out this site for more info - scroll down to "aspergillus sinusitis": http://www.aspergillus.man.ac.uk/indexhome.htm?languages/index.php~main When I was there on Monday, they were pushing amphotericin B antifungal meds, so the course of treatment then was on par with what needs to be done. His MRI results came back: there was no fungal infection that penetrated any of the facial bones, so the possibility of the infection causing any brain damage has dropped to near 0% (nothing's ever fully 0% or 100% in the medical community, is it...). Now, all we're waiting on are the results of the bone marrow biopsy. Cross your fingers here... what we want is a good, low number of leuko-blasts (or whatever the technical term for the darn things is)... zero would be a REAL good number! If it's a very low number (<5%), then Stefan will be considered to be in remission. Which would be awesome news! Dr. Olga said yesterday that his hospital stay may just be another 7 or 8 days. So, God willing, let the results come back with very favorable numbers!

Okay - that's all I got for you right now. When I hear about BMB (bone marrow biopsy) results, I'll post here. Stat. Ha ha... little bit of medical humor there. Must be something in the air today... I'm a bit punchy. Laugh. Don't laugh. Doesn't bother me - I can't see you when you read these posts. If it's funny, laugh. If not, please don't email to tell me. I'll try to be not-so-funny in future posts. --SMK