Sunday, January 13, 2008

Kepivance

One of the most common and serious side effects of the high-dose chemotherapy that Jimmy will be getting this coming week is severe oral mucositis: painful ulcerative lesions of the mouth and throat, which make eating, drinking, and swallowing very difficult. A couple of years ago, a drug called Kepivance came out, that greatly reduces the severity and duration of these sores. Yesterday and this morning, Jimmy started intravenous infusions of Kepivance, and we hope it lives up to its reputation.

Jimmy is doing so well. He looks great, and feels good, and we have every expectation that in a few months, we'll get our life back. Maybe it's a good thing that the first stem cell collection attempt was less than successful; Jimmy is in much better shape now than he was four months ago.

We have to be back at Emory at eight in the morning, for more Kepivance, and a bone marrow biopsy. (He'll have another biopsy done Friday.) We check into the hospital Tuesday.

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