KESJ: 18 July 2009

Saturday, July 18, 2009

18 July 2009

Tonight, Jeremy and Ken moved from a single room in Camperdown Ward (which specialises in oncology) to a single room in Clancy Ward (which looks after oncology and other patients). Another post-tranplant patient needed the single room in Camperdown Ward, and Jeremy was not allowed to move to a shared room in Camperdown Ward because he has diarrhea (which only started after he was admitted to hospital). Apparently, he will be able to go back to Camperdown Ward if nothing is grown from his poo samples.

Jeremy is still highly febrile, and refusing to eat.

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Definitions

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) - a rapidly progressing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. ALL affects the type of developing white blood cells known as lymphocytes. It is the most common form of childhood leukaemia, and the most common type of childhood cancer. It also occurs in adults.

Blast cells - immature blood cells normally found in the bone marrow. Blast cells normally constitute up to 5% of all bone marrow cells. These cells divide and replenish all the normal blood cells in the marrow and circulating blood. Acute leukaemia is characterised by an accumulation of abnormal blast cells that take over the marrow and spill out into the blood stream.

Bone marrow transplant - the process of replacing bone marrow cells (stem cells) that are unhealthy, with stem cells that are healthy. The healthy stem cells are re-infused intravenously through the central line, after very strong chemotherapy and/or radiation to kill unhealthy stem cells. The re-infusion of healthy stem cells essentially rescues the patient from the chemotherapy and/or radiation, by enabling his or her bone marrow to start producing new blood cells.