SIMON'S PLACE | Transplant

Sally Olson (famous family friend who often appears on the Message Board and author of Simon's Story) visited from Seattle, Washington (via Oberlin, Ohio). Mary and Sally had a great time going out to lunch, browsing for clothes, and being girls.

Back in Simon's hospital room, Sally and Mary did a brief performance for Simon of the song, "I like the spring flowers", which Mary and Sally co-wrote around 1971 in the heyday of their work as the performing duo: The Geminis. (Mary's birthday is June 14, Sally's is June 15; the singing group was most active in the early 1970's.)

GLOSSARY

BLOOD COUNTS
WBC (white blood cells; infection-fighters) normal range: 4.5-13.5 K/MM3
Hemoglobin (carries oxygen in blood, low=anemic) normal range: 12.5-16.0 g/dl
Hematocrit (not totally sure, but related to red blood cells) normal range: 36.0-49.0%
Platelets (blood clotters; low means risk of internal/external bleeding) normal range: 150-450 K/MM3
ANC (absolute neutrophil count; basic measure of immune system) normal range: 1.8-10.1 K/MM3

GLUTAMINE an aminio acid that can reduce mouth sores after intensive chemotherapy. Not commonly used at UM Hospitals, but hightly recommended by other parents in our Neuroblastoma listserv community. Dr. Yanik said it would be OK to try it and ordered it for Simon.

MYEOLOABLATIVE destroying of bone marrow. Pre-transplant chemotherapy is designed to kill off all bone marrow in the body. The transplant introduces new cells to create new marrow.

NEUPOGEN white blood cell production stimulating agent; injected subcutaneously while WBC is low.

TRANSPLANT

GLOSSARY