Day Two at Walter Reed Military Medical Center Bethesda

I didn’t have web access at Walter Reed today, so I’m starting this blog by pasting Jim’s email update here:

David had a wonderfully boring day today. He slept well last night. We were with him all day as he and the medical staff prepared for what is to come. They did another bone marrow biopsy (the first was in Korea), and measured everything about him in order to have a baseline before the start of chemo. He had breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He took a nap in the afternoon. He felt well all day, though he spent most of his time lying down and moved slowly when he was on his feet. At 6:30 p.m. we took a walk around the hospital and found a Subway and had supper.

David has two main doctors (Dr. Sam Wanko, an oncologist, and Dr. Eric Schofield, a hematologist), an internal medicine doctor (Dr. Michael McMahon), and a resident (Dr. Ben Vipler). Also, each shift has a nurse, a charge nurse, and a tech. They have preliminary results of today’s biopsy, confirming the Korea finding that the cancer is acute myeloid leukemia (AML). There is still more to know from both biopsies that could be quite important, but this will not be known for one to two more weeks. They know enough to begin chemo.

Tomorrow morning a port will be installed to give direct access to the superior vena cava vein near the heart, and then chemo will begin. It will continue daily for seven days.