Mike Kagerer

This is Joe, I spoke to Mike on the phone. He sounded good, but is very tired.

The lymph nodes in his neck are quite swollen from the procedures yesterday. They are going to give him platelets today to help this out. I’m sure Ann will have more “details” later today

Hi Everyone,

Well, the transplant was tonight and all went well.  Now to back up to this morning.  Rick went to UofM before 8 a.m. to donate.  It took until 1p.m. to finish his part.  They told him not to bend over or lift anything heavy for three days.  That is because his spleen is very enlarged due to the donating of the stem cells and it could rupture if he isn’t careful.  I know that he will heed the warnings and take it easy!!

Then at 4p.m. Mike had to have Radiation which took about 2 hours.  He was concerned about the radiation and we were all praying that he would get through it and the transplant would be able to be done today.  Well, after his Radiation treatment they did the BMT.  Mom talked to him about 9p.m. and he was totally exhausted.  I didn’t call him tonight.  I just talked to mom and got the scoop because I think Mike needed to go to sleep after such a big day.

So tomorrow is DAY 1!!  The first day of Mike’s new life.  Please continue to pray for him as there are side effects and such that he will need to get through.  Bruce and I are hoping to go see him on Thursday this week.  Mom is hoping to get down to UofM in the next couple days. 

Thanks for all of your prayers.  You don’t realize what it means to all of us to have such great support from our family and friends.  I will call Mike tomorrow afternoon and let you know how his ‘Day 1′ is going.

love, Ann

Hi All,

I talked to Mike this afternoon to get the latest!  I was gone on retreat since Friday. 

Mike didn’t have a good day on Saturday.  The chemo is making him sick and they are trying different drugs to help but he still doesn’t feel good today. 

Rick and Sal (Mike’s older brother and his wife) visited Mike today.  Rick is one of the donors and was at UofM to have his blood drawn before he donates on Monday, May 21st.

Mike has another roomate too so things must be hopping on the 8th floor.  They had told us he wouldn’t have a roommate unless the floor got really crowded! 

Mike said that the docs told him that he needs to get Radiation on Monday at 4p.m..  He has to lay still for at least 20 minutes and he is not sure how that will be since his hands have been twitchy.  Pray that he can just lay still long enough to get through it. 

We aren’t sure when the actually transplant will take place.  We thought that it would be on Monday but with him having Radiation now we’re not sure.  Although Rick is still going to donate tomorrow.  After he donates they will count the number of cells and see if there are at least 50,000,000.  If not he may donate again on Tuesday.

The way that Rick is donating is through his blood.  They take it out one arm and run it through a machine that collects the bone marrow (cells I think) and then they run his blood back into his other arm.  It takes about 4 hours.  Rick had to give himself one shot a day for 5 days in a row in order to donate.  Done this way it is an adult stem cell transplant.  It sounds like it may be easier on the donor than doing it through the bones.  I don’t know all the nitty gritty!

Anyway tomorrow is Day 0 and then we start to count forward for Mikes new life!!

Mom may get down to UofM a couple times this week and Bruce and I are planning on going on Thursday.

I’ll post again soon.
love,
Ann

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers especially in the next few days. 

Hi everyone,

Nick and I survived our trip to Cedar Point.  I called Mom on our trip home to check on Mike.  He had a pretty good day yesterday.  Had to go through another series of x-rays.  They are going to do some radiation along with the chemo.  Not sure when that will happen.

Then I called Mike a few minutes ago.  He sounded good but very tired.  They keep him hopping day and night.  Anyway, they upped his pain killers and that is helping.  He isn’t exactly sure when the radiation will take place.  He thinks he will still have the transplant on Monday.  I’ll talk to him on Sunday when I get home from my retreat and let you know when all this is happening.

Please keep up the prayers.  They are very helpful. 

love,
Ann

Hi All,

I just talked to Mike.  He said it has been “Grand Central Station” today at the hospital.  He’s had chest xrays and started his chemo today.  The reason for the – sign before the day is because they count down to day 0, which is transplant day, and then they count forward from there.  It is the start of his new life!!!!

He sounded pretty good.  He got to pick his own menu for tomorrow so that will be better for him.  Today he got what they gave him.

He can’t have any raw or fresh foods including fruits and veggies.  That will be strange because he is used to eating salads and stuff.  I told him to find out about cookies and I’d make him some before my next visit.

I won’t be posting tomorrow (Thursday) as I will be at Cedar Point with Nick for his class trip.

love,

Ann

Hi all,

Mom and I got home just a little while ago after driving through a terrible storm.  Glad to get off the highway. 

It was a tough day today.  Everything went very well, we couldn’t have asked for it to be better.  However, leaving Mike at the hospital was very hard.  We finally had to just take off because mom, Mike and I were all dreading saying goodbye. 

The nurses and the whole staff were great.  He will begin to get some pre-chemo drugs tonight and then tomorrow will begin his first of four days of chemo. 

Mike had a lot to take in and was a little overwhelmed with all of the hospital ways, taking vitals every 4 hours even through the night, blood draws early in the morning, tracking fluid intake and out, etc.  We told him that the staff would help him remember everything.  It just takes some getting used to. 

Well, I need to go to bed because I need to go home tomorrow and see my family.  Hopefully I’ll get back to see Mike next week.  I will be calling him daily and checking in on what’s been happening so that I can post a note to all of you.

Thanks again for all our thoughts and prayers.  They really get us through the tough times.

love, Ann

Hi Family and Friends,

Mike went to UofM today to have his Hickman ‘installed’.  The nurses laughed because they had never had anyone say that they were there to have something ‘installed’.  Everything went great.  Mike did very well.  We went out to eat afterwards and then visited a family friend.  We are staying with Mom tonight in Flint before we head back to Ann Arbor tomorrow afternoon, to have Mike admitted to the hospital to begin his treatments.

Take care and keep Mike in your thoughts and prayers!

Ann

I am going to be sending out updates, hopefully weekly on Mike. For those of you with whom I haven’t been in contact recently, Mike is going into U of M Hospital on May 15^th for a Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT). He will be going in on Monday the 14^th for an outpatient procedure to have a port put in. Then on Tuesday he and I will head back to Ann Arbor to have him admitted to the hospital.

On Wednesday he will begin four days of intense Chemo. On Sunday, the 20^th he will not have any treatments. It will be a day of rest for him.

Then on Monday May 21^st, our brother Rick will go to Ann Arbor to donate stem cells for Mike. If they get enough that day then Rick will be finished, if not he will donate again on Tuesday. Mike will either get the stem cell transplant on Monday or Tuesday or possible both days. Just depends on the numbers.

Then it will be a waiting time to see if they begin to work. Somewhere around day 14 after the transplant is when that usually begins to happen.

Mike came into Flint a couple weeks ago and is staying with Mom. After he is released from the hospital he will return to mom’s home. They said he could stay there because it is within and hour from U of M. He will need to go to the hospital probably 3 times a week during his recovery period.

We of course need many prayers. This is a very serious event in all of our lives. Mike doesn’t have prescription coverage and the meds alone after his hospital stay will run somewhere between $6,000.00 and $10,000.00 per month. Please pray that he will be able to recovery quickly and that he will not require the higher amount of meds to do so.

Thank you for all of your prayers over the past couple years that Mike has been dealing with CLL. We all appreciate it and can feel the presence of God with us.

I’ll write again soon.

Love,
Ann