August 12, 2010 — Second Day of Campath. When the doctor and Donna do rounds, Donna asks if Campath is better than ATG. I say that the first day on ATG I had no reaction, but the more I got, the more reactions I had. Even after I left the hospital, I felt nauseated and weak for months. With Campath, I am told the reactions go away after the first few doses and do not come back. I hope this is true for me.

My fever is gone and my blood pressure is up so whatever the nurses did in the middle of the night worked. With my second treatment, I have rigors again but not as bad as the day before. The nurses are quick with the Demerol. I also have a little rash and a pretty high fever (over 102) but they give me Tylenol and Benadryl and the fever disappears by late afternoon. The care here is totally amazing. Besides the Campath, I have two bags of red blood so I am transfused for six hours. I sleep through quite a bit of it.

Today, Steve borrows a boom box, a few books and some CD's and DVD's from the library on the 7th Floor. I am thrilled that we don't have to worry about disturbing another patient. Later that night I have a fever again (102). The nurse takes cultures of my blood to make sure I don't have any bacterial infections.