Former Emporian Lisa Mesa checked in over the weekend with an optimistic report on her progress after a stem cell transplant to rid her of acute myelogenous leukemia.
“Overall, I’m doing pretty good,” she said in an e-mail update to family and friends. “Other than the rash and being tired all the time.”
Mesa received the stem cell transplant on Feb. 12 at Baylor University Hospital in Dallas. She was discharged from the hospital on Thursday and is staying in a nearby apartment to allow her daily outpatient visits to the hospital, where she receives intravenous fluids and antibiotics. Medical personnel also are monitoring her blood counts to determine whether adjustments are needed in anti-rejection medications.
“I’ve started to get a bit of graft vs. host disease by getting a rash on my skin that is nice and itchy,” she said. “... The doctors told me you want to have some degree of graft vs. host, so I guess I’m doing my part.”
Now, Mesa is anticipating being released to return to her home.
“The doctors are amazed that I’m doing so well and surprised that I’m not on any more medication than I am on,” Mesa said.
If she continues to do well, she said, she may be sent home late next week.
“My doctors here and in Tulsa know each other well, so this is the only reason I’d be sent back so early,” she said.
Mesa, daughter of Judy Spillman Welch of Emporia, was reared in Emporia and worked as a physical therapist for Emporia Physical Therapy and Fitness. She and her husband, Manny, and their two young sons live in Broken Arrow, Okla. She was a standout basketball player at Emporia High School, was a member of the 4x400 relay team that won the state track meet, and was a three-time winner of the International Pancake Race, representing Liberal in its annual contest against Olney, England.
She also is the granddaughter of Beulah Spillman and Opal Dicus of Emporia.