Right Path – Day +11

Right Path

The numbers don’t lie!

It is official – we’re on the right path now on day +11 and moving quickly. The clocks changed here last night and moved forward for spring. I guess that one less hour in the day means Cindy has one less hour of recovery? It doesn’t seem to matter to her.

The recovery numbers have exploded in the best possible way. The ANC, the absolute neutrophils to create immunity, went up slightly on Friday to 0.2. Then on Saturday to 1.6. Today they sit at an amazing 4.1. This means a couple of great things. One, her body both is finally producing white blood cells from the transplant – the garden is growing again. And second, that her body can now fight infection and nastiness. This means she can be weaned off the antibiotics. They’ve stopped giving the Grastofil as of last night also because the numbers have come up so significantly.

In addition, the Wb count went up as well from 0.7, to 1.3, to 3.5, and finally 6.6 today. The doctors and nurses are very encouraged by these numbers. She even gets little love notes on her board. Her magnesium is still bordering on being deficient and they decided today to give a preemptive unit to support that. This will hopefully be the last infusion of Mg however time will always tell.

Next Steps

The next steps are still being sorted out specifically, but it sounds like she will be discharged tomorrow. This is of course provided all things stay as they are. There was a little hiccup last night after dinner as she was sick and threw up. They’re not entirely sure what caused this, but they also don’t seem to be too alarmed either. She feels fine today so possibly just a blip. She has been up and active every day – in fact we found her outside in the sun yesterday upon arrival. This might not mean anything to our friends in warm(er) climates, but where it’s been -15C for the last few days, getting into positive temperatures is a must.

For now, there seems to be excitement in the air for both Cindy and her caretakers. They’ve taken to calling her “the poster child” in the ward for the significant recovery this last few days. Ideally the trend continues and we can being the longer recovery process at home – more comfortable environment. There will be check-ins at the hospital a couple of times a week for the first bit to ensure numbers are still okay. But life can return a bit more to normal hopefully with socializing and such. We’ve been warned there will be significant fatigue over the next while – so everything in moderation. But no doubt the warmer weather here and longer days will help along the way.

Here is a picture of Nicole – this is her nurse today and the last few days. Nicole is pretty outgoing and always chatty. She’s isn’t afraid to announce all the results and create excitement about them. It’s great the nurses get such positivity out of their work and support.

We’ll catch up again soon, hopefully from home! Happy Sunday Everyone. No Bloody Mary’s to celebrate just yet, but soon hopefully. Oh, and if you have a chance, please check out Cindy’s BadA$$ Fundraiser – any support would mean a lot to us.