The short story is....

White blood count 4.4 (within normal range)

Hemoglobin 12.5 (13+ normal)

Platelets 68

Neutrophils 1710 (1800 normal)

His blood is looking GOOD!

Still exhausted, sleeps (or nods off) a lot!

GI tract getting better; he is eating (just not a lot)

There will be ups and downs, but for the moment we feel very blessed!

I'm noticing

aging bodies, good friends, our gorgeous land and accompanying wild (and domestic) companions.

I'm grateful, more later.

We're home; we're exhausted.

We got the go ahead at 10 am (one more lab result tomorrow). I left to get the house ready. Gil's brother Bob arrived to bring the guy home after a little drama with the pharmacy and the insurance co. Tell me WHY do some folks think that insurance companies are more reliable than the federal government????)

Made it home; dogs are very happy!

White blood count stable at 2.5, hemoglobin up to 11.2. platelets up to 1500, neutrophils up to 1800. They said that now that the stem cells are working on all four that the rise will be slower.

Time to sleep in our own bed, together!

He's looking good!

He continues to excel at white blood cell growth, 2.6 today! Though he's a little down on the platelets and continues to have some GI issues, it looks good for leaving the hospital tomorrow!!

If all goes well after the doctors do their rounds in the mid morn, I'll head home with most of his belongings. Gil will stay at the hospital to do all the sign out rigamarole and be brought home by his brother Bob, mid afternoon. Bob is expecting to stay and keep the guy company for the next two weeks. What ever else happens, we'll laugh a lot!

I'm heading back early to make sure that the homestead is ready for his still slightly neutropenic self. When I was back the other night, I discovered our refrigerator was 62 degrees (though the fridge freezer was still OK). I emptied it and hope a good thawing and cleaning will produce cold when I turn it back on. If not, ARG!

Next post (hopefully) from the farm.

"Cookin' with gas"

Gil's numbers are kickin' butt!

Hemoglobin steady at 10.5

Platelets up to 18,000

White Blood Count (drum roll) 1.4 (yesterday .5)

Neutephils (another part of the immune system) 1000 (yesterday 250)

His new marrow is being incredibly productive! To put it in perspective, normal White Blood Count is 8-10, as I understand it. So he has a way to go, but is ahead of expectations!

Strength is also improving. We made a full loop of the 6th floor in addition to some physical therapy on stairs.

Food is still ho hum, but he's made it through some soup as well as some of the egg custard I made for him when I went back to the farm last night.

Lookin' GOOD!

Day T plus 11 and growing!

Gil's new bone marrow is producing new white blood cells! and neutrophils!! They both are part of the immune system and his are starting to kick it into gear! With the healing of his throat and intestinal track comes a good deal of sloughing off of cells, so the GI issues are still strong.

He's starting to lose his hair so he asked me to cut it all off (so as to avoid looking moth eaten or mangy) A teenage visitor yesterday had suggested a Mohawk as an interim look, so here you have it. I think I look way too jolly doing it!

A quick look at the numbers for those of you who are interested: After 2 bags of red blood cells, his hemoglobin is up to 10.5 After 2 bags of platelets, he's up to 9000 and (drum roll) his white blood count as of this morn was 0.5, half way to the magic "1.0" he needs for 2 days to be released.

To be released he needs, in addition to the WBC, to have consumed 1000 calories for two days, have walked daily.

Here's hoping for this Friday or Saturday!!

Not Yet

It's been a day.

No increase in white blood cells yet.

This morning and early aft, Gil was in a fog. It devolved into hallucinations where , he said, it was like watching a 35 mil camera film with one out of every 35 frames . . . odd.

He was looking at me and saw a flash of . . . his mother, or a tiger, or the head on a nickle (we since figured out it was G. Washington) etc.

It was funny but a little freaky.

It turns out that, though, that he may have had too much morphine and also been retaining it. So, they took him off his basal morphine but left him with his push button self dosing.

A few hours later, he's woken up and been able to laugh about it, even manage to watch a movie. The pain is manageable.

Progress!! Apple sauce is starting to have a bad after taste, but rice pudding is good! The next few weeks will be an adventure in taste!

We are hopeful that the white blood cells will start kicking it into gear tomorrow, and that we can still make it out of here by the end of the week.

The only way out is UP

This must be bottom.

Last night we had a little drama at bed time when he spiked a fever (expected) and needed to chest x rayed and blood cultured and hooked up to antibiotics etc. ( but starting at 10pm!?!?)

No pneumonia so far! though there have been fevers off and on all day.

Today was the lowest numbers, and the greatest likelihood of infection. He's pretty much always in a semi sleep state, except for a couple of hours this aft when (with 3 obsessive compulsive assistants) he completed a 300 piece jig saw puzzle!

Food = apple sauce. There was hope for tolerating rice pudding this eve but no luck so far!

We should start seeing a rise in his white blood cells tomorrow (made by his own new bone marrow!)

The only way out is UP!