Day +8

Another crappy day. I got back to the hospital around 10:30 this morning after catching up on sleep (12 hours) at my mom's house. Tim took care of her last night. From the updates, she ran a fever most of the night, but luckily woke up this morning without one. They ran a bunch of tests to check for infection. Chest xray, urine sample, blood samples. All came out clear today. Her fever spiked this afternoon, again right after the platelet transfusion (which she had to have again today.) It is now hovering around 100.3. They just came in and told us that if it gets to 100.5 they will do another round of tests. Unfortunately we don't find out those results for 24 hours. She has been given 4 bags of antibiotics since the first fever, so hopefully we are catching any infection.

As far as her blood counts, her wbc are still at 0.0, platelets are 10, and red blood cells 80, I think. She needed a platelet transfusion, which by the way, is the nastiest color yellow I have ever seen, and a bag of potassium. In addition to all that junk, they have her on the normal cocktail of antibiotics, anitvirals, antifungals, and fluids.

It is just a waiting game at this point. I am praying we will see some white blood cells in the next couple days. We will all feel so much better. In the meantime, I am trying my best to keep my mom positive and moving as much as possible so fluid won't build up and clotting won't occur. The physical therapist showed us some bed exercises to do. We both worked out our butt muscles yesterday.

Mandi and I are planning her diet when she returns home. For the first couple months she is on a immuno-suppressed diet, which means she has to be careful with fresh foods. Then she will be back on the blood thinners (for the rest of her life) so we have to monitor her levels of Vitamin K. It will be a hard balance to coordinate foods that are cancer fighting and foods that aren't too high in Vit K, so that her blood clots will be managed. We almost have it down.

Back to my bench. I hope my mom has a better night. At least one without fever, infection, nausea, or stomach pains. Something comfortable. And lots of sleep! For us both.

All the nurses and doctors on this wing love her. Her sweetness is infectious. Everyone is routing for her, especially the peson who loves her most!