Day 18: Changes

After a good night's sleep in my own bed, I was awakened by a call from Krista at 6:30 am. She was given platelets earlier and was having an extreme reaction to them. The reaction was in the form of hives that were visibly growing, as if they were chasing each other around her extremities. I prayed with her and drove back down to the City of Hope to be with her again. When I checked in with her on the road, she told me that they were able to stop the reaction with some medicines, but she was expecting to have to redo the platelets later after the medicine wore off. The nurse said, when I got there, that her platelet level was 34k, which is relatively good for her. They only transfuse under 20k, so the redo wasn't necessary.

Krista had her hair cut while I was away. She doesn't like how she looks without hair, but she has a really cute bonnet that she bought at the farmer's market they host at the City Of Hope every Thursday. She bought it about a month ago, but now she has need of it. Isn't it cute on her?

Glenn, Jannelle, Krista and I watched some video highlights of the choir performance last night. It was funny, because when I surprised Trevor by coming home to watch it he told me he didn't want me to go to the performance. I asked him why and he said, "Because you're going to record it and then Mom will put it on Facebook!" So, I promised him that I wouldn't do that, so you can't see the video here. Too bad, it was pretty cute.

It's been 9 days since the transplant so we are expecting her white blood count to start to increase soon, perhaps even tomorrow. That's pretty exciting because that would be the first signs that the transplant was successful. Of course, along with the increase of white blood count, they also begin looking for signs of Graft-Versus-Host Disease (GVHD). This is where the new immune system recognizes parts of her body as a foreign entity and starts to attack it. A small amount of GVHD is good, because it helps clear out any leukemia that survived the chemo. Too much can be dangerous. We're praying for just the right balance, which only the Lord knows exactly how to achieve.

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time for war and a time for peace.
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-9)