Krista's white blood count was up today to 1.63 with 500 nutrophils! That means that she is officially no longer neutropenic. Her mouth pain continues to be horrendous, but the small immune system is making a difference already as the sores seem to be shrinking slightly in size. On informing us of the new numbers, Dr. Schiller also told us that both he and Dr. Gale thought that Krista was making excellent progress. He also said that Dr. Gale had come by yesterday to visit with multiple patients, all at no charge, to keep up his privileges at the hospital. It seems like the visit was helpful for everyone involved.
Krista has continued doing her bed exercises, and was doing well enough with them that she felt like she should be able to start using a bedside commode. We decided to test out getting up onto a regular chair first. She did a great job of sitting up in the bed on her own, and it took some time to adjust to the sitting position before she was ready to stand. With a lot of struggle (assisted by me and the nurse) she made it up to a standing position. The level of effort surprised her. We sat her down after a bit, and then repeated the process to give her some practice. Twice was enough -- she was wiped out and ready for a nap.
It was good thing that she napped, because when she woke up the occupational therapist, the physical therapist, and our friend Linda all showed up at the same time. The OT and PT were excited that Krista had made so much progress, and wanted to see her do it again. This time they had her try to get up with a walker on her own. She was weakened from the earlier attempt and needed some assistance to get up. Once she was up with the walker, the PT had her take a few steps forward and a few steps back and then repeat it. We were all so glad to see her being able to do all that!
Krista went up to the dialysis room for over three hours this evening and had about 2 liters of fluid taken off. It had been about three days since the last one, so even that is a bit of an improvement. Longer breaks between dialysis give the kidneys more opportunity to get stronger. Janelle stayed with Krista while I stepped out to get some dinner and took a walk to the grocery store. Thanks Janelle for the continued support!
It was a very tiring day again, but the progress has lifted our spirits and made it seem more possible to be released sometime soon.
Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
(Proverbs 13:12)
Hope Notes from Krista and Mike is a journal of encouragement as this Christian mom, and supportive husband and caregiver, face the ups and downs of a stem cell transplant after recurring leukemia. Start at the beginning by clicking September 2008 in the archives and reading forward. It's not always pretty, but it's real. We pray you will be blessed by these passages in some way.
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