Day 6

This is what we term our day 6 as last Thursday was day 0, being the day she received her healthy stem cells back.  Depending on what Doctor you talk to Gracie is doing well, everything she is experiencing is par for the course.  The two infections she did get seem to be gone, as her last four blood cultures have been negative.  The infections she did get were of the strep and staff varieties, which were common skin bacteria which us regular people fight off all the time, however when you have no immune system these things can make you quite sick.  Gracie continues to be lethargic and sleepy, and a tad whiny, if I may say so, but she has such a great personality that this is most often the worst you get from her.  Hell I would be nasty to be around if I had to endure the same things she does.

Her neutrophils are still at 0 and her platelets are only at 27 despite two platelet transfusions.  She has started her TPN nutrition as she is just not eating enough to sustain her, she has lost a kilogram of weight in the last few days and she has started her morphine as we believe that her Mucositis has started but in her throat so she was crying when she swallowed.  But hey nothing like a little morphine, as yesterday she wanted to be back riding the trike around ward!  She sometimes looks like a little drunken sailor.

So all in all I am out of my funk and feeling pretty positive these days.  One day at a time in here and we may start to see a turn around by Sunday or early next week as far as Gracie's attitude and energy levels return to normal as her blood counts come up.  She still manages to make me laugh as she is giving every Doctor stink eye, even Marty who was her favorite.  It's almost like she's saying "What the hell did you guys do to me?".

Will keep you posted.

Love to all

The Sterks