Feb 11, Day +15 Date nite

Delayed:  Sorry for the delay, Internet was tripping out, I was too tired to mess with it last night.

"Just the Facts"--  Sleepy today, finally the white cells show up, new meds for the rash.

I haven't said much about the white blood cell count because they are low, demolished from the chemo and kept down by all the immuno-suppressant drugs.  The other reason is that they are so low the lab test machines are not sensitive enough to read the cells at this low amount.  They have to increase to get a reading.  Well, today the white blood cells showed up.  The amount was small, but the great news is that the platelets don't start holding their levels until the whites start to show up.  So we crossed another hurdle.  Being Friday, we had a hospital date nite planned.  We were going to watch a movie and have creamsicle Popsicles.  Sounds great, right!  Well we were joined by Benadryl 50 mg, 2 bags of red blood cells and 1 bag of platelets 5 pack.  The Benadryl was all that was needed to put Brad out, but it was chased with the blood and platelets and there went the evening.  Oh don't worry, I didn't have high hopes for a fabulous date.  There has not been a night or day that I have been there, that B didn't fall asleep for a period of time.
At this point, any time he can catch some sleep is just fine with me.

Although B is weak and tired most the time, he does have some moments when he feels OK.  It is in these moments that he will return a call or types an e-mail.  Under normal conditions he is usually a chatty Cathy!  So the recipients who get these calls or e-mails, just think he doesn't sound sick!   Well those people cannot see the 5 tubes that run from his chest catheter to his monster drip pole that is 20 pounds to push.  They also don't see that he can only manage 2 to 3 laps around the hospital ward.  Each leg of the triangle has 6 doors, so the ward is really very small.  After that he is wiped out and needs to lay down.  Also my sister wanted me to rewind on GVH, I made reference to GVH, about this item earlier in the blog Jan 24. GVH is a side effect of transplant patients.  Almost 50% get it.  It stands for Graph versus Host and is where the graphed cells fight with the host cells.  You see the host cells are fighting for their territory, which is what they were made to do and they don't want to give up easily, even with all the drugs given to reduce their abilities.  This disease effects certain organs, skin, mouth, eyes, liver, kidney.  It can range from mild to severe and can show right away or after 100 days.  All the studies say, that it is actually good to get a little bit of this.  These patients tend to do better.  I don't understand that.  But then so much of this process is way over my head.  Anyhow we will wait to see what the results of the biopsy says.  Until then, enjoy this gorgeous weather we are having!  Spend the day with some of your favorite people. I am learning this more each day.
Until next time,
Hopeful Believer.