Post Transplant Day 11
The stem cells are growing; happy dance day!
And in all likelihood we should have danced on Saturday. Remember I posted that because the wbc had gone up when his blood was taken Saturday morning it probably meant that the neutrophils were growing. It looks like that was a correct assumption. The blood that was taken yesterday (Sunday) was manually read this morning and it had a neutrophil count of 0.5, which is a large first count. The even better news is today’s count. 2.0 is the bottom of the normal range for neutrophils, and today Karl’s count was 2.4. That’s likely better than most of you who are reading the blog unless you have an infection of some sort that your body is fighting. Those little stem cells are warriors!
Karl’s platelets are still 14 today, but that’s ok because they grow after neutrophils, and Karl’s new bone marrow will produce neutrophils first now until the sores in his mouth go away and the other digestive system damage from the chemo is repaired. His potassium is also still down so he is getting it replaced via iv, but that’s his only iv now. He hasn’t had any diarrhea for 30 hours or so, and I’ve done a MacDonalds run and a Burritos run for him with no ill effects.
Still some negatives. He has had some nausea, but it was mild and the meds are keeping it at bay. He still has mouth sores...a new one today...but now he can tolerate the magic mouthwash without gagging and urging, so it is more managed. The worst negative was bone pain, which started late afternoon yesterday and continued to escalate in intensity all night. He was given morphine, but it didn’t really help, and for another night there was no sleep. But, as I told Karl, this was a case of ‘Hurts So Good’, because it was a sign that his new little stem cell warriors were busy at work rebuilding his bone marrow. Since his neutrophils are so high, he no longer has to take Neupogen, the stem cell encourager, so the bone pain will gradually lessen. In fact now the pain is more bearable.
Charlene and Dr. Tompkins were very pleased with his blood results. They encouraged him to eat now that the diarrhea seems to be under control. They didn’t talk at all about a release date, but Charlene came back late this afternoon and said she was going to order a MRI on his kidneys before he was released. The creatinine levels did rise again today, but only to 89 so not alarming. No word on how much longer he will take Vancomycin, but I guess that will depend on both the diarrhea and creatinine.
All in all, a very positive day in this Transplant journey.
And in all likelihood we should have danced on Saturday. Remember I posted that because the wbc had gone up when his blood was taken Saturday morning it probably meant that the neutrophils were growing. It looks like that was a correct assumption. The blood that was taken yesterday (Sunday) was manually read this morning and it had a neutrophil count of 0.5, which is a large first count. The even better news is today’s count. 2.0 is the bottom of the normal range for neutrophils, and today Karl’s count was 2.4. That’s likely better than most of you who are reading the blog unless you have an infection of some sort that your body is fighting. Those little stem cells are warriors!
Karl’s platelets are still 14 today, but that’s ok because they grow after neutrophils, and Karl’s new bone marrow will produce neutrophils first now until the sores in his mouth go away and the other digestive system damage from the chemo is repaired. His potassium is also still down so he is getting it replaced via iv, but that’s his only iv now. He hasn’t had any diarrhea for 30 hours or so, and I’ve done a MacDonalds run and a Burritos run for him with no ill effects.
Still some negatives. He has had some nausea, but it was mild and the meds are keeping it at bay. He still has mouth sores...a new one today...but now he can tolerate the magic mouthwash without gagging and urging, so it is more managed. The worst negative was bone pain, which started late afternoon yesterday and continued to escalate in intensity all night. He was given morphine, but it didn’t really help, and for another night there was no sleep. But, as I told Karl, this was a case of ‘Hurts So Good’, because it was a sign that his new little stem cell warriors were busy at work rebuilding his bone marrow. Since his neutrophils are so high, he no longer has to take Neupogen, the stem cell encourager, so the bone pain will gradually lessen. In fact now the pain is more bearable.
Charlene and Dr. Tompkins were very pleased with his blood results. They encouraged him to eat now that the diarrhea seems to be under control. They didn’t talk at all about a release date, but Charlene came back late this afternoon and said she was going to order a MRI on his kidneys before he was released. The creatinine levels did rise again today, but only to 89 so not alarming. No word on how much longer he will take Vancomycin, but I guess that will depend on both the diarrhea and creatinine.
All in all, a very positive day in this Transplant journey.
Finally, it was a long battle and a long time getting here? Right now, everything is looking pretty good, and improving every day. The final results won’t be fully known until about day 100 post transplant. Can’t wait. Like I’ve said before, Multiple Myeloma has no cure, the goal is to drive it into remission where it is easily manageable, and keep it in remission.
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