At Todd's Day +55 treatment and doctor's appointment, on Monday, November 11, 2014, everything was on schedule and there were no problems. His counts overall were good and on the rise, but there was a slight drop in his Platelets. Two out of four of his CBC counts are now in the normal range. Here are the results:
White Counts: 4.43 or 4,430. Normal range is 3.70-11.0
Hemoglobin: 11.5 Normal range is 13.0-17.0
Platelets: 47,000 Normal range is 150,000-400,000
Absolute Neut (ANCs) 3.44 or 3,440 Normal range is 1.45-7.50
We were a little concerned in the drop in his Platelets (went from 58,000 to 47,000), but after talking with his BMT nurse coordinator, she said that they typically see a slight drop in the Platelets from day 50-60 (Not sure why).
That day, we ran into another former patient that Todd was in the hospital with. He said he experienced the same drop in his numbers and even had to have a transfusion of blood due to lower hemoglobin at the 50-60 day point. When asking him about his chimerism or percentage of donor vs. self bone marrow left, he said he had gradual drops in his own bone marrow and that he was now at 100% of his donor's bone marrow cells and 0% of his own. He had his transplant about a week before Todd.
We also had breakfast with another former patient and friend we meet in the hospital. She was at a similar chimerism as Todd, but her CBC counts were a bit stronger. They started reducing her other immunosupporessant, Tacrolimus, just that week.
When Todd saw his BMT doctor later that morning, she said that they would probably begin reducing his Tacrolimus next week. They also drew blood work for another chimerism report, but it will likely take 1-2 weeks to get the results as usual.
The best news has been that Todd has not seen an obvious signs of Graft v. Host Disease since he was taken off his first immonosuppressant, Cellcept, last week. Todd's magnesium results were also steady after reducing his magnesium supplements from 6 to 4 tablets per day.
I still take his vitals twice per day, and there has been no sign of fever or high/low blood pressure. Todd is doing so well! We have no complaints! Well...except to go home.
Speaking of home, we had the doctor's permission to go home for a weekend visit the first time in two months! We arrived in Cleveland on Sunday, September 7 and got to go home for our first visit on November 7, 2014! It was so wonderful. I was able to cook using my gas range and oven! We were able to stretch out in our king size bed and sleep with our favorite pillows. The greatest thing was getting to see our daughters and parents. And of course, my dog! I'm sorry to say I didn't take one photo the whole weekend! We were living in the moment, every moment of everyday! We didn't get to go to church, because that is frowned on by the doctor (too many people, shaking hands, hugging, etc.), but we hope to go soon.
55 days down, 45 more to go!
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