Thursday, July 3 - A RollerCoaster Day

The Up's and Down's are frustrating as we continue to move forward. Chris had a roller coaster of a day today. She had a good appetite this morning and ate a good breakfast. Then while brushing her teeth she got lightheaded and actually fell in the bathroom. She fell against the shower curtain and into the bathtub. That was very scary and she doesn't remember how it happened, other than that she thought it was all in slow motion. All I heard was a scream and a crash, and I ran to find her almost passed out. As she has a low level of platelets, her skin bruises very easily and her back looks like it was beaten up. We were lucky, but from now on she has me as a personal escort when she is standing at the sink in the bathroom.



At the hospital today they did the normal lab work with these results:

Measurement / Chris / Normal Range / Result
WBC (white) /3.0/ 4.0 - 11.0 / LOW
RBC (red) / 2.9 / 4.2 - 5.4 / LOW
HGB (Hemoglobin) / 9.5 / 12 - 16 / LOW
Platelet / 67.0 / 150 - 400 / LOW

The white blood cells went from 1.7 to 3.0 and are recovering nicely. The hemoglobin went from 14 to 67, but two bags were added yesterday (Wednesday) so it is not known if the bone marrow is producing any or not. Yet, this is alot better than 14.

So the medical team was pleased with the blood counts. However, Chris has an unusual increase in edema (swelling) in her abdomen and ankles. Nobody was sure what is causing this, but they treat it with a diuretic (Lasik) which seems to work. Overall the numbers looked good enough that they gave us Friday (July 4th) off. No visit to the hospital at all, but back on both Saturday and Sunday. This was great to hear and everyone felt good about the progress. Chris ate a good lunch and we left at about 3;00 for the day, knowing we were heading for a long and very slow weekend. It had been a hell of a week with 4 nights in the hospital and we were glad to finally get a break. Unfortunately our confidence was fleeting. Within an hour of being back at the apartment, Chris started vomiting. Unfortunately these were not small little nausea episodes but some very bad vomiting, where I know she lost both of her previous meals. I felt so bad for Chris as she really had a good appetite, the doctors gave her a thumbs up heading into the weekend, and bang, a very tough night. She has been vomiting all night and is just falling asleep at midnight tonight. Thus a real roller coaster of a day, and very frustrating. But as always, she did not complain once, she just lets it happen and moves on.

Last night I cut her hair as close to her scalp as I could without nicking her skin. Good thing, as what was left has been flying all over the place today. Think of a pillow fight where the pillows break open, and you can imagine what is flying around the apartment. I bought one of those sticky lint rollers, and one or two passes requires a change in the sheet. She is wearing a hat or a scarf, but I keep telling her to go au naturale and let people think she is trying to make some kind of a fashion statement. I never thought my wife would allow me to play "barber" on her head, but it looked pretty good considering I had no idea what I was doing.

This will be a long weekend for Chris if we don't get the vomiting resolved. We are going to lay very low, catch up on some sleep, and try to eat some good meals. It will be a very strange July 4th, no parades and no fireworks, just a day devoted to getting Chris' body back in balance. It will be a July 4th that we will always remember and will reflect back on many years from now.

Our best wishes for a great July 4th to our US friends, and to all our friends around the world, thanks for checking in on Chris. She knows how many people are rooting for her.