Day +14
It’s Day +14 and we finally have counts! What that means is after weeks with white blood cell and neutrophil counts being literally non-existent we have numbers (WBC: 0.2 and neutrophils: 0.1) that are registering in our routine daily blood work. This is a good sign that Nick’s body is starting to heal and we’re trending toward engraftment, AKA, the donor’s healthy cells taking over like we want. Currently hanging around virtually no immune system, each day these numbers go up signifies the immune system is getting stronger and stronger and also means Nick’s body can begin to heal from the lingering effects of pre-transplant radiation and post-transplant chemo.
Each day removed from transplant day is a step toward being cured and each day we reach without complications or signs of Graft vs. Host Disease (GVHD) is ideal as our chances for getting them decrease the farther out we get from transplant (though we’ll still need to be on the lookout for signs of GVHD for years and years).
In the near-ish future we’ve got our eye on a few different milestones as we recover – 30 days, 60 days and 90 days – where we’ll do different tests, like a PET scan and chimerism testing, to check and see how much of Nick is still original factory-setting Nick and how much is donor, and the idea and hope is to be 100% donor at Day +90. During this time his blood type (among other things) will start transitioning from type O- to the donor’s blood type, O+, and we’ll start the “maintenance” phase where we’ll have a monthly chemo regimen to help kill any invisible lingering cancer cells that could be left hiding after all of this.
In the even nearer future we expect to be discharged from the hospital at some point in the next week – once we get pain management and meds in balance with our (hopefully) climbing counts. Once home, we’ll be making daily visits to the clinic for routine checks and injections to keep counts climbing.
And to everyone who shared a video with me for Nick, thank you! He has really enjoyed hearing from and seeing each and every one of you as he recovers!!
