Today was, well, much like the past several. On the plus side, Logan's WBC count continued on an upward trend; yesterday it was at .2, and this morning it moved up to .5. Not the huge jump that he experienced last cycle, but Philippa was very pleased to see it and seems to think that real recovery is emminent. The transplant nurse left detailed instructions for the doctor on call this weekend: If his WBCs reach 1.0, he's supposed to receive double doses of GCSF, which is essentially a stem cell production booster, in preparation for his scheduled stem cell harvest this coming week. In addition, Adam and I both separately agree that his right eye finally does look quite a lot better. He's still not tracking them together, but it moves more freely to the right (whereas before it would get 'stuck' in the middle) at times and seems to be more centered in general. We've explained to him that not wearing the patch could make his eye not work right later, and he seems to have internalized that; he'll willingly wear the pirate patch at times. And it does seem to make a difference. Who knows if it'll be a change that sticks, but at least it looks a bit better now. That kind of good sign is worth its weight in emotional and mental gold.
On the not-so-plus side are a few items. For one, the fever continues. All of his blood cultures continue to come back negative, which is good, but we learned today that he once again has c-diff, so he started a course of Flagyl this afternoon to take care of it and is back on contact precautions (which means medical staff have to wear funny yellow gowns and gloves when they come into the room).
Two, his platelets were low (19) and his hemoglobin borderline (8.8) so he received both today. Just to repeat myself, please, please consider giving blood if you can. It might literally save someone's life, and every time I see another bag of platelets or blood, I mentally give thanks to God for the opportunity we have to share in this way, and to the person who donated. Right after the platelet transfusion finished, his breathing became rapid and shallow, his pulse was absolutely racing, his pulse ox (which should be at least 90) dropped into the 80s and he was more pale than usual. It was scary, but his nurse (Allisonn today, one of Logan's faves) and Dr. George the resident were on top of it. They determined that it was likely the result of him having taken in more fluid than he'd released (via pee) during the day. And indeed, after he peed 600 ccs in about 20 minutes, he looked much better. Adam told me later that he'd puzzled over how Logan had managed to weigh 16 kg this morning when he'd measured in the 14s for a week now, so the retention made sense as an explanation.
He spent much of the afternoon sleeping and seemed just completely spent. When he was awake, he often asked for ice water in his sweet, polite and pleading little voice, and it was so hard to turn him down each time. Dr. Golden okay'ed small amounts of ice, but nothing else for the time being. Hopefully he'll be able to go off NPO status soon. He caught me eating a cupcake when he bolted awake this afternoon and was sad when he asked if he could have some and I had to say no. :/ So many things about this just suck.
Anyway, please pray for increasingly improved counts so we can get the stem cell harvest done soon and banked for later. And well, in general, total healing. There are so many things plaguing his little body right now that it would take me half an hour to write it all out and explain. But God knows what needs to be fixed.
On the non-Logan centric front, I'm happy to report that our new renters moved in today (I assume), and that they signed a two-year lease. It'll be nice to not have to worry over it for a while. (Now we just need libor to stay low so we won't get into trouble when the ARM on it resets next summer!)
Thank you for your prayers and support.
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