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Day +18: Engraftment!

The MD Anderson blood testing process is a factory.  When you go in for a blood draw, there is a bank of over 50 stations ready to draw your blood.  Combined with all the test requests from the hospital rooms like mine, from the buildings full of clinics, blood donations,... it’s amazing they can turn around results within an hour.   

Yesterday (Day +17), they had a technical issue that backed up this process and had to redraw my blood late in the afternoon.   This turned out to be a godsend as the result was a White Blood Cell (WBC) count of 0.1.  This result, repeated and confirmed this morning, means I currently have 100 WBCs per liter of blood.  The average person walks around with 5 liters of blood and within the normal range of 5-10 thousand WBCs per liter.  So, I have around 500 white blood cells on the way to a normal level of over 25,000. It’s not much, but something to build upon.  And most importantly, it means the engraftment process is continuing as it should!

Today is the 25th day of my hospital stay and I continue to be on continuous IV fluids and a continuous IV anti-donor rejection medication called tacrolimus.  I had spiked a fever last Friday and was put on an IV antibiotic regime. I’ve been getting daily platelet infusions and get about 12 pills per day. The good news is they are starting to discuss a hospital discharge timeframe.  If everything continues to improve, it is looking like some time next week.  We’ve met some wonderful people on our walks over these past 25 days and Connie has some great stories from people she met in the laundry room.  It so helpful and insightful to share conservations with others on a similar journey.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.  I hope you can make the most of it with friends and family, enjoy good food and continue your traditions.   I’m fortunate to have Connie with me (we’ll be ordering Uber Eats) and to have Tara and Eric together in Colorado.  

Love you all,

Gary

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 24, 2020 at 9:24 PM

    Thanks for the update Gary!! Sounds encouraging for sure, our thoughts are with you every day. Enjoy Thanksgiving with Connie, we will look forward cooking you a turkey next Thanksgiving :-).

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownNovember 24, 2020 at 9:45 PM

    Love you Buddy! Keep up the positive energy and good fight. You are winning the battle! Happy Thanksgiving to you and Connie. I'm so grateful and thankful for our friendship.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownNovember 24, 2020 at 11:06 PM

    Great to hear the news Gary! Belle and I are amazed by your technical writing ability, especially given what you've gone through. Nothing can stop you. Lots of Love! Happy Early Thanksgiving!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nort and SusanNovember 25, 2020 at 9:40 AM

    Gary thanks so much for the encouraging update! We are so thrilled that the process is working and that your "Friend" showed up! We love you and hope you and Connie have a really Great Uber Eats Turkey Day.

    ReplyDelete
  5. NeilNovember 30, 2020 at 11:18 AM

    Glad to see the positive news! Hope things are still on track and that you and the family had a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ward QuarlesNovember 30, 2020 at 1:25 PM

    Stay focused on your goals. Good to hear you have a local support system for both of you.

    ReplyDelete

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