T plus 11

Despite the fact that Jan's throat remains ulcerated, the doctors decided to administer the final dose of Methotrexate. As you may recall, this is the nasty drug that caused the mouth sores in the first place; however, it also the drug that best combats the possibility of GVHD (graft versus host disease). The decision whether or not to administer the final dose is always a last minute one after an examination of the mouth and throat. The doctors must then weigh the added aggravation of the mouth sores against that the drug will cause against the possibility of avoiding future complications. So, at 2:30 this afternoon, the final dose was given. Jan has been pretty much been asleep for the past 36 hours. She does get up to use the restroom, but once she returns to her bed, she's quickly asleep again. Her attention span is about ten seconds. She really is not aware of the time of day, day of week, or even where she's at sometimes. She remains on oxygen when she sleeps and has continuous I.V.'s running. As I look at her I.V. pole right now, she has five pumps attached, each which can handle from one to five lines of medication, fluids, nutrition, etc. For instance, there are currently ten bags hung and dripping. Having said all that, things are progressing normally. Her WBC actually increased to 60 to 210 today (with the normal being somewhere between 4,000 to 10,000. While the increase sounds insignificant, it's actually a good sign to see a reversal. Her WBC the previous five days went from 1030, to 400, to 150, to 140, and finally to 60 yesterday. Hopefully, this is an indication that her counts will start to slowly increase and that engraftment of Pack's stem cells will take place and start producing healthy blood cells. They have increased the minimum platelet count from 10,000 to 20,000. Since her count this morning was 12,000 she will be receiving platelets again this afternoon. Onward to T plus 12...........