Today has been a quiet day. I have had no problems today. No further nosebleeds, no swallowing problems, no fever and no sore throat (so far). "Praise the Lord"!! He is continuing to answer our prayers. I continue to walk well and eat well. My hemoglobin dropped slightly from 10.7 to 9.9. My platelet count has improved from 25,000 to 67,000 after the transfusion. My white count remains low at 0.2 and today there are no neutrophils at all. Monocytes (another kind of white cell) have increased and that is usually a sign that the counts are going to start to go up. Dr. Gupta was covering for Dr. Lanzotti and he thinks I might be able to go home before the end of next week. I hope he is right.
Michael and Teresa came up today and we played a couple of games. They both won one (I did not win any) and we all had a good time. Teresa is baby sitting for Ian (my grandson) tonight. I wish I could have been there but if I was we could not have done it anyway due to my low counts.
Dr. Gupta gave me some information on the donor screening. He said that ideally we would get someone who is young, has never been exposed to CMV(a viral infection) and who is probably male. Young stem cells seem to do better and have less complications. If the donor has never been exposed to CMV and if I was not exposed to it, that also does better. If I have been exposed before it is not a big issue. I have been tested in St. Louis but I do not know the results. Females who have been pregnant before pick up some antigens that are not easily detected by the blood tests. If there are more of these antigens the success rate is lower and the complication rate is higher. It is also helpful if the donor is the same blood type but that is not essential. I hope to find out some further information this coming week.
I hope all of you have a good weekend. I continue to appreciate your prayers. May God bless you.
Doc
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