Jamie’s cough continues to persist and unfortunately is making it very difficult for her to sleep or keep food down. She saw her transplant doctor today and was told it’s looking likely it may be the first symptoms of graft vs. host. That may sound bad, but it’s actually kind of a good thing. As I mentioned a few times before, all transplant patients go through some form of graft vs. host. In fact, at one point we were told it was necessary in order for the stem cells to graft properly. The danger lies when there is too much graft vs. host and the medical staff is unable to control it. In Jamie’s case, she’s right where they expect her to be. The last few medications haven’t helped with the cough, so they’ve prescribed steroids for her cough and an inhaler, kind of like what people with Asthma use, to help keep her airway open and clear.
The throat culture results came back negative, but they still believe she has a cold or some form of infection on top of the graft vs. host and are re-doing the throat culture test. They’ve also scheduled an endoscopy (camera down the throat) later this week to make sure her stomach is undamaged from the transplant. The endoscopy is standard procedure for all transplant patients and there is no present concern about her stomach. Regardless, please PRAY for a clean results from the endoscopy. We’re on the right track for her restoration of health and we can’t afford any complications.
Now it is my pleasure to list the good news for the day:
- The chest x-ray was clean
- The kidney test results were good
- The liver test results were good
- The blood levels are doing GREAT! Doctors seem very, very pleased with the results.
- Red blood cells, which carry the oxygen through the body are up to 13.5. I believe 14 or 15 is considered normal. She was at 7 when diagnosed in June while pregnant and they couldn’t believe she was still walking.
- Platelets, which are essentially the blood’s clotting agent, are up to 105.
- I don’t have a number for the white blood cells (body’s immunity), but I would imagine they are still on the low side and climbing steadily.
Overall it looks as though her new blood/immune system has kicked in and is producing new cells on its own. Ultimately, when she has her bone marrow biopsy, they’ll be able to validate this fact by analyzing the marrow tissue itself. Since her original marrow cells had been compromised by the Leukemia, we need this biopsy to show a very high concentration of donor cells, preferably 100% . This would mean her compromised marrow has been replaced completely by the donors.
So the cough is really the only nagging issue at this stage. Please continue praying that the cough will pass. I’m confident that once it does and she’s able to sleep and eat, she’ll start recuperating very quickly.
…And if my prayers are answered, she’s going to WOW her doctors!
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That's right Jamie – you blow those doctors away girl!Yay! And still praying…….:)
Will certainly be praying that cough will subside.
We will keep praying that the good news will keep coming! Thanks for the update!