Update Melba

T+10 - Praise the Lord! Yesterday Michelle's white blood cell count rose from 100 (which it has been at since last week - normal is 4,000-10,000) to 500. The ANC (Absolute Neutrophil Count), which the nurses told me is the part of the WBC's that fight bacteria etc. rose from 0 to 60. So those stem cells must be starting to work!! Michelle even ate part of a popsicle early in the day and for supper had some broth, grape juice, and couple jello cubes - the first she's eaten since last Thursday. She ate that around 6:00 and had kept it down yet when I left at 9:15.

She still sleeps most of the time and still has throat pain so keeps pushing the button for the Dilaudid pain medication that she is now on instead of morphine. But it is a start and we are very thankful. She's still pretty groggy so not much good on the phone yet - maybe a couple more days. Not sure she's up to visitors yet unless you want to just sit and watch her sleep. Though she says her mouth hurts I checked and it is quite pink instead of white with mucositis - gums, tongue, and sides of her mouth tho she does have an open sore on the side of her tongue. So that's a great improvement, too. Friday will be one week in the hospital - I'll try to remember to ask a Dr. or nurse what the criteria is for her to get out or how long they think it may be yet.