Day Plus Twenty-Six

We are both excited! Jody has been in the hospital for 32 days and today we get to come home. Dr. Brunvand stopped by about 7:30 am and examined her and told us he has completed the paper work. So baring any complications, we should be home sometime this afternoon.

Jody's counts...
Yesterday, Jody's counts dropped. )-: This is our first drop since we turned up on "Day Plus Sixteen". Can you believe it, that was ten days ago! The nurses take a blood draw at midnight and send it off to the lab. The report comes back around 5:00 am so they can start her IV's. Jody's ANC dropped from 5084 to 4000, which is a drop of 21%. Her HCT dropped from 26.2 to 23.9, which is 9%. The lab has an error rate of plus or minus 5%. There are a lot of factors that effect Jody's blood counts; water intake, food, and other medicines. The BMT team fully expect the counts to go up and down, that is why they are checked daily. Because Jody's HCT is now below 24 she needed a transfusion of blood this morning. In addition, Jody's platelets and WBC counts dropped also. Regardless of what dropped Jody remains in a normal range for discharge. As excited we are about getting out of the hospital the drop in counts has brought us back to the reality that this journey is not over. Jody and I have some big challenges ahead.

We are home!

“Today is a new day. You will get out of it just what you put into it...”  

 Mary Pickford (1892–1979)
Canadian actress, Academy Award® winner
Co-founder of United Artists