A Ray of Sunshine

Just as I was leaving Amy's room tonight, a ray of sunshine broke through the mostly cloudy and rainy skies we've been having for the past several days, lighting up the nearby hillside.  There was very little sunshine inside at the time, as Amy's ordeal drags on for yet another day, but she called us here at home a little while ago, and was sounding better than I'd heard her for many days, and perhaps even weeks, so I am feeling a bit less stressed [again].

Her neutrophil count appears relatively stable at 1500 (just above the neutropenic threshold), and her platelet counts are holding steady at a tolerable level (er, I forget the number).  The foremost concern, on the blood composition level, is her hermatocrit count, which is hovering around 26%; if it dips much lower, she may need to undergo a blood transfusion.

Outside of the bloodstream, Amy's fever has stabilized and her abdominal cramps have subsided.  She still has pain in the area of the radiation burns, compounded by the diarrhea, which remains the chief complaint (even if it's not, technically, the most threatening sympton) at this point.  Unfortunately, we have to wait another 20 hours before the results of the c-dif test are conclusive; until which time, she cannot take anti-diarrheal medications, as they would have a negative impact if she does have a c-difficile bacterial infection.  Meanwhile, she has started a prophylactic course of Flagyl.

It's still too early to tell when she may be able to return from the hospital.  Her birthday is Wednesday, and it would be a welcome "present" if she were well enough to be discharged by then.  However, one thing we have learned through this experience is the benefit in taking one day (sometimes one hour) at a time, and so we are trying to stay prediction- and expectation-free.