Thu, 31 Jul 2003

Bottoming Out

Hey there. It's been a rough couple days. Jade is definitely bottoming out.

He is neutropenic (no immune system; white count is at .3) and being given anti-fungal drips at night to help his body stave off infections. The last two nights he has had really strong reactions to this medicine (shivers, shakes and then was given Demerol to which he promptly started throwing up). Weds night he did have an infection (they cultured it but I don't know what the results are yet) and a fever (they gave him meds and packed him in ice to break it). Food has gotten to hard for him to take on his digestive system and he started the TPN (food/nutrition through his line) last night. He had to have a transfusion yesterday since his hermaticrit was at a 23. They will watch his platelete count today and perhaps do a platelete transfusion if necessary.

We knew this would be the hard week as his counts are bottoming out and it's living up to be everything and more we expected. Jade is quite drained and exhausted. Despite this fact, yesterday was the first day he didn't at least leave the room and walk the halls. After his shower he did a few calestentics in the room (toe raises, squats) to make his body use some major muscle groups. With the last few nights being so rough and being so tired, Jade is able to doze during the day more. He is trying to remain focused and positive and wants to come home as soon as it's safe.

I'm tired but hanging in there. Hard to watch Jade go through this. Jade and Garrett both miss each other these last few days. Thanks for the emails and cards and calls. Hopefully the bottoming out will end and we'll be on the back side of this soon. Take care and we'll keep you posted.........

Love..............Tanya and co.