4/28/2005

Cells are Engrafting!!!

We can't believe it, but Max's blood counts are starting to rise already! This kid is so amazing!!! Max is at Day 8 following his transplant and is already showing progress. Typically, counts don't start rising until days10-14.

WBC - White blood cells were 0.1 or less over the past week, yesterday 0.4 and today 1.9. Reference WBC 4.0-12.0.

HGB - Red blood (hemoglobin) was 8.1 yesterday and 8.5 today. Reference HGB 11.5-14.5 with transfusion necessary when below 8.0. We were expecting to transfuse today but the counts came up on their own.

PLT - Platelets were18 yesterday and Max did receive a transfusion. Today he's at 33. Reference PLT 140-440 with transfusion when below 20.

ANC - His ANC, which is a combined white cell count and determines how careful you have to be of infection and germs, etc., was 0 over the past week. Yesterday it rose to 126 and today 1121. Reference ANC count is 1500-5500. He well on his way!

The transfusion nurse explained to me that once Max has been above ANC 500 for three days in a row they consider that the Day of Engraftment. Apparently the WBCs come back first followed by HGB then PLT. He may still need blood transfusions, but his cells are growing already!!

Today he's feeling great too. He woke before 7:00am and was active and playful all morning. Even spent and hour on the floor playing with his toys before heading over to the playroom for an hour of Play-do! When we came back to the room his lunch was here and he actually tried one super small piece of a noodle and had about 6 sips of soda pop. Mind you he hasn't put anything in his mouth since last Wednesday. He still has the sores from his mouth to his stomach, so the nurse gave him an extra dose of morphine before lunch. Seems that it worked well.

The news is great, but Max isn't out of the woods yet. It's still a waiting game to get the counts to stay up and possibly an even longer wait to get him to eat! We'll keep you updated!

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