Just when we think the days can't get any longer, enter Day +10.
Everything went as usual - weight, vitals, labs. Weight is maintaining, but Andy's heartrate was 102. Our nurse, Emma, thought it best to order some fluids right away. Andy's GI track has been mostly behaving, but has still given him a little trouble, so may as well have some fluids. Plus, he slept a lot yesterday, and maybe didn't drink as much as he should have.
ALSO - side note - and maybe I said this already, maybe not. Chemo has ruined ice cream and Gatorade for Andy. Every time he thinks of those two things, he gets nauseous, remembering the day he had to force himself to keep his mouth freezing cold (although, it seems to have worked and we really seem to have avoided any sort of mouth sores!)
His temperature was 98.4 and it always seems to be higher at the hospital then at home. We all knew we were going to get platelets - They couldn't jump that much, given their track record; however, we still expected a relatively quick day.
Labs started coming back - Potassium, Magnesium and Creatinine were all holding steady.
WBC - .4. .4 BABY!!! We are engrafting!! We were so excited...but holy shit if we aren't so tired, we barely celebrated.
Platelets are doing their thing too. We were at 14 today, but that's up since yesterday's 11!
AND we had measurable ANC - .31, up considerably from the last several days at 0.
Andy's temperature kept increasing while we were at the hospital, getting to 99.8 at one point, but hovering around 99 the entire time. Emma wants us to keep a close eye on that temp. Remember when I said we didn't need to 'worry' about Engraftment Syndrome. Well, as much as we don't need to worry about it, we still need to be very aware of it. Engraftment Syndrome will be Andy's body's natural immune response to the rapid increase of his immune system and could create an allergic reaction of sorts. There is nothing we can do to prevent it or control it - unlike my obsession with disinfecting my house and my people that live here. And it's completely manageable - from the hospital - which is like the #1 place we are trying to avoid.
When we got home, Andy's temperature was around 98, but I'm hypersensitive right now and am resisting the temptation to go into the room where he's sleeping and take his temperature. 😬 We've come this far - I don't want the one thing we've been waiting for (engraftment) to come with a negative!
So anyway - fluids and platelets and then we waited. For over an hour we waited to see a doctor. We were going crazy. Literally pacing our little room. FINALLY around 11 the doctor came to see us. Listened to Andy's lungs, looked at his skin, poked his tummy, asked two questions, and left. Ugh. That's the same thing everyone else has done - why did we need to stay for that?
So now we are tired and frustrated! But we got to go home. Andy immediately went up to bed. These trips to the hospital just wipe him out. He's been sleeping for about 3 hours now - or at least, he's been upstairs in bed for that time.
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