Saturday +117 (Rochester Update)

Just a quick note to let everyone know we will be in Rochester for the foreseeable future. It is 10:30 PM and we just received a lab report that says Jackie's blood cultures are positive for some type of infection. This will require a course of IV antibiotics until the cultures turn up negative. We do not know the exact nature of the infection. All I know is that it is a Gram negative bacteria. Gram negative strains can be quite difficult to cure and can be associated with some forms of pneumonia. At this time, Jackie is showing no signs of pneumonia. In fact, she exhibits no signs of being sick.

The good news is the doctors said here CAT scan showed improvement and that all was normal. This included some "ground glass" areas that showed on earlier scans. It also revealed normal lymph nodes.

The other good news is that a FISH tests was performed along with a bone marrow biopsy 2 weeks ago. The tests revealed no discernible CLL cells. She is now classed as a PCR (polymerase chain reaction - a sophisticated DNA test) negative patient. Her marrow is also 100% donor with only a tiny amount of recipient cells. The recipient cells could still harbor some CLL so they will work to reduce this to a zero level.

They did find some unusual precursor cells. They felt they were not significant and only part of the process. The doctor said the type of cells found are usually found only in children and they were a bit puzzled. He didn't seem to be worried about them at all.

Jackie's counts were mixed. Her RBC was 10.2 which was down from 11.8 earlier in the week. Her WBC count was 1.9 with ANC at 1500. This was an improvement from her earlier tests. Her platelets had drifted down to 68. This was a good indicator, along with a low grade fever, that she might have some sort of infection.

We are on our way to the hospital for the first round of antibiotics. They will run another culture and we hope to know more later. With luck, it will be a minor problem. She has not run any fever today. UPDATE: We are back from the hospital. It is 1:00 AM. They will be treating her with the antibiotic, meropenem every 12 hours.

Bruce and Jackie
From Rochester, MN