Wednesday +233 (Evening)

Just a quick note to say that Jackie has been doing reasonably well, however she has been running a low-grade fever for the last 24 hours. She began experiencing some bone and muscle pain and just a general feeling of malaise. Today she went for a CBC blood test and we found that her ANC (neutrophils) were once again almost non-existant. They were at .1 (100). Anything below .5 (500) is considered neutropenic and subjects her to a higher risk for colds, infections, etc. and could easily be the reason for her low-grade fever. Her normal counts were actually quite good. Her RBC count was 11.6. Her total WBC count was 4.6 and her platelets were 180. These all show good improvement.

She has decreased her Cyclosporine level to only 25mg per day. This is the final step prior to being completely removed from her immunosuppresson regimen. She is experiencing some minor nausea and gastrointestinal discomfort. This could be due to a minor flare of GvHD. If it doesn't get any worse then there should be no problems.

In order to increase her neutrophil level she was given a shot of growth factor. They will conduct another CBC on Friday and if the ANC is still low she will receive another shot.

Until later,

Bruce and Jackie
From Pryor (expecting 5-9 inches of snow tomorrow)