Tuesday, May 1, 2012

A Big Day with Big News!

Proverbs 15:30
"Light in a messenger’s eyes brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones."

I know we've used that verse before, but it's so appropriate that we're using it again.

We just got home from our second visit to the clinic today. Our first visit this morning comprised labs and a visit with the doctor. The second visit was for Tammy's latest bone-marrow biopsy.

The labs turned out great! All her counts are up markedly. We are very pleased with the progress. Her white blood count, which was 2.3 last Friday, was 3.8 today. That means her immune system is building strength. That's a pretty significant jump in just four days. Her platelets also jumped pretty significantly. They were 73 last Friday and are 119 today.

But the biggest jump was her ANC (absolute neutrophil count), which tells the doctor how well her body can fight infection. The magic number for that is 500, because when she hits that number she can stop a couple of the medicines she's been taking, and we can eliminate many of the restrictions from her diet. Plus, we get to kiss each other for the first time since she went into the hospital March 24. Last Friday her level had jumped to around 250 (from 20 the previous Tuesday). Today that number was 1,026! (Excuse me, Doc, I need to kiss my wife!)

We'll find out many of the results from the biopsy tomorrow, and then Thursday we go back for an appointment with the transplant coordinator. We'll learn the plan for the next transplant. We know there's another possible donor, but we don't know if he has accepted the responsibility yet. We'll also find out when Tammy will need to go back into the hospital.

We have to admit that we were anxious as we headed to the clinic this morning. We wondered how we would react if the news had not been good. Our faith is strong, and, deep down, we knew we'd be okay. But it didn't keep those thoughts from gnawing at us. With the news being as good as it was, we laughed a lot this afternoon. We very much enjoy each other's company, but today was extra special.

Many of you have asked if you could bring us a meal. Before today that answer was no. Tammy couldn't eat "home cooking" made by anyone but me, because I knew the precautions to take when preparing her food. Now, while she still has some restrictions, she can handle more things. We're not asking anyone to bring anything, but we also won't turn down a good offer. Just call us and let us know.

More than meals or words of encouragement, we appreciate the prayers being lifted up on our behalf. We felt them today more than ever.

1 comment:

lisa hulbert said...

"Excuse me, Doc, I need to kiss my wife!"- That's awesome! hahaha, kiss away Smales!