The Good Signs Continue

I have just talked with Amy and gotten further updates on Katie's cell counts, her medications and her experiences wandering the halls outside her room. Katie's white blood cell count is now up to 1007. Her hemoglobin is currently 8.8. Her platelets are a blissful 103,000 which should mean that petechia are a thing of the past for now. Her antibiotics have been cut from the three that were giving her the nastier side-effects of whole body hives and the deteriorating stomach lining to just one. The remaining antibiotic is Ceftazidime, a drug that she has had in the past with no side-effects.

Katie is still feeling good. In fact, she walked on her own today without help from her mom. She found a little shopping cart to play with and she walked down the hall to a little kitchen area just for the patients at Baird 5. The room contains a fridge (stocked with ice cream, Popsicles, and milk), a microwave, a water and ice dispenser and cupboards filled with things like crackers, cereal, soup, and other kid friendly food. She put a container of ice cream in her cart, grabbed a spoon and headed down the hall to eat in the play room. Unfortunately, after twelve days of mostly bed rest and no walking, she was a bit unsteady on her feet and she ended up falling down and getting very upset about that. Her ability to walk has also been compromised the the Vincristine that she received as her last chemotherapy drug. It can effect a person's nervous system and make it difficult for the legs and feet to do what they are supposed to do.

Aside from that, she is having a really good day, and that has put Amy in a really good mood as well. Looking ahead to next week, we may actually be able to bring her home again. Bringing her home this weekend may even be a remote possibility. Of course, no doctor has been foolish enough to say this. I'm just sharing my hopes in a public forum.