Transplant Day +29

Finally... a quiet day!

THIS IS NOT A JINX!!!!

Logan's bloods today:
white cells: 4.85 (yay)
neutraphils: 4.19 (yay)
platelets: <10 (double transfusion required)
Hb: 68 (transfusion required)
bilirubin: 82 (damn it all!)

My boy has turned somewhat yellow again... face, eyes, chest etc, except where he is red!  They are guessing that his VOD has returned, as it can sometimes do when they try to wean people off of the medicine they use to treat it.  Solution: they are putting the dose up again.

Last night Logan's stomach became distended again. It is not as bad as it was, but was enough of a concern to get the doc in at 1am.  They have had him on constant watch today, with the doc checking on Logan every 3 - 4 hours.  Such fun!  They are uncertain of the reason for the porkiness, however, they are guessing that it could be liver related, or fluid retention into the gut, or fluid retention into the tissue, or a bleed.... A test of his clotting factor showed that it is low, so they have given him vitamin K today to try to fix this.  Also, his Hb being low has confused them somewhat.  This is bucking the trend he has set so far, so there is the possibility of a bleed somewhere.

The albumin was discontinued today, as he has put on a couple of kilos overnight. Talk about walking a tightrope! Logan also discontinued his tramadol today, in a effort to cut down on the drugs he is taking.  His only pain relief now is regular panadol (IV) and buscapan (IV).

A scan was taken of Logan's liver today which showed quite a bit of fluid around the base of the lungs and some of the organs.  Not sure if that mean in the organs or floating around them... waiting for the doc to come and explain, but apparently they didn't feel the need this evening!

Breathing has become an issue for Logan.  He is not on oxygen any longer, but if he gets out of bed to be weighed or to stretch, he falls back to bed exhausted.  A physiotherapist came to see him today and discussed with him, the damage that was being done to his body by the drugs he is taking!  His muscles are breaking down, and his lungs are not inflating properly any more. She is going to come daily to do exercises with him... though he should not mind this as she is particularly pretty.

Although I have not mentioned it, Logan's diarrhea has not abated... it continues at an exhausting rate.  We received the results from the biopsy this afternoon which said that there was definite degradation of the bowel.  Unfortunately it has come away so badly that the crypts that are needed to diagnose GVHD are no longer there.  Consequently, and due to the lack of all other viral/bacterial tests coming back positive, they have called it positive for GVHD.  They have decided to reduce the steroid and give a new drug which is an immuno-suppressant. Logan's body is proving to be a kete of complications!

It is a relief that his graft is taking, cause everything else is going pear shaped!  But today, we tried to smile.  Logan had quite a few sleeps, and at one point amused his nurse Sabrina and I, by spending over an hour dreaming and mumbling to himself... it was a joy to watch something so normal.

Emma came to visit this afternoon, and Logan slept through most of it.  Evan spent the best part of the day working at Ronald McD, and returned at 6pm to cook me dinner.  Our kind nurse, as she had Logan 1-1, watched him so that we could eat our dinner together.  We get this 15 minutes most days, just to enjoy each others company and relax.  We are very grateful for it.

Well that's all I've got in my novel today...

TTFN