A WEE BIT BETTER...

 A “Wee bit” better 

I thought ‘wee bit’ was Irish, but appears be Scottish in origin, based on mid 15^th century Old English.  But I digress which is good news, as there’s no huge news from Kristina.  She says she’s a ‘wee bit’ better. 

She did have some fevers last night, and is now on 2% oxygen, with her vitals near normal.  Again, grading on a curve, generally positive news.  Platelet count jumped from 5 to 40 with yesterday’s transfusion, and they’re going to see how long she can maintain that.  Normal is between 150 and 400, so 40 is low.  But better than 5. 

On the other front the Neutrophils have moved from zero to ‘too few to count’.  Unfortunately this doesn't mean much.  It's like going from zero to nil.  Or going from nothing to zilch.  Effectively her count is still, well, too few to count.

The 24^th is still the target date for the BMA test for her blast cell count.  As she approaches that date, there are many ‘small’ questions that need to be resolved – will she still need oxygen?  Will she still be on Vancomycin? Is the C. Diff resolved? How’s her Neutrophil count?  So many things that influence the hospital discharge date and the BMA test date.  Everybody is different responding to Chemo and as doctors rotate in and out some have different opinions – but uncertainty is part of the game.  It’s frustratingly normal for these types of cases.  Variability with each patient and their own bodies reaction, then variability with how different doctors view results.   

Part of the patients' task (and their advocates) is how to assimilate the various pieces of information and make sense of it – while accepting that some things aren’t knowable now.   

The BMA test results are a huge milestone.  Medically, emotionally, it’s big.   

The doctors are concerned about the diarrhea.  The C. Diff was very much an unwanted thing and the medical folks are paying attention to it.  There are only so many fronts you want to battle on and that’s an ongoing issue for now (for the sake of the readers, we’ll not cover the details.  Or use the word explosive.  Ooops).  

Other than some internet issues connecting today (with everything else, really?) nothing too much to report.  She's a wee bit better.   With occasional explosions.