Day +16

Day +16 We've been pretty busy the past couple of days taking care of Katlyn. Her appetite has gone way down. It is so frustrating because she normally is very picky eater, but right now she doesn't want to eat anything. Even the things she usually loves are not so appealing anymore. This is so frustrating because so far she has been able to avoid the feeding tube, and we are so close to making it through this without one. We do our best to push her and motivate her as much as we can but it is very tough because of her nausea and her dislike for food right now. In the past two days we have seen an increase in her leukocytes, which would be her white blood cells. She still has no neutrophils, which is the first white blood cell we look at, as of yet, but soon. Our first milestone will be with the neutrophils. Once Katlyn reaches 500 she will not be in danger as much as right now. She will actually be able to leave her room, with a mask and many precautions, but still!!! Pretty soon I will be talking about the neutrophils a lot. As we wait for Katlyn's immune system to start growing, Katlyn may feel very crummy and there may be some side effects for her like fever for instance. That is how yesterday and today has been for her. She has been experiencing headache, nausea, fatigue, chills, dizziness. Basically feeling like crap. Today Katlyn woke up feeling nauseous, and even with the meds they gave to help with this, she still felt like crap. She refused to take gravol as it makes her fall asleep, so I asked the nurse to give it to her without her knowledge. I just couldn't watch her feel like that. She did not need a transfusion yesterday or today, but her platelets are quite low. This evening she was eating a bit and smiling, so fingers crossed she is starting to feel better.