Day 9

Day nine was a great day for Kristen. When I arrived at the hospital this morning she was awake, and her blood pressure was back to normal. Apparently another round of lasix did the trick. She didn't have any additional blood product today but would guess she'll get platelets again before the weekend is out. Her white count was up to 0.3 (remember 4-7 is the normal range), but movement is a good thing. It will be interesting to see how quickly it comes up, I don't want to jump the gun here, but if the nasty side effects stay away, and her counts come up, then she'll be able to get out of the hospital sooner than expected. It's still way to early, but the doctors and nurses were very encouraged. As we were walking this afternoon one of the nurses that was involved with her transplant last year asked her if she had seen her blood counts yet today. She hasn't been Kristen's nurse much this go around, but you can tell these folks really care about their patients. I think she was as excited as Kristen.

It looks like Kristen is starting to lose her hair again which was expected. This morning she could pull little pinches of it out. I attached a picture of her, it's hard to see, but it looked like it was coming in lighter than it did last time, and who know how it will come back after this last transplant. You can tell, her face is still a little puffy from all the fluids they are pumping into her but that should get back to normal over the coming weeks. She still has her appetite which is a blessing, and who knows perhaps all the issues she had last year with her throat may pass us by this time.

Please continue to pray for a successful engraftment and praise for the staff here at MD Anderson.

I was also thankful to see that Abby Sunderland is safe, and should be with rescue teams very soon. My heart does go out to those lost in the flash floods back in Arkansas, what a tragedy. Please keep their families in your prayers.

God Bless,

Devin.