Nancy's Update

Nothing much new to report today. Last Saturday I received a unit of platelets from Scott. To date, I haven't needed another platelet transfusion. The HLA typed platelets seem to last longer, but as my doctor said today, we should save his for when I really need it. He doesn't want me to build up immunity to Scott's platelets. Although, I do not fully understand how all this works, I really appreciate all of you who have donated platelets to me. Warren was here this weekend and donated platelets today without incident. I will still use your precious units and want to thank you for your continued support.

The doctor turned off the ocntinuous morphine this morning, but I can still push the button if I need a boost of painkiller. Even though they have cranked down the continuous morphine to the lowest level before turning it off, I think I got a little headache today from the withdrawal. If I can stay off the morphine pump and can control the pain using other medications, maybe I can be released to the Village soon.

I've been at the City of Hope (hospital and Village) for a total of 71 days now, but who's counting. I'm 60 days post-transplant now. My blood counts are slowly improving. As my doctors indicated, the counts will bounce around for a while before they stablize. The platelets are the last thing to respond to the transplant. I'm confident that my counts will be normal at some time, I just have to be patient.

Thank you all for your love, prayers and support. love, nancy