Day +11: A Glimmer of Early Hope

 
Kal did well during the night last night, only waking me up twice to throw up some mucous. After the first time he woke me up to throw up,  the nurse suctioned his mouth out a little bit to help him sleep better.

Taking a little nap this morning

Kal platelets were down again this morning, requiring him to have another transfusion of platelets. On the plus side, his white blood cell counts went up, and his neutraphil (immune cell) count went from 0 to 100. Remember, he needs his neutraphil count to be consistently 500 or above to be officially "engrafted"? Well, it's a surprise that he has any neutraphil counts so far, really. I was expecting a few more days until they would start building themselves up again. BUT, on the other end of that stick is the reminder that neutraphil counts can go up and down a lot, day to day. So, tomorrow, they could be back down to 0 again. Or, they could go higher. He's on a certain medicine that attracts and draws out the neutraphils to promote their growth, so this number today could be falsely high. But, we'll still take these neutraphil numbers for what they're worth! It's the hope that he might engraft earlier than expected! Woot woot! Keep the prayers comin', people! (Pretty please?!)

Still my little, puffy marshmallow.

Church here was great today. My favorite part was a musical number where a woman sang the song, "Anchor of my Soul," by Jenny Jordan Frogley. I LOVED the lyrics to this song, and got choked up listening to them. Here's the lyrics so you can enjoy them, too. I definitely recommend searching out the song and listening to it, though! (;

All alone I leave the harbor
So many oceans to explore.
On my own I face the darkness
As I leave behind the safety of the shore.

When I'm tossed upon the waters.
When winds of change begin to blow.
His words of truth I will follow.
The Savior's hope is the anchor of my soul.

Sailing on to deeper waters
The journey starts to take its toll.
And I am lost amid the battles
That test my faith and stretch my soul.

When I'm tossed upon the waters.
When winds of change begin to blow.
His words of truth I will follow.
The Savior's hope is the anchor of my soul.

Voices of the night
Trying to tear me from the fight.
But somewhere deep inside my heart I know
That when I'm tossed upon the waters.
When winds of change begin to blow.
His words of truth I will follow.
The Savior's hope is the anchor of my soul.

All alone I leave the harbor. 

 

The rest of the day was pretty chill. Just the normal medicines and throwing up mucous sometimes. Jonald was there most of the day, which was nice to have him there. With his help, I gave Kal a sponge bath, as he is required to have every day, and he reaaaalllly enjoyed when I wiped his face with the sponge. I think the coolness of the sponge and the water drying off his face helped his itchy, puffy face have some relief. He was even falling asleep as I was wiping his face. It was so pitiful, hilarious, and adorable at the same time. 

Ahhhh, Mama, that's the spot!

Oh, that feels so good! I think... I'll just.. take a... nap... zzzzzzzz!

Later, I was able to take a short walk outside, which felt refreshing to get some sun, fresh air, and a nice view of the city. It have me the recharge I needed to take on another day tomorrow. (:

When I stepped out to enjoy the beautiful day and view outside!