Day 51 - More Than Halfway Home

We are more than halfway to the miraculous 100th day! Can you believe it?!?

Tyler is doing fairly well these days. His potassium level has fallen back to the 4-5 range, which is still at the high end of the normal range but is less dangerous. On Thursday, he measured 4.7 for his potassium level. We are allowed to eat some normal food again, although they warned him not to go crazy.

His test results from Day 51 were:

WBC: 7.62 (normal 4.3-10.0)
HCT: 30% (normal 38-50)
ANC: 5.4 (normal 1.8-7.0)
PLT: 73 (normal 150-400)

In the weekly clinic, Tyler was given permission to drive again! Talk about FREEDOM!!! He's still not supposed to be alone for more than a few hours because of the possibility of an infection, but we are thrilled that one of his lost privileges has been restored. Since he hasn't had any pain medication in weeks and hadn't had any anti nausea medications in several days, there are no restrictions on operating heavy machinery.

He also had his 2nd post transplant lumbar puncture (LP) after his clinic Thursday. When I called to check in on Thursday afternoon, Tyler was in a great mood. Apparently, he had one of his best days in a long time. Normally Tyler's LP's are painful and dreaded all day long. Basically, they are trying to slide a needle into his spinal column, avoiding all bones and nerves in there.

With the first LP, they determined that Tyler's back is too muscular (after years of landscaping and sports) to get a good placement in his spinal column while essentially "blind". Since then, we have actually had LP's done under fluoroscopy. They use x-rays to guide the placement of the needle.

Even with that technology, they seem to find it difficult to get a placement that will allow the spinal fluid to flow out easily. He gets several attempts each time and they end up having to tilt the bed to different angles to get the spinal fluid to flow out.

This Thursday, however, they got the poke perfect on the first attempt and the spinal fluid started to flow without having to help it along.

Added to the great doctor's appointments, Tyler got to enjoy some AMAZING sporting events (with Washington teams dominating) and he had his first vanilla latte in months.