Rafi was up and walking around today. Actually she was cruising, for almost an hour. It doesn’t sound like much, but when you’ve been running 104.9 fevers for a week straight, it’s pretty amazing. She painted with water colors, drank water and apple juice from her special straw as well. We even coaxed some laughs from her. Overall it was a good day. OK, based on the fact that her WBC was .5 and her ANC was .1, that made it a great day. I am looking forward to hearing tomorrow’s report.

But she also suffered from some fevers and she threw up twice. She has been in some pain and her pain medication, fentanyl, was increased yet again to provide more comfort. Her blood pressure has been running a little high, so they increased her amlodipine a little. Amodipine relaxes the smooth muscle in the arterial wall and thus lowers blood pressure. It takes a little time to get used to all the drugs that are coming in and out of this room. Currently, Rafi is on 17 drugs (19 if you count TPN and lipids). I can’t wait to see all the explanation of benefit statements from the insurance company undoubtedly coming my way. There are antifungals, antacid, anti-virals, blood pressure, antibiotics, immunosuppressants, growth factors, anti-itch, pain medications, anti-nausea and liver drugs. Better living through chemistry. You have to wonder, much like you need a vacation when you get back from a vacation, is she going to need drugs to get off of these drugs? For every action there is an equal and opposite…….

Until tomorrow…………