Day 26

It's been a few days since the last update. I'm going to try to bring everybody up to speed. I think an introduction is the first order of business. I'm Michael, Elizabeth's father, and she asked me to follow in David's and Linda's footsteps as a guest blogger.

Elizabeth wrote the last post a week ago. The week has been difficult for her. Because I know most of you want to know how she is now, I'm going to use this post to pass along both her requests and her current condition.

First, the requests. Elizabeth appreciates all care and concern that has been expressed, but she is not strong enough yet to respond to comments or email, accept chat requests or talk on the telephone. She is very happy to receive comments and email but she cannot acknowledge them at this point. Because of her compromised immune system, she cannot accept food or flowers.

Where does that leave you? She loves to get cards. If you can, send cards to her at

3412 Parkdale Blvd NW, Apt 402
Calgary, AB  T2N 3T4.

Her second request is that you keep her in your prayers, and request any prayer groups, chains, circles or congregations to pray hard for the engraftment, for the successful defeat of her infections and for the strength and peace to get through the remaining procedures and challenges.

On Day 21 (Thursday, May 15), Elizabeth's health deteriorated rapidly. She had a fever, dangerously low blood pressure, dangerously high pulse, etc. The best explanation so far is that she was in septic shock. Because they couldn't control what was happening in the transplant unit, they transferred her to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). She remained there through a roller-coaster ride of disease processes, side effects, and all the tests that go along with the evaluation and treatments.

I will post details of the time between Day 21 and Day 26 in a later post. Here is where Elizabeth is tonight:

• Elizabeth has been transferred back to the transplant unit.
• Almost all of the various tubes, sensors, etc. have been removed.
• Her pulse and blood pressure are under control.
• The yeast infection has made an appearance, and the staph infection is still there. 
• Two new infections have been detected. (Sorry, I don't know what they are.)
• The strep infection appears to be gone.
• She has more mobility than the staff expected
• Her white blood cell count (WBC) is .3. This is good - it's been alternating between .1 and .2.

The WBC is really good news. Numbers this small may be normal daily variation. However, the first signs of engraftment are typically increases in white blood cells and neutrophils. If I understand correctly, the next increases are to platelets and plasma. The red blood cells are the last to activate. Elizabeth's transplant doctor said he would do the happy dance when the WBC hit .4!

Right now, they have a bone marrow biopsy scheduled to see if the donor's stem cells have taken up residence in the bones. It's an unpleasant procedure, but it's the most accurate test. They will use the results to decide on further tests and/or supplemental stem cell transplants.

I will add at least one more post about the time in ICU, but this is already longer than I wanted. Good night, and keep the prayers coming!

Michael