The Pits

Mom here, reporting in on Day 4 post transplant, since our dear patient isn’t up to it. She wants everyone to know she is progressing along the path of recovery, but it is without doubt “mind over matter” time. That is because Day 4 is the bottoming out of her neutrophils in preparation for the new stem cells to grow and flourish. This time is associated with a very sore mouth and throat, which makes it very painful to swallow and, along with the underlying nausea, a time of no appetite. She does her best to get her pills (anti-microbials and pain meds) down and some liquids with as many nutrients as possible, but that takes a lot of will power to do.

And she doesn’t feel like doing much of anything at all. With some good drugs that we will pick up today, she will hopefully be able to sleep through this time. Everyone tells us her mouth will be sore for another 3-5 days and then she will be feeling better and better each day. So, we are keeping a positive outlook and enduring this painful time.

The good news is that we were prepared for this. The past month we have bonded with many other patients in the clinic – some further down the path than Evie, some behind her, and we all share experiences. So the patients and the nurses and doctors keep her informed on a daily basis about what to expect, how not to worry, how it will suck for a few days but then will be over. Armed with this knowledge, she is hunkered down waiting for the upside of all this.

So, it’s the pits – literally the low point of the entire experience. It’s also like the bowl of cherry pits – the hard inner part of the cherry that isn’t tasty or edible. But these pits are seeds of new beginnings, like today, Day 4, is for Evie.