D + 12 - Christmas Eve gifts

Today, on Christmas Eve, we received news about as good as we could have hoped for. No, Courtney is not going home yet, but she is one step closer. Her neutrophil count went for around 50 on Saturday to 500 on Sunday and then to 1000 today. It’s a sure sign that the transplanted stem cells have engrafted and her bone marrow is beginning to function as it’s supposed to. Hooray for Tracy’s cells!!

So, now we just have to wait for Courtney to be fever free and GVHD (Graft Versus Host Diesease) free so she can go home. She’s been battling fevers for the past four days. They come and go fairly quickly and get almost as high as 104. Thankfully, the doctors have found no detectable signs of infection or GVHD. They do everything they can to rule out infection, including testing her blood for bacteria and doing chest x-rays. They aren’t exactly sure what’s causing the fevers, but believe it may be part of the engraftment.

Other than the fevers and occasional digestive discomfort, Courtney is feeling pretty well. In fact, tonight she’s gone the longest without a fever since Saturday. So, hopefully, that’s an indication that they’re going away. We need them to be gone completely for her to be able to go home. But, if Courtney continues to progress the way she’s been, we should have her home by the beginning of next week.

The best Christmas Eve gift was being able to reunite Courtney with the kids after being apart for more than two weeks. It was a short but sweet visit. We were all able to open Christmas pajamas that Courtney’s mom buys every year. It was cute seeing the kids put them on and wear them home from the hospital. It was awesome to be able to have some time together as a complete family at such a special time. Prayers were definitely fulfilled on our behalf today making for wonderful Christmas Eve gifts.