D+43 - A good turn around

"What a difference a week makes." There have been so many times we could say that these past four months, with all the ups and downs. Unfortunately, a good portion of them have been for the worse. I so much prefer saying it after an upswing than down. This time last week Courtney was in the middle of her four night stay in the hospital. She was feeling pretty sore and achy, and still battling frequent nausea. Last Thursday night she was just receiving her last bag of Foscarnet, and was being administered about three other medications via her catheter. Flash forward to one week later and she’s in her own home, in her own bed, not hooked up to any IV bags, and more than five days removed from her last serious bout of nausea.

It’s been a really good week for Courtney. Her appetite is back full force, the nausea is all but gone, and the abdominal pain is but a distant memory. She’s had two visits to the clinic this week, Monday and today. Both of these visits were long, but rewarding as we came away with good news both times.

Monday’s visit was fairly routine, as they checked her blood levels and did a quick physical. All of her counts looked really good, and there really wasn’t much to report. The past few days she’s been up and about a little more each day. Little by little she’s been trying to do the things that she considers “normal,” i.e. go upstairs, play with the kids, help with homework, do some laundry, etc. Her biggest complaint has been fatigue and muscle soreness – no doubt caused by the fact that she’s just beginning to use muscles again that have been used sparingly the past few months. She’s been doing a good job of balancing the effort to regain her strength with getting the rest she needs to recover from those efforts.

Today’s visit went even better than Monday’s. We had a good visit with Dr. V. who was genuinely excited with Courtney’s progress and overall well-being. It had been a while since she saw Courtney smiling and not feeling miserable. She was also very pleased with the blood results, as they continue to hold steady. The best part of the day came when we asked her how many more bone marrow biopsies Courtney would need during this next year. The answer was two: one around D+100 and one more in a year! That news really made Courtney smile. We were thinking the next one would come much sooner than that and they would be much more frequent.

Dr. V also said Courtney was doing so well that she wouldn’t need to see her again until next week. Yah!! The visits aren’t bad, and they’ve been, for the most part, very useful, but they’re usually so long and somewhat tiring. So, she’s more than happy do go a few days without going to the clinic or seeing any doctors – especially if she’s feeling well enough that she doesn’t need to see any doctors. It’s just one more happy milestone that indicates she’s really on the path to recovery. A week ago this fact seemed doubtful. Now we truly know how far she’s come, and we’re grateful that it only took a week for her to turn around so dramatically.