Day +9   --  Our first glimmer that good things may be on the way: this morning Faye's ANC is 73.5 and WBC is .3*.  The Doctor warns us not to get excited, that these numbers could go up and down for a 'few more days', but I'll choose optimism. 

Faye has been battling a fever since Thursday evening and sleeps when she is not being interrupted by frequent potty trips or when the nurses take vitals, blood, weight, adjust oxygen, insist on a bath and a linen change, do mouth care, nose care, insist on Faye taking pills that aren't available in IV form, change infusions, transfer shifts, flush her port, change her dressing, ... or when Doctors come in, ask questions and confer, do an exam, ask more questions.... on the bright side she does get to sleep through the cleaning shifts. Faye tends to be a little delirious from fever and pain meds and last night she woke up around 9pm and whispered 'good morning' to me. I told her 'good morning' right back.  She keeps asking what day it is and I think (no I know) that she is very sad to miss out on all of the Homecoming activities this weekend.

On another note, and yes things are very odd here, maintenance guys came in early (of course early) this morning, looking more than a little strange in their yellow caps and gowns over maintenance uniforms and boots.  They posted 'caution hot' signs above the sinks and turned on all of the sinks and showers, full blast hot.  The nurses were supposed to have let me know, and admittedly maybe they did, that they run 200+ degree water through all of the lines for a full hour every month in an attempt to reduce bacteria.  Immediately I had to go to the bathroom of course. 

Which brings up the whole bathroom topic (spoiler alert this entire paragraph is strictly me venting):  there is only one bathroom, ONE, that is available for all parents (family/visitors) to share.  Under the circumstances it really does makes sense to not allow anyone but the patient to use the patient's bathroom.  However, in their wisdom the planners of this hospital put the one and only shower in this one bathroom.  So yes, that means that if a parent is showering no one can go to the bathroom.  Now this would not be so bad if, for instance, you could exit BMT and use a bathroom out on 7 but no, there are no bathrooms there for parents/visitors either (because those parents can actually use the bathrooms in their kids rooms).  So BMT parents must exit the inpatient wing and go down a long hallway beyond the elevators and past the check-in desk.  And when that bathroom is in use (which it frequently is as you can imagine) you will then seek a restroom on another floor (I've actually done this a couple of times).  Then, when you return, you need to stop and show your sticker/wrist band, go through the screening  process, then you must stop again to scrub in for the BMT partition... and of course your kid is begging you to 'hurry back'.  So anyway a couple of nights ago I left the room to try a dash to the bathroom and as I turned the corner another woman was letting herself into the 'parent' bathroom while talking on her cell phone.  Yep, talking on the phone.  I hung out for a minute wondering how can one possibly speak on their phone and efficiently go about their business.  Soon I became very irritated as I could hear her talking and laughing inside.  I knocked on the door - my signal to her that some one is waiting and perhaps she should hang up and get about it right?!  Well she cracked open the door -still on the phone- smiled at me and raised her finger (not the middle one, her forefinger) closed the door and continued her conversation (I could hear her through the door)... Sheez, seriously...

Sometimes it is good to vent.  ~L

*ANC - absolute neutrophil count (ANC), the number of neutrophils in a milliliter of blood, having a reference value of approximately 1500-7700 per μL. The ANC is a measure of a person's immune status. Generally, if the count is above 1000, the person may safely mingle with other people or undergo chemotherapy, but a count below 500 indicates that a person is at high risk for infection and should be kept away from those with infectious diseases.

WBC - A class of cells in the blood that form the foundation of the body's immune system -white blood cell count,n a diagnostic clinical laboratory test to determine the number and types of leukocytes present in a measured sample of blood. Overall the normal number of leukocytes ranges from 5000 to 10,000/mm³.