Day -2

WBC- 5.3
Hgl- 9.2
Hct-27.3
Plt- 82
ANC-5.2 (5200)

These counts are deceptive. Her whites blood cells and her ANC have jumped up because she received several doses of the drug dexamethasone after her concentrated chemo on Thursday. It is a steroid used to counteract the side effects of the chemo. Once it wears off Claire's counts should drop considerably. She is starting to feel some mucositis (mouth sores that go down much farther than the mouth) and has had tolerable headaches and trouble sleeping. She has had a few days of rest and recovery before the big event on Monday.

We love our nurses. Occasionally we might get someone who is a little too chipper for Claire, but they are all great. Not all of the nurses are transplant nurses. That requires some extra training. But I think that there is something about working in a children's hospital that makes the nurses a little more nurturing and personable. We were supposed to go the Huntsman for the transplant because of our insurance, but we appealed and Primary decided to work with us and we are here. Don't get me wrong, Huntsman is great and the care is excellent, but there are no children. And I love children. My mother loved children. From what I can tell, all of my children love children. My BFF across the street is is 3. He calls me Big Mary, so people don't confuse me with regular Mary, another 3 year old mutual friend of ours. Claire and I were recently sitting in the oncology clinic when a little boy was riding a big wheel down the hall. His mother said to him, "If you run into one more person, I'm going to make you get off!" Claire and I just looked at each other and smiled. Kids don't always dwell on the fact that they are sick, so they aren't always sad about it. You peek into the rooms here, and you see them sitting on their beds or on the floor, often with siblings, playing. They have colorful blankets and posters on the wall. Claire was singing with the music therapists on Wednesday. There are animals and art therapists. The little boy in the room next door was holding the door open the other day. His tech told him that he couldn't leave the room. He said, in a very loud voice, "I'm not leaving. I'm holding it open for YOU!" There is a lesson in there about how to live life. Children live with joy.

Btw, I really miss my parents.