October 8: Three Weekends Gone

Three weekends feels like a longtime, but we know we need to be patient. As we have learnt, bone marrow transplant is a complex procedure and the passage through its complex steps can take unexpected turns. In Sujata’s case we are thankful that there have been very few surprises so far.

The report last night showed that Sujata’s blood counts have not moved much. It seems as though her body has decided to spend a little time at the bottom of the curve before beginning the upward climb. She continues to get blood every other day to make sure that her hemoglobin stays at a reasonable level. I have put a picture of her blood report in the album on the left, for those of you keeping tabs on the numbers. See the album: Picture at Mount Sinai October 2012.

Unpleasant side effects of the chemo continue to be a real nuisance. For instance, she constantly has a bad taste in her mouth and and her sense of smell appears  to have gone awry. She has not eaten much solid food for the last few days, except for cereal at breakfast, which she is able to tolerate. We got special permission to bring in some spiced up lentil soup and rice from home, which she ate at dinner last night. The nurses mentioned that chemo destroys a lot of the taste buds and it often takes a few weeks for them to regenerate.

Common infections seem to have been kept mostly at bay by all the strong antibiotics she is receiving, except for a mild fungal infection in her throat, which at this point is more of an annoyance than a threat. We are hoping it stays that way.

Visitors Update

Sujata had a fair number of out-of-town visitors this weekend. In each case, we made sure that one of us would be there to walk them through the precautionary steps before entering her room. As you will notice from the pictures in the visitors’ gallery, it’s hard to recognize anyone with the mask, gown and the gloves. I was teasing Sujata that she might have helped to launch a new style in costumes for the upcoming Halloween evening. Talking about style, Sujata has complained, half-jokingly,  that she is tired of wearing hospital gowns with the same exact color and design pattern every day. Understandably, the nurses seemed to be somewhat unsympathetic to this complaint.