October 12: Off come the gloves, gown and mask

Friends who visited Sujata during the past week will probably remember a sign at the entrance to her room, sternly reminding visitors to put on gloves, mask and gowns. Yesterday the attending doctor walked into her room, looked at the latest blood report and with a big smile and asked the nurses to take the sign down. So now visitors can walk into her room without all the elaborate protection, because  her white blood count has moved past the “high infection” zone into safe territory, a sure sign that the transplanted cells have started to function.

There is still a long way to go, and more hurdles to cross, but the progress so far has been nothing less than spectacular. We are all so happy and thankful!

With such good news, can a trip home be far behind? I am optimistic, so let me say that I plan to write the next update with a picture of Sujata standing in our bedroom. With your extra prayers over this weekend, I am sure I will be able to do just that.

The picture above shows Sujata eating a little dinner of home cooked chick peas and sugar snap peas. She still has to make a big effort to bring herself to eat, but it is getting better slowly. If you look carefully, you will notice one of the telltale signs of the chemo - her hair has begun to thin out.