Monday was Day +61. That makes today Day +62.

It has been a busy few days here and I have been unable to update since Naomi’s appointment on Monday morning. While her platelets increased and her RBCs looked fine, her ANC dropped again, and her kidney function levels increased, indicating that she is not drinking enough liquids, again.

These two issues -the WBCs dropping and the creatinine levels being too high – are most likely related because an increase in kidney function will affect her levels for her cyclosporine. The cyclosporine will not be as usable by the body, and less absorbed than desired, and therefore, her engraftment will lack.

On Day +30, her engraftment test came back at 98%. Due to her falling numbers last week, the test was repeated and this time only came back at almost 94%.

Since a lot of this is based on her not drinking enough liquids, and since that has been a continual struggle between her and I, I have gotten very serious and taken charge of the matter. I want to go home.

Last week, on Thursday, her liver was functioning poorly. The dr gave me permission to use essential oils to try to bring those levels down. My attempt was successful as her AST and ALT both dropped significantly between Thursday and Monday, even with inadequate water intake.

Another good thing is that she is finally gaining some weight, likely because we are at the hotel and eating better.

Now, I am going to continue those essential oils to keep the liver protected and add some herbs to see if we can’t get those kidneys a little happier. Adding these things to her diet while needing to increase her fluids required Aaron to bring me my VitaMix (a good excuse for him to come visit!). It also requires extra time on my part to prepare and then “work” with Naomi to have her cooperate. Having the other children here is a huge help on the motivation end. Making tasty smoothies with the VitMix doesn’t hurt either.