Zoe’s WBC count hit 6.8 this morning, up 1.3 from yesterday. Just amazing. No ANC yet, we aren’t getting daily differentials right now that she has entered normal cell range. I have been waiting for it to go down some, we’ve been warned repeatedly that it tends to go up and down, but so far she’s just building.
At the moment Zoe’s only real symptoms/side effects are the continuing mucus discharge (spitting up as she heals), pain twice a day when receiving the cell growth factor medication, and some pain around her bum breakdowns. All in all, we’re making progress in that she’s not having as much daily bone pain, nor does she have any more sores in her mouth.
As mentioned yesterday, there is a possibility we’ll be discharged in the near future. I’ve been asking around a bit about that, and it seems they look for good progress on counts — engraftment, no infections, and for the parents to be “ready” to handle the care.
When we first were in discussions to get Zoe into Duke and planning her transplant, one of the things that came up was that the fastest anyone had ever been discharged from the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant wing is +23 days. At that time, being the guy I am, I thought, “Zoe can beat that!”.
Now, I have no interest in that. All I care about is making sure she is at optimum health before we’re released, and that we all know exactly how to handle things. The next few months will be stressful while we wait to make sure her graft holds and she is clear of GVHD.
On Monday they will do her Chimera test, which is a method of determining what percentage of cells are her old immune system, and what percentage are the new. We want to see mostly new cells. I have been cautioned that patients can get by with far fewer than 100%, as little as 20% donor cells, and live normally, but again we are hopeful for something north of 50% for this first test, the closer to 100% the better. We’ll get results back on that later in the week, it will be a big news day when we know.
HLH Journal 
Sunday 7/18/10
We were glad to have a posting on Sat. and another one today – Thanks for keeping us up to date. We hope that the discharge will be on schedule.
I (Nannie) enjoyed the pictures and the video. She is so adorable and such a happy baby. I love her outfits, butterflys are great!
Love to all! Nannie and John and “Ullr”
Evan ~
You should be so proud of your little warrior. She is amazing! I am so unbelievable happy for you guys. Maya and I pray every night that god keeps his healing hands on Zoe. I know that probably sounds very silly but god has gotten us through so very much in the last 6 months. I love to see the videos and read all of Zoe’s updates. You are all in our thoughts everyday. Keep up the good work Zoe!
Much love,
Shana, Kris, & Maya Gordon
Evan and Michelle,
I am so amazed at how Zoe is always happy and cooing in her videos. She is a trooper!
Hopefully the outpatient will come soon but I am sure scary at the same time!
Praying for you all!!
Love,
Gail