We apologize for the lack of updates in the last few weeks. To be honest, there was not much to update. Over the last 10 days since the last update we have been waiting for signs the transplant was succesful. Rae continues to try and push through the pain caused by the mucositis and stay as active as possible while being confined to her room and feeling pretty crumby.

Healing for her doesn’t start until her numbers (White Blood Cells and Neutrophils) begin rising. This doesn’t happen until the stem cells reach their home in her bone marrow and begin creating the new cells her body needs to heal and begin fighting off infections. This typically happens around 10-15 days post-transplant.

THE BIG NEWS:

• On day 13 post-transplant her white blood cell count began to rise!
  • The WBC count went from .1 to .21 which is a great sign that the stem cells made their way to her bone marrow and began doing their thing.
  • Her WBC count needs to reach .5 before they can start seeing her neutrophil count
• On day 14 her WBC count went from .21 to .32 which shows they are continuing to work their magic. Unfortunately, by this time she should be further along so the doctors gave her a medication to help boost their production.
• On day 15 her WBC count went to .78!!
  • Since her WBC went above .5 we can now see her neutrophil count (ANC).
  • She needs to reach an ANC of 500+ for 3 days in a row to be considered “engrafted”, meaning the transplant was succesful.
  • Her ANC was at exactly 500! Today is Day 1!!

WHAT’S NEXT?:

• Once her ANC is above 500 for 3 days in a row, she can finally leave her room!
  • She will need to wear a KN-95 mask, but can begin walking the hallway of the unit for a change of scenery while doing her PT
• She will continue taking steps towards being discharged
  • She needs to be taking all medications orally, she began that transition today
  • She needs to be off IV pain medication, she began lowering her morphine yesterday
  • She cannot require more than 1 blood/platelett transfusion daily. She has not had more than 1 each day this entire time
  • She needs to have the majority of her food and liquid intake by mouth. She continues to push through her stomach pain and nausea each day and eats/drinks as much as she’s able. This should get better each day as she begins to heal.
  • Needs to continue to be fever/infection free

THANK YOU!

Again, we cannot say thank you enough for all of your prayers and support! Here is what Araeya posted:

THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me through this. Thank you for the donations to COTA in my honor, prayers, bible verses, kind comments and many other things. Each of you have a very important place in my heart, thank you for everything you all have done for me. I appreciate all of you. You have made this process so much easier for me AND my family.