Kristin completed her first round of treatment on Tuesday night. She has held up amazingly well during the past 21 days of chemotherapy, and is on track for release sometime late next week. Her bone marrow is already starting to recover from the chemo. Her platlet count has increased significantly during the past few days, and is now in the normal range. It’s starting to look like the days of blood trasfusions are behind her for now. We are now waiting for her ANC (Absolute Neutrophil Count) to increase to >1000. Her ANC dropped to zero on the 2nd day of chemo, and has remained there until this morning when it was measured at 100. Woo Hoo!

What Does This Mean? The increasing platlet number, and non zero ANC is an indication that Kristin’s bone marrow has resumed cell production. To put it simply, the chemo knocked out her bone marrow, and it is just starting to wake up. In addition to a reduced need for blood products, the increasing numbers will also mean that Krisitn’s immune system will resume functioning, allowing the doctors to take her off many of the support medications she is currently receiving. After her ANC has recovered to at least 1000, she will undergo her 3rd bone marrow biopsy procedure to help determine exactly what her consolidation plan (next steps) will look like. Once the biopsy has been completed, and her blood counts are stable and in the normal range with no support medication, she will be sent home.