Kay is slowly recovering from the infection. Her white cell count has risen from 0.0018 to 0.2 and her other blood levels also show a recovery. She looks better but doesn't have a lot of energy and is sleeping a lot. She remains fairly grumpy but yesterday I arranged for her to have a bath and that cheered her up quite a bit. In order to go home she has to have been fever free for at least four days and off the oxygen, which she currently still needs. Tomorrow will be the fourth fever free day and so we hope that she will be able to spend the weekend at home before returning next week for the final chemo of this stage of the protocol.
This morning I heard more about the timescales for Kay's bone marrow transplant. In short it is likely to be 10-12 weeks before the BMT can begin. Typically this is how long it takes to find a donor and have bone marrow ready to be transplanted. At the moment our contact person doesn't know anything specific w.r.t. Kay's case, she will hear more on Thursday this week. But we can expect to continue in some kind of BMT limbo for the next 4-6 weeks when the first results of the first donor search will be known. At the moment we do not know what kind of treatment Kay will get in the intervening period.
Today Kay has for the first time made use of the WebChair schooling software that has been kindly provided by KPN. WebChair is an IT product that allows Kay to attend her class at school, remotely. A large monitor, wireless microphone and a video camera have been installed in Kay's class. The video camera can be remotely panned and zoomed. Kay has a laptop with the WebChair client software that allows her to make a connection with the system in the class, hear and see what is going on and control the video camera. The camera and picture quality are good enough for Kay to be able to read whatever is written on the school whiteboard. She can also look round the class and zoom in/out on whatever is going on. Kay's teacher wears the microphone and so in this way Kay can take part in lessons.
Kay's teacher emailed her assignment for today and Kay completed that assignment together with the rest of the class. Kay then emailed her work back to her teacher who then marked it and returned the marked work back to Kay. We live in a wonderful digital age.
Needless to say we are all very grateful to KPN for providing all this equipment and software for free.
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Amazing technology!
ReplyDeleteGood luck Kay xx
If we could take over the care you're giving Kay for a weekend we'd do it to let you take a rest. But, I guess there's only two persons in the world who can do it as thorough as is required and that's you two! (Nevertheless, let us know if we can help).
ReplyDeleteKay, when you have fully recovered we'll teach you some serious dressage. You can choose pony or horse. OK?
Love, Ton & Esther
Wonderful to be warm in bed and be at school!
ReplyDeleteWe send all our love, Gran and Granpa.
HI kay,
ReplyDeletegreat that you can attend school in this way! And it gives you something else to do!
So you're getting better from that dreadful infection at least, and so is your daddy. Must have been sad not to be able to see each other, but now that episode seems to belong to the passed.
Write you soon, will be away for a week, but I will think of you!
Hugh,
Viviane
Wauw Kay, dat is wel heel leuk voor jou en voor de klas dat je op deze manier niet alles hoeft te missen.
ReplyDeleteWij hopen voor je dat je het weekend lekker thuis bent en kunt genieten.
Veel lieve groetjes en een dikke kus van de Beijertjes.X
It's lovely to know a little bit of normality can be enjoyed through such a difficult time. Thinking of you all.
ReplyDeleteLesley