T+69: Better news

Twice per week, on Monday and Wednesday, blood is taken from Kay in order to measure the CMV load (concentration) in her system. The results arrive on Thursday and Monday respectively. We heard today that Monday's CMV load has dropped from 10e5 to 10e4, ie by a factor of 10. This is very good news and signals what we hope will be a sustained trend.

Additionally the result of a further set of (technically very interesting) tests have come in. These results indicate that the vast majority of the white cells in Kay's system contain donor DNA, indictating that they have been produced by the donor bone marrow. The alternative is that they could have Kay's DNA indicating that that weren't produce by the donor marrow, which could then imply that the donor marrow had failed. So good news that they are donor-origin cells. Also, should Kay need an additional top-up transplant, which is a possibility under the circumstances, that fact that most cells have donor DNA makes a top-up possible without the need for renewed conditioning therapy, something that her poor body could probably not take again. Continued smiles all around.

These results serve to confirm the primary diagnosis that it's the CMV virus plus anti-viral medication that have suppressed Kay's new bone marrow. Of course, we still have a long way to go and the situation remain complex and fragile. But at least some of the more obvious disaster scenarios have been eliminated.

Kay is a little brighter today. Yesterday Marion took her outside, across the road to the McD house. (Tip: I was recently reading a book in which the action took place in New Jersey around a canal and a bay. I was curious about the layout so I looked up the location on Google Earth. Brilliant, it added a whole new dimension to my understanding of the story. I love technology! So if you're curious where about our location/layout, check us out on Google Earth!) They hung around there in the garden for a short while and then came back: A Grand Day Out, although not quite Wallace and Gromit.

Today she has not been feeling quite so strong. Her blood pressure was pretty high this morning and that rather knocked her out. She's lying here now watching TV and looking a little better, but smiles require outrageous actions. In this vein, earlier today there was some pretty good dance music on the radio. I started dancing around to see if I could get a smile (funny, girls like this dance stuff) and I ended up grabbing her arms and waving them around in time to the dance music. Kay was laughing her head off, oh so wonderful and worth making an idiots of oneself for (terrible grammar, but I don't care! Just don't make me read "Eats Shoots and Leaves" again).

I'm in the 'fortunate' position of being able to enjoy two whole nights in Kay's room. This is because Saturday is Natasha's birthday and Marion is busy preparing to make a fuss of her. I have a sneaking suspicion that the staff here are trying to sort things out so that Kay can go home for the day. But shhhhussshhhh, don't mention the idea to Kay!