Small but meaningful improvements

Each day seems to get a little bit better - but the improvements come in inches not feet. Today's blood counts are above our minimum thresholds. The WBC count is climbing and the platelets are at 67,000. Note that we expected the platelets to be OK because Keith had a transfusion late yesterday. The real test will come tomorrow when we will be able to see if his system takes over and keeps the platelet count up without intervention.

The pneumonia is also slowly getting better although Keith is still on oxygen and remains very weak. This will simply take a bit of time to heal. He has been on a mixture of antibiotics - the plan was a 10 day course - and we are closing in on that time frame.

PT and OT come by every day and do a little work with him. He is getting out of bed to use the toilet. It doesn't sound like much, but just sitting up in bed is a huge effort right now. He is doing just a bit more each day - and that is exactly what he needs to do to recover his strength. Most of the time he sleeps; he is still not up to phone calls (sorry).

So here's the game plan: The doctors are looking for 2 things in order to release Keith from the hospital. First, we all agree that it would be best to complete the 10 day course of antibiotics before he goes home. That would mean Friday or Saturday. Second, the platelets need to stabilize on their own. We could see evidence of that tomorrow - if not, we will transfuse again tomorrow and need to wait until at least Saturday for confirmation that he is stabilizing on his own.

Finally, all the doctors have asked Keith what he wants to do first when he gets home. A very quick answer: have a real shower and then eat steak and eggs!