Executive Summary: Maggie is doing MUCH better and we are getting out tomorrow morning.  And the trip is on!  Maggie’s very happy.  🙂

And now, for the rest of the story:
Dr. Loukas brought good news this morning.  Maggie’s counts are up substantially and he’s planning on sending her home tomorrow, just in time for her to pack and leave for Greece.

Yesterday was a much better day.  Maggie started out with a slight fever but that dropped quickly with some Tylenol and never came back up.  Around lunch she was just chatting up a storm like everything was dandy.  And we didn’t have any of those pesky soak-through-the-sheets sleeps either, which is a nice change.  I suspect we’ve turned the corner and are well into the recovery now.  And Dr. Loukas agrees.

And the trip to Greece is on!  I know there’s been a whole lot of dissension on this but it’s going to happen.  To let this little hiccup prevent her from going would be quite demoralizing and I truly believe it’s safe.  And so does Dr. Loukas (I’m so glad that he agrees with me so much.)  At first glance it seems reckless but if you think about it things become a little less scary.  Let me explain.  This week Maggie has been receiving daily shots of Neupogin that are causing her white blood cell machine (a.k.a. bone marrow) to crank into high gear.  It should be just churning out white blood cells by the millions (and her blood tests prove that this is happening – today’s count: 4,500.)  When she leaves the hospital she will be better armed to fight off infections than most of us.  Dr. Loukas thinks her count may even hit 12,000 (normal is around 5,000.)

This trip to the hospital, although scary, does not indicate that Maggie is weak or somehow frail.  She’s honestly just fine.  It’s just a minor little temporary trip-up.  This episode of “Chris and Maggie Go To Hospital Camp” was brought to you by neutropenia, which was a direct result of her chemo treatments on last Monday.  Those super toxic, not fun-for-the-whole-family chemicals roto-rooted Maggie’s bone marrow and killed off her blood cells leaving her temporarily defenseless against any little infection that might saunter by.  But that’s all getting fixed up.  Dr. Loukas is actually being overly aggressive because he knows she’s leaving the country.  When we get out of the hospital she’ll be full of defenses and in much better shape to take on the world, even if it’s Greek.

Dr. Loukas is also giving her some “emergency” antibiotics to control any diarrhea that might occur, be it traveler’s diarrhea which is typically e-coli-based, or be it as a result of all the antibiotics being pumped into Maggie, called “c-diff.”  And he gave her a minor lecture about taking care of herself while traveling, including be quick to head for medical assistance should she get either a fever or diarrhea that doesn’t go away quickly.

He’s a little concerned that her red blood count is low (it takes a while to bring those critters back up) so he’s going to give her Arenesp, the better blood builder, tomorrow.

So, she’s definitely missing the MPRE exam tomorrow but given the choice, she’d rather miss that than her trip.  And it’s all going to be just fine.  Actually, it’s going to be better than fine – it’s going to be GREAT!