Update 10/28/2016

First, I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone whom has helped us in any way.  My book club surprised us with frozen meals, our neighbors have helped us with yard work, and we've had treats made for us.  Thank you to all our visitors and friends that have brought us lunch and gifts.  Thanks to my s-sister, Amanda, for driving from Denver and helping with meals, running errands, and providing us with lots of laughter!  And finally, thanks to my mom for flying otr and providing much needed emotional support.

Katy is on Day 22 of her chemotherapy cycle.  That includes the 10 days she received chemo and the 12 days she has spent in the recovery period.  Katy is still hospitalized at this time.  The chemotherapy caused her to have mucositis, which is the painful inflammation and ulceration of the mucous membranes lining the digestive tract.  Due to the pain, Katy was placed on a pain medication drip and put on IV nutrition as she was having trouble eating.  The pain medication makes her tired.  We are still at this point in her care.

However, we got good news early yesterday that her counts have begun to come up.  Her mouth is looking like it is beginning to heal.  

And then we got hit with our first bump in the road.  The pulmonology team here has been ordering pulmonary function testing (PFT's) on Katy once a week.  Her numbers have been dropping over the last 2-3 weeks, which is concerning.  So yesterday, Katy had a CT scan, which confirms what the PFT's suggest.  The small airways in her lungs are trapping air due to inflammation.  The treatment of this is very high doses of IV Steroids and then tapering her down over the course of several weeks.  Katy will also be receiving a medication that is new to me, for the problems in her lungs.  This medication apparently has some pretty significant side effects, so I guess we'll have to wait and see how that may affect her. 

And this is the fine balance that must be walked during her treatment of the leukemia.  The proper treatment for her leukemia puts her donated lungs at risk.  But some of the treatments for the lungs puts her at high infection risk, especially for fungal infections, which would then be terrible for her lungs.  So round the circle we will go.  

Yesterday morning we thought that Katy may be getting out of here in less than a week.  Now, with the lung problem, I'm not sure if that still holds true.  I think we have to take it day by day.  Keep those positive thoughts coming.  We can use them!