Nothing very new to report. Adam's up and down (with paracetamol) fevers persist, and his aches (he actually doesn't refer to them as pains) remain. Any change in the fevers can be neatly summed up by the fact he's having three doses of paracetamol in 24 hours at the moment, instead of the four he was needing previously. His aching left leg has improved, both according to Adam, and as evidenced by the amount of freedom of movement he has in it now (albeit whilst still lying in his hospital bed). However, he's now begun complaining that the ache has transferred to the right leg. I know hypochondria runs in the family, but sadly he's not faking it. His shoulder problem now appears to be completely resolved, but in addition to the leg aches, he has new areas that are either tender to touch, or 'feel like carpet burns' when rubbed.
His ANC (Absolute Neutrophil Count) was just 0.5 yesterday so he received a dose of GCSF; this morning it had come up to 1.6. Haemoglobin and Platelet counts are very suppressed, but stable. After speaking to our US oncologist we are holding off starting cytarabine, and are going to review the situation later in the week. As per NHS fever protocol they are going to add a second broad-spectrum antibiotic into Adam's schedule, starting today. Neither his blood cultures, nor his urine specimen, have tested positive for any infections.
And so we continue to watch, and wait.
For those of you who saw my earlier comment about Oscar, I'm very happy to report that he's made tremendous progress over the past couple of days and is now able to sit up in bed unaided. Whilst he didn't end up in Philadelphia having the treatment he was intended to have, as things transpired he could not have been in a better place than CHOP to be treated for such a rare and dangerous condition, one for which I don't even think there's any clearly recognised treatment.
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