Day +27

The numbers; continue to hold.  The physician doing the rounds today reminded us that the short period of exponential growth of the immune system are now over and the improvements should be seen on the scales of weeks, not days.  OK.

The number that went down is the morphine drip rate - just a little, but the change that I had the docs roll back on Saturday appears to be holding today.  That is an encouraging sign.

Today was also the day of a couple of procedures.  The bone marrow aspiration (sample) went very smoothly.  Results in a week.  The other procedure was the endoscopy and gut biopsy to try to identify the reason for the pain.  That one went decidedly not so smoothly.  Jumping ahead, I will tell you that everything is OK, at least so far.  The review of live images in the gut showed no raging infections, which is always a good thing.  A sample was collected and will be sent to the lab for testing for Graft vs. Host (GVH) as well as collection of bacteria and viruses.  This too shall take a number of days.  In order to do the above the docs introduced air into Zevi's stomach (pretty much inflated him like a balloon).  After the procedure the air was supposed to be taken out, and that is the part that did not happen for whatever reason.  Zevi was delivered to mom and Grandma Rita still asleep from the anesthetic, not in pain, but with a large belly tight as a drum.  Very tense half hour ensued.  In the end Zevi passed the air the natural way, i.e. out the bottom end.  Score one for Zevi for eliminating the problem.

By the time I got to OHSU no changes were visible or palpable.  I found grandma and mom shaken, but in control and Zevi tired but in good spirits.  I hung around long enough to ensure I was not useful and went back to work.  For the first time Zevi was very visibly unhappy to see me go in spite of having mom around.  Normally when mom is around all others are chopped liver.  Clearly, today was a momentary lapse in the value system, driven by the gas and expelled just as quickly.

And that is your fart joke for the day.  Come think of it, it has been much too long since we had scatological humor on this blog.  Despair not, my gentle reader.  Once we get to potty training in earnest the jokes of bodily fluids will be abundant, I promise.