Line is out

A few developments to update on from the last couple days. They pulled out his Hickman Line last night as they were quite certain that was causing the infection in his blood. The problem we had is that his platelets have been horribly stubborn and despite multiple transfusions, they couldn't get his levels as high as they wanted them (50,000). The highest he got was 37,000, so they finally decided to do it anyway, but under close supervision, as he ran a high risk of bleeding due to the low counts. The line came out successfully and now he has to be on antibiotics for 3 days and be fever free before they can put in his new access line, called a PICC Line. This line will come out of his arm (instead of his chest) and is a less invasive procedure, so there isn't as much concern regarding his low platelet counts. At the earliest, they will put this line in Monday next week. He needs to have a line because he is still very transfusion dependent and will be going home with quite a few antibiotics that need to be administered through the line.

The preliminary results of his bone marrow biopsy came in today as well. The good news is that the leukemia has not returned. The bad news is that they didn't see any regular cells forming in the marrow, which is what is supposed to happen as a result of the transplant. I guess when they did a biopsy about a month out from his transplant, they saw a few cells starting to form and now they saw none. They said this could likely be from this most recent infection. It may have killed off whatever few cells his body had created. So for now, they just have to focus on getting the infection under control and hope that the cord blood will start to produce cells again.

Leo is feeling really good, which makes it even harder that the doctors want to keep him in the hospital through Father's Day weekend. Luckily, the girls can come visit him since they are not sick, so we will be spending the day there. At the earliest, he will go home early next week, but that is assuming he has no events (such a fevers) this weekend.

Thanks to Patrick for stopping by last night with dinner and to Cecille for hanging out with him this evening, especially since I had to leave early to be with the girls. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and to all the dad's out there, have a wonderful Father's Day!