No Improvement

We were hoping the additional antibiotic would take care of the fevers, but that doesn't appear to have happened. Mina Brigitta had a reasonable day today -- not a lot of energy, but was up and playing most of the day. No appetite, though. But her fever spiked above 39 again tonight. The doctors told us today they don't have a lot of tools left. She's already receiving broad spectrum antibiotics and anti-fungals, even though there's no evidence of any bacterial or fungal infection. About the only other thing they can do is pull her Broviac. That would mean more surgeries -- one to take it out, and another to put it back in before her BMT, so we're obviously hoping to avoid that. They also said her condition is acting like a virus. She's still positive for RSV, but there are dozens of other viruses circulating that they don't test for. She's already received an antibody treatment against viruses. There are other anti-virals, but of questionable effectiveness. They're taking some comfort from her CT scan, and from the fact that she isn't having any trouble breathing.

The good news we got today is that her neutrophil count (the white blood cells we're watching most closely) shot up today. It went up so quickly I think it has to be a mistake -- these counts are notoriously inaccurate. I'll want to wait until tomorrow or Monday before doing much celebrating. Still, we're now hopeful that her own immune system will recover over the next several days. She really needs that boost.