Day +10: still miserable

Mina Brigitta's condition has not improved at all. She still is throwing up and spiking very high fevers, up to 105. And her skin rash has gotten much worse. Now she has angry red pinpoint marks in patches all over her body. They don't seem to bother her much, but it's hard to tell with how horrible she's feeling. We're keeping her pretty much constantly medicated with Tylenol, Bendryl and/or Ativan. She has moments of waking up and wanting to play, then typically goes to sleep, then wakes up and throws up and is miserable until the next cycle kicks in. This morning, the "book buddy" came (Judy, a volunteer who reads books to kids on this floor) right after the Ativan kicked in, and Mina Brigitta was rapt for 45 minutes. But she slept most of the day.

They still don't know what the cause of the fevers and the rash. A dermatologist came in this afternoon, and said she didn't think it was a reaction to the antibiotics, which is good news because that means they can still be used as a treatment option. She also didn't think it looked like a fungus, which is even better news. One possibility is that this is an early manifestation of graft vs. host disease (GVHD). However, it would be unusual for it to occur this early, especially since her white counts are still so low. The leading candidate seems to be some kind of childhood virus. Apparently there are dozens that can cause this kind of rash in immunocompromised kids. The good news is that these viruses don't typically cause major problems for the immunocompromised, they just take a lot longer to clear. I would be very happy to live with these symptoms for the next few weeks if we knew it wasn't going to get any worse.

I've spent some time over the last several days organizing pictures. I did complete one album, and I should have a couple more very soon. The link is on the right.