Day +74

I had an appointment this morning at NIH, and it was quicker to get over to Bethesda with a half foot of snow than it is on a morning with perfect weather. That was a nice surprise.
The only issue I had to report to the transplant team was that my cough hasn't gone away completely. Its better but I still cough a lot to get rid of congestion in the morning. The doctors listened to my lungs, and they sound completely clear, so thats good news. Everything else with my physical check up went well.

However, the results of my blood tests showed that my neutrophils had dropped once again. My absolute neutrophil count was a healthy 4.04 last Thursday, but had dropped to a meager .04 this morning. This occurred despite giving myself a neupogen shot on Friday in order to help keep my counts up.

So the doctors once again don't know what keeps causing my neutrophils to drop. I'll be taking the neupogen shots every day for now in order to raise my counts. The last two times this has happened I've ended up inpatient in the hospital with fevers. So far I am feeling great and haven't had an elevated temperature at all.

One theory that some of the doctors have shared is that I have been getting viruses that are subsequently slowing the production of neutrophils in my bone marrow. One doctor today brought up the idea of giving me Intravenous Immuoglobulin(IVIG). The IVIG is a type of blood product that contains antibodies from at least 1,000 different donors. What it would do is provide increased antibodies and allow my body to fight off these small viruses that they think are affecting me. The doctor who saw me today will consult with the rest of the transplant team, and I might receive the IVIG on Thursday.

So hopefully the neupogen shots increased my neutrophil count quickly and I don't get stuck with a fever which would require a stay at NIH. If my lousy neutrophil behavior is a result of these minor viruses, hopefully the IVIG will be a procedure that can get me over this hump in the process.