Posted 4/20/2008 4:32 PM (GMT -6)
Hi all. We're still in the hospital. He seems to be getting very very slightly better each day. I so wish the days would zoom by, and he'll be in remission, and things back to normal, but no such luck yet. He's still having pretty loose diarrhea, but each day his stool seems to be ever so slightly thicker. He's going 2-3 times a day, and there isn't noticeable blood (though there could be some in there, just not visible to the naked eye).
The only troubling thing right now is his blood work - as I mentioned in another post, his hematocrit, hemoglobin, RBC and platelet count seem to be dropping - I hope this isn't a blood disorder related to remicade. However, the doctors who I've spoken to so far, seem rather unconcerned about it - they just say if he gets low enough, we'll just transfuse him, and that'll do the trick, and that they can't attribute the drop in numbers to Remicade, but that it is a multi-factor thing - the IBD bleeding, blood draws themselves, the body healing itself, the digestion process, etc. in combination can all result in lower counts. So basically they're just telling me to take a chill pill, and I'm trying.
He's doing well on food right now - I think the steroids are making him quite hungry - he's taking in anywhere from 2500 - 2800 calories a day. Hopefully, this will help him put some meat back on his bones. With this illness, he's dropped 27 pounds so far. Hopefully, this is the end of that.
All in all, I'm hopeful that he'll get back to normal slowly but surely, and that his blood counts will normalize, rather than get worse. His symptoms do seem to be improving however. Thanks very much for giving me a venue of support, and for listening.
More later.
PV