Good Evening,

Just a quick update on Bonnie. Over the past couple of days she has been pumped with antibiotics and antifungal meds along with all the meds she has been taking since her bone marrow biopsy. Throughout the day she typically has two IVs going at once with various fluids being pumped into her along with the meds.

She continues to have fevers, but the spikes are not as high as they were earlier in the week. Tonight I took her temperature just before leaving and it had spiked at 100.1 degrees, which almost seems normal compared to the 103 and 104 degrees she was hitting.

She is still in quite a bit of pain due to the mouth sores. Today she was more willing to accept dilaudid for pain (I was told today that dilaudid is 5 times stronger than morphine or maybe more concentrated). Unfortunately after the second small dose, she experienced nausea and vomiting a couple of times making her a little apprehensive in taking more later this evening. The pain tonight was probably more severe than she has had because she was willing to have more dilaudid pushed through her IV regardless of the nausea. A little milk first followed by the nurse pushing it slowly seemed to help, although I left 30 minutes after.

Her blood labs continue to be the same without improvement. Her white blood cell count remains non existant, platelets lower than normal and hemoglobin dropping again, requiring another blood transfusion this afternoon. Other items in her comprehensive blood panel are out of normal ranges as well.

So, while Bonnie continues to endure each minute of each hour of each day with all the IVs, pain, nausea, we wait for lab results of tests to determine what she is dealing with, whether a virus, infection or possible, but very rare, a breakdown in the grafting of the stem cells that grafted over a year ago. Most likely it appears to be a virus which her blood has an antibody of a virus test positive. The complication is that the particular virus and how it reacts with a bone marrow transplant and graft host disease. This is something Sparrow Hospital doesn't have expertise in so they have sent biopsy and blood samples to Karmanos for their own testing to determine the best course for treatment, if any. Return of results are slower due to the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Please pray that the time will pass quickly and for Bonnie to have both short and long term relief of the pain and suffering she is enduring. Thank you for all the cards, notes, emails, and texts. Your prayers are the most important aspect of help during this time and we are grateful for each and everyone of you.

Steve (& Bonnie)