Days of Zero

D+7: one week today since transplant. Not much of interest to report whilst we await engraftment; rather like watching paint dry.  The first tell-tale signs of GvHD have appeared; mucositis, diarrhoea and skin rash. This is exactly as predicted and is actually a good sign (not if you ask Fabian!).  As they say in post transplant circles, ‘a little bit of GvHD does you good’.  The frustrating effect of this is complete loss of appetite and as a result he had to endure (again) the ignominy of a nasal gastric tube inserted so that nutrition can be supplied on demand.  Whilst on the positive side, at least his hair continues to grow back.  Each day we get the blood counts – and each day its zero.  So remember the chant – ‘grow cells grow’.  Isolation is very boring.  There are only so many lego permutations one can build.  The photo below illustrates Fabian’s latest construction.  I caught an item on ITV’s Daybreak this week which featured a little boy who has come through bone marrow transplant, thanks only to a last minute donor being found on the Anthony Nolan bank following an appeal on the programme last year.  We are ever grateful that our circumstances were so much more straightforward.  We were also reminded by a catholic friend that the day of his transplant was in fact the feast of St Fabian, a first century Pope.  Totally unplanned of course, but maybe a spiritual sign, none the less?