There's no place like home

Psalm 16:1-2, "Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge. I said to the Lord, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing." MD Anderson Cancer Center is the best home away from away to be if you have leukemia but going home today is the goal Katrina has been waiting for. Louis has been diligently cleaning their home and even the car and will be arriving at the hospital this AM. It sounds like discharge will be late in the day today. Her primary doctor was in early and awaiting the preliminary bone marrow report. (I will post that when we hear as long as we continue to have internet service in her room). He tells her she will do great. Dr. Estrov has been in communication with her clinic doctor and has "told him everything" so it will be a smooth transition when we come back on Thursday for the first of many out patient visits. The Infectious Disease doctors were just in. They told us a blood culture came back positive for fungus but it could be a false positive because of a specific antibiotic Katrina was taking and no longer is. They will order a repeat test and be back in to see her this afternoon. I am guessing we will see a GI doctor before too long.
This AM Katrina went for an early AM walk in the hallways, came back and had an appetite- 2 bowls of cereal and 2 (4 Oz) cups of juice. That is huge compared to the couple of bites or only liquids she has eaten and a great sign. As of today she has lost 10 pounds from admission weight so we need to gain some of that back. They absolutely don't want her to lose weight during chemo. I am going to make a grocery list of healthy snacks this AM then visit the grocery store. Actually we will make the list together since my idea of good foods and hers don't always mesh:):) Louis also cooks and when they return to their normal eating habits, some of this will resolve itself.
Some good news on her blood count. The WBC count that was 0, then .1, is up even more today. It is 8.8 (normal range (4-11)- so happy about this. The increase inWBC should help with the intestinal lining according to the GI doctors. The platelet count is up a bit too. It is 24 today (normal range is 140-440). Obv. we are really careful to not have any bleeding and prevent bruising as much as we can.
Please pray for:
strength and energy she needs-appetite and easing into eating again, no wgt. loss (the dietitian was in this AM w/gd ideas for us)
GI normalization\
Blood infection to clear
pulse rate has been high today and not sure why
adjustment from hospital life to home care
Thanks for your continuing prayer and lovely notes, cards and thoughts! Lori