Rules of engraftment

Of course zillions of blood moon photos on the net but this one taken by Tim Durkan of Seattle was my favorite

Naomi's art. I have this labeled with the year she was in first grade but as she signed it in 'cursive' which is no longer taught, I am assuming she was older
 

I woke up today to see an enormous full moon filling up my window. By the time I got my glasses and my camera, it was hidden under clouds. Maybe it was a dream.

 

We had planned to go to Grand Rapids today but rain stopped that. It should be dry tomorrow so off we will go.

 

Did my friend's stem cell transplant work? When they start to see neutrophils, it means that the new bone marrow is making them. This is called engraftment Usually this takes 14-20 days but my friend has them after 10 days. She gets platelet and red blood cell transfusions but has to make her own neutrophils. Her mouth and throat ulcers are finally not hurting so much so she can eat. They might release her from the hospital earlier than planned if her counts keep going up. She still is at great risk for infections and still could get graft-host disease but that is less common from a related donor.

 

Interesting transplant trivia (to boring me at least): if you have a choice between a brother or a sister, choose the brother as your sister, if she ever has been pregnant, might be packing some dangerous antibodies developed in response to her fetus. My friend 's blood has the DNA of a man now. I am surprised that crime shows haven't used this as an interesting plot twist. She will no longer have her particular allergies but she will have her brother's. All the antibodies she developed from childhood vaccines are gone. She will have to have new vaccinations.

 

Another person from our class needs a stem cell transplant ASAP. His two siblings are not matches. Although he is at least 10 years younger than my friend, chemo has weaken him considerably. He will have an even bigger battle than my friend.

 

From my garden, I made an omelet packed with red peppers, chard and tomatoes. Yum. I would have Brussels sprouts by now if I hadn't grown the plants so close together. I will know better next year. But I am a star at growing chard, kale and tomatoes.

 

Finally it rained after almost 10 days of dryness. I thought my hummingbirds were all gone so I haven't been changing the nectar regularly but I saw a lone female on my petunias.