About a week ago, Jo's White Blood Cell (WBC) Count got down to 0.1 indicating that her own Stem Cells had been all but destroyed by the chemotherapy. Until her WBC count starts coming up, every day is the same - it's all about keeping Jo somewhat comfortable. The chemo often causes sores in the patient's mouth or esophagus, making eating practically impossible.
Jo is also getting Nupogen shots, just like Eddie got before he donated his stem cells. The Nupogen causes bone pain that adds to the discomfort. Jo is getting pretty significant pain medication and nausea medication.
Within a few days, Jo's new stem cells are expected to "engraft" meaning they have worked their way into her bones and they will start producing new blood cells, the white ones being the most important. Those new white cells will repair the damage done by the chemo and they'll "clean up" the remnants of her old immune system.
As Jo's WBC Count increases she'll start to feel better every day and that is further enhanced by the emotional boost of seeing the WBC Count rise. It's somewhat hard to believe, but we are getting close to the home stretch of the hospital stay. Jo might not leave the hospital until early December, but once she gets to the point that each day is better than the previous day, it'll be quite a bit easier to see the light at the end of this first tunnel.
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