Update

I'm making progress getting things back to "normal." The liver enzymes are improving. One is back within normal range and the other is getting there. That was as of Thursday's readings.

The skin GvHD has improved. I'm rubbing a steroid cream on the affected areas three times a day, plus they have me on Medrol, a steroid. Medrol has some nasty side effects, but it does clear up the skin GvHD. Also it shrinks the lymph nodes. Although shrinking the nodes with steroids is not really what we want to do. We want the Rituxan and and graft (donor cells) to shrink the nodes.

The blood Tacro level was 2.5, still below the minimum target range, but off of the zero reading on Monday. And, yes, the zero reading was on Monday, not last Thursday. So my concern about them dropping the ball was unfounded.

So this week I hope to greatly reduce the Medrol dosage. Finish off the skin GvHD. And get the Tacro level stable and in the lower end of the target range.

Then we get to watch what the nodes do. If they begin to grow again we have to keep beating them back to help the graft work on the CLL/Lymphoma. If they don't come back it will be evidence of GvL (graft vs. leukemia) which is the whole point of the transplant.

It's a process, not an event. The process can really be rough to go through.