Day +4: Sam's butt and other important topics

Sam's diaper rash is now completely under control, thanks to a laborious butt-care regimen started and described 10 days ago. In fact, his little tuches looks so good that he's famous around the floor.

Sam's hind quarters during re-application of skin protectant. (It's not just my eyes that he inherited.)

In other, less salacious news, Sam tested positive for rhinovirus (essentially the common cold) the day after transplant. He's congested and has a cough, but the doctors are unconcerned--pretty ironic given all the concern expressed about preventing infection while Sam has no immune system.

His weight is holding steady at 5.4kg. This is also a good sign--it means he's not retaining fluids as much as he was a few days ago, when his weight had gone up to 5.7kg. His BP vacillates between normal (90/60) and not-so-great (125/70), but hypertension isn't unexpected under the circumstances*. He struggles to keep his oxygen saturation above 95% (the congestion?), so he continues to wear the oxygen cannula.

And, yes, he still has hair. His ANC is continuing to drop, however, which means the chemo he stopped getting a week ago is still working through his system and will eventually reveal itself in the form of unpleasant side effects, like mucositis and, presumably, hair loss.

Sam is comfortable and in good spirits. When he's awake he's nearly always happy and smiling. He loves the mobile above his bed, which he watches very intently.

Down for the night. Or at least until he coughs himself awake.

I suppose all the attention given to vital signs, etc. is tedious to read about, but it's nothing if not illustrative of our day-to-day: lots of navel gazing.

* The downside is that the diuretics he's getting to fight fluid retention and hypertension are leaving calcium deposits in his kidneys that might eventually lead to kidney stones.