We’re off and running now. Campath started today at 11:30am on a stepped dosing process, which means she gets an increasing dose every 15 minutes under observation until we reach the full test dose. The test dose will run for several hours, and is 20% of what she will receive the rest of the week.

Zoe was given pre-meds to help her manage the chemo: hydrocortisone (steroid), benadryl (antihistimine), tylenol (fever), and demerol (pain).

She is asleep, no surprise. We’re told to expect hives, rashes and fevers, so we will see how things go.

Zoe’s blood counts brought good news today, something we are grateful for on this day in particular. Her Creatinine, a marker of kidney function, is now down below .1, which is as low as can be measured. Her most recent test on Friday was .2, which means that her kidney function has improved measurably. Go Zoe!

The numbers:

  • WBC: 5.0
  • Hemo: 10.4
  • Sodium: 137
  • Platelets: 667
  • Seg Neutrophil: 38
  • Lymphocyte: 55
  • Creatinine: <0.1
  • Bilirubin: 0.5
  • AST: 37
  • ALT: 20
  • ANC: 1900

These are the numbers we’ll be following most closely from now on. The creatinine as mentioned is a marker of kidney function. Bilirubin is a marker for liver function, and it’s currently perfectly fine.

AST & ALT will be monitored to determine if we need to hold the Hydroxyurea. If they rise to 3x “normal” or mid-range, then we hold it. 3x “normal” is ~180 for AST, ~66 for ALT.

ANC means Absolute Neutrophil Count, which is a somewhat complicated calculation that measures immune system function. We can expect that to go up and down, but mostly down, during conditioning. After Zoe’s transplant this number will become our holy grail. We’ll be looking for her cell counts to go up and her ANC to rise and stay above 500, as I understand it. We’ll learn more about this closer to the transplant.

The campath will quickly reduce the Lymphocytes, which is what it is there to do. The “segs” will remain elevated and the ANC, which counts both, may therefore stay high initially. Eventually we expect it to go way down and not recover until after transplant.

Afternoon Update:

Zoe’s first day test dose went very well. No major reactions today. She had an elevated heart rate and very mild fever for about an hour, but was otherwise fine.

Because Zoe did so well, we will be giving her Dexamethasone for the next 3 days during Campath instead of the normal steroid given. This is because Dexamethasone penetrates the blood/brain barrier more effectively, and with HLH it can do more to suppress any abnormal cell activity than the traditional steroid given with RIC.

Tomorrow we continue the chemo and step up from the today’s test dose (which was 20% of normal strength) to the full dose. We expect if we’re going to see a reaction we should start seeing it tomorrow.