Post-chemo, day 5
The chemo therapy treatment is starting to bust up the cancer cells, evidenced by improved counts from her liver function tests. Her platelet count is still low because of the small cell cancer, but the expectation is that in a week or so, her body will generate platelets on its own.

Daily monitoring of her blood counts is crucial as is the ability to manage platelet and blood transfusions quickly and efficiently. For this reason, my mom was admitted to Grant Medical Center in Columbus yesterday morning. She is now more accessible to the blood bank (across the street) and receives a high level of care in the Critical Care Unit (between a regular room and the ICU). A member of her oncology team is on staff at Grant. He checks on my mom daily and coordinates her care with the lead oncologist and the attending physician.

When she is less reliant on transfused platelets and her blood counts stabilize, she'll get to go home and continue to let the chemotherapy do its job.