Hi @anitasharma I’m doing very well, thank you! And it sounds like your husband is too. At Day +15 it’s really not uncommon at all for your husband’s neutrophil count to be extremely low. When the newly infused stem cells engraft and start producing blood products, the neutrophil count (and other numbers) will start rising again. Right now they’re settling in and finding ‘a home’ in which to set up housekeeping. ☺️
Once the neutrophils are back in circulation your husband will most likely experience some noticeable improvements with the mouth sores and other symptoms. From there, the recovery should be steady but slow. Personally, my nausea stuck around for several more weeks though it was much less than with the first couple of weeks.
Recovery can’t be rushed. It takes time and patience. And lots of naps!
Also from my experinece my blood pressure was elevated for a time. I was put on a low dose of bp medication and eventually didn’t need to take it any more. Your husband’s BMT team is closely monitoring him and will give him the appropriate meds if they’re concerned. If I may share this, my transplant doctor told me that that it was my job to recover and stay focused on my future. That he and his BMT team would do all the worrying and have the sleepless nights so my husband and I didn’t have to. LOL. I took him at his word! Our BMT teams are very experienced and prepared to handle issues that arise. So try to put leave the worrying to his doctor. ☺️

I learned recently in information from the National Marrow Donor Program ( https://www.nmdp.org/ ) that it’s not unusual for a stem cell donor to have a temporary decrease in platelets after donating. The risks of donating are minimal but it can take days to several weeks for blood numbers to reach the normal level again. He’ll be having followup appointments to check his level. His doctor will be watching to make sure it continues to edge back up.

You’ll be amazed at the difference two weeks after engraftment should make in your husband’s health. The target date of May 24 is realistic. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be discharged if his numbers aren’t where his doctors would like them to be or if he’s having any symptoms that they’re concerned about. It’s just that, a target date. Once he’s discharged there will be frequent followup appointments. Will you need to stay near the clinic after that for a few weeks?

I agree with what others have said about how slow the recovery is after the transplant! When my numbers finally started rising, this was such a SLOW process. I think I was hoping that the transplant would bring me back to normal quite quickly, but I spent months in bed, too tired to do anything.

I also kept getting random fevers. One in particular was 3.5 months after my transplant on Thanksgiving day. It was my first real outing to spend the day with my extended family in a city that was 2 hours away. I didn’t do much except sit, eat and enjoy the normalcy of being with the family again, but I was completely exhausted and felt feverish. We got home that night and I checked my temperature. It was 103 F. I didn’t tell my husband about it and I was determined not to spend Thanksgiving night in the hospital. So, I took some Tylenol and went to bed. I was relieved that the fever was gone in the morning. I overdid it the day before.

My advice is for your husband to pace himself, listen to his body and start walking as soon as he is able to.

I am 8.5 years post transplant, work full time at a university, walk 3-4 miles per day and lead a full life. All this progress didn’t happen immediately.

Wishing your husband a good recovery!