News from Adelina Demidova 🕊️

Good evening! We had three days of high-dose chemotherapy, then a day off, and the stem cell infusion on Thursday.

Thanks to our transplant doctor, they gave Adelina IV medications beforehand, and she's tolerating it more or less. Her fever has gone down.

The infusion went well, but the smell of corn made Adelina extremely nauseous and she started to get nervous. The next day, she started experiencing severe nausea and vomiting. And apparently, side effects are starting to set in. Her blood counts are also dropping: her neutrophil count is still at 1, and her platelets have dropped to 18. Adelina is now on antifungal IVs to stimulate her neutrophils. The doctor said he's pleased with the results and that Adelina isn't complaining of pain. They're planning to do a PET/CT scan in two weeks to compare. They're not relying solely on the AFP, as it can be deceptive.

We're really looking forward to the PET scan, but at the same time, we're really scared to hear what the results will be, as we've had so many failures. If the results are positive, then the protocol calls for a third transplant. If not, the doctors don't want to do another transplant and will consider treatment. Despite feeling unwell, Adelina is happy and laughing. She's very confident she'll recover soon and we'll be able to go home. In Moscow, she wants to meet a friend and take her to the aquarium.