Kerrie’s condition continues to improve and her key vital signs keep trending positivley. Her white blood cell count hit 13.6 today, which is fantastic news. Her immune system has recovered to the point that the risk of life threatening infection has significantly diminished.
The focus is now on neurological recovery. Kerrie has been minimally responsive over the past two weeks becuase her body was focusing its energies on ridding itself of the toxicity from the 5-FU chemotherapy drug. We have been told by medical experts in the field that this is normal and that full neurological recovery may take weeks. She has fought tremendously and come a long way in the past week but will likely have weeks of additional recovery ahead of her.
Now that Kerrie’s immune system has slowly rebuilt itself the ICU team is focused on gradually weaning her off of the intensive supportive care she has been receiveng. It is essentially a measured way of allowing her body to gradually take back on functions that had been suppressed by her condition (e.g. normal digestion, unassisted breathing, etc.). This will be a gradual process which may take weeks but based on experts we have consulted with we are very optimistic that she will be able to make a full recovery.
We reman very grateful for the outpouring of support and generosity from our respective communities and friends and family.
Sincerely,
The Prettitore, Moore and Matteo Families