All I had to do today is having my CVC line dressing changed and get my next to last neupegon shot for this round. They still couldn’t get the blood return from my CVC lines but seemed to think it was no big deal. They’ll shoot something in them on the morning I begin my next ( AND LAST ) chemo next week to open them up better. I feel better than I have in weeks. I just returned from the store and practically ran up the stairs with no problems. Big change from just a week ago.
I have my fast track visit on Thursday morning and the heart tests have now been moved to Tuesday so we’ll be on the road to DFW before lunch on Thursday. We are actually moving some things back already to head to storage….that feels really good to be doing. It reminds me it isn’t much longer. We are also going to be looking at houses and hope to sign a lease on something. It really urks me to lease something but I know it is the right thing to do ( thanks for keeping me down to Earth, Scott and Babs…not knowing if or how soon the cancer will come back. They keep telling me that I have a really good chance at a longer life if I can just get through that 2 1/2 year time frame with this cancer. 50 percent make it and 50 don’t so I just pray to God that he has something in mind for me in say the year 2025. So, I guess it is smart to just lease for a couple of years and see what God has in plan. Katie may be living with us to finish up her last two years at UTA so we are going to concentrate our search on central/north Arlington and Irving and maybe some in south Euless. There is still a chance she may get her own apt but that means her taking out bigger student loans ( I only agreed to pay for a shared apt and she isn’t interested in that ) to pay the difference so we’ll see how that goes. If she does get her own place, then we’ll look for a smaller place for just the two of us and a cat or two.
Well, off to fix up something in this HUGE kitchen (yes, that is sarcastic…I miss our house)
Brad
July 31st, 2007 at 01:21pm
Posted by
Brad |
General |
6 comments
First, Happy Birthday to my bride of almost 24 years. Not a great way to celebrate, being down here but at least we have been getting good news most of the time and not bad news.
Today we did the usual blood work and found out my numbers have already started rebounding. My start date for round six isn’t until next Wednesday night but incredibly my numbers are already good enough for me to get going today. They won’t do that of course but at least we know no more delays…well, we hope. I have my heart tests on Thursday just to make sure there hasn’t been any more damage. If that comes back normal, then we are off to the races for my 6th and FINAL round of chemo before moving back to Irving.
Speaking of Irving, we are coming back again this Thursday right after that heart test. I have no appts until Tuesday morning early so I think we might stay until Sunday or Monday. We’ll go up to school and get some things done, take Katie to look at apts in case she doesn’t end up living with us and then we’ll all spend some time looking at houses for us. We are still on the rent vs buy discussion but need to make a decision soon.
We’ll post again Thursday but it might be late.
Brad, Tami and Katie
July 30th, 2007 at 02:26pm
Posted by
Brad |
General |
6 comments
It is funny how you start to look forward to the end of some big adventure as you are still in the midst of it. I am so ready to mark this summer off my to do list. While I have been a resident of Houston for the summer, I have marked a major to do item off my list. Just this last week, I finished all of my graduate work and I now have a Master’s of Science in Education with an emphasis in Curriculum and Instruction!!! This Monday I will mark off my 44th year and now have to round up. I had a hard time when I turned 35 because of the rounding up issue. I don’t feel that way this time yet….we’ll see how Monday morning goes. Katie and I took a Pilates class last Monday. I was sore most of the week. Guess that means I shouldn’t take it this Monday!
I might fall apart. Katie and I went to a cancer counselor also this past week. No big revelations other than it is ok to feel stressed about our guy having cancer. DUH! At least it is free and it gave me a place to cry a little. Haven’t done that too much so it felt right to do it there. I have become really good at managing over 20 medications at one time. I have become really good at reading each little line on Brad’s face to know what is going on. I can wake up at the slightest movement and then sleep again when he is still. Overall, I think I am doing pretty good. I still can’t wait until this summer is over. I am ready to get home and relax. I’ll be seeing you all soon. tami
No numbers until Monday, so Brad will write then!
July 28th, 2007 at 10:25pm
Posted by
Tami |
General |
8 comments
I’m really feeling ok compared to the last two times I had this “B” round but I’m glad I won’t have it again. The weight still has not come off but they finally gave me enough of the meds to get the water weight off of me today so I should see some positive signs of that weight coming off in the next day or two. I met with the cardiologist today and he said the ole’ ticker sounds good. He did set up some test a week from tomorrow just to make sure everything is ok but it sounded like more of “just because” instead of him feeling like there was something wrong.
For the numbers report. The platelets did their big drop today…they are cut in half to under 100K now and should continue to go down over the weekend before they hopefully start their rebound next week. Everything else is down but pretty much in line with where we expect them to be. I have a very short, thirty minute chemo this weekend and then will finish up my neupogen shots on Wednesday of next week. A week after that I hope to begin my LAST round! Three weeks after that, I hope to be HOME…where ever that is.
My dad and Betty are going back home tomorrow after visiting for three days. It’s been good to have them down here to feel a little more like home.
Thanks for keeping up with us…not tooooo much longer.
Brad
July 26th, 2007 at 09:52pm
Posted by
Brad |
General |
6 comments
Numbers are doing ok. I haven’t gotten as sick as I did either of the earlier two times I took this round (1 or 3) so that has been a nice change. I did put on the weight with the steriods and chemo fluids of around 15 pounds again in just 5 days which is making it very uncomfortable to breathe. I’ll be glad when that goes away. When you have a massive gut to begin with, more weight there isn’t what you want.
Next big visit is in two days. I have my follow up with the cardiologist to make sure my heart is doing ok. I’m not sure what he is going to do as there are no tests set up so maybe it is just a visit.
My dad and Betty (step mother) are coming down tomorrow for a couple of days so that will be nice as long as I feel good enough to visit. Katie is doing great but doesn’t care for the early morning visits around here to the hospital. So far, we’ve just let her sleep but we may get her a little more involved soon just so she can “enjoy” the time here a little more.
Brad
July 24th, 2007 at 06:35pm
Posted by
Brad |
General |
4 comments
Started my neupagen shots today. My numbers on my blood work are still pretty high…actually some are very high. However, my numbers usually don’t go down until about day 10 – 12 of each round and today is day 6. If you have been keeping up with me, you’ll know that I started this round with most of my numbers higher than normal and that they reduced the level of chemo this time on about half of my drugs this time so I have hope that it won’t hit me as hard this time.
Here are the numbers. My platelets are still very high…224,000. That is what I was when I started chemo in March however they had them up to 258,000 just before I started this round last week. My whites are down to 3,300 from 20,500 last week but again, 20,500 was abnormally high from two neupagen shots just before I started that round. Neutrophils are still at 2,520 which is still good.
I have my fast track visits tomorrow and again Thursday where I get more detailed blood work and we should really know something by Thursday on how I’m doing. I actually don’t feel bad today so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. I’ll write more tomorrow after I get the detailed results.
Brad
July 23rd, 2007 at 07:15pm
Posted by
Brad |
General |
4 comments
Tami and I just returned from the hospital about an hour ago. I’ve been unhooked from my backpack of chemo and begin the recovery period with neupagen and procrit shots tomorrow afternoon. The last two days have been a challenge. About noon yesterday I started feeling queezy and the headaches returned. It simply got worse throughout the day and night. I woke up this morning feeling the same but began to feel better about an hour later. Unfortunately, my heart began to act up at that point. It was skipping beats every 10 beats or so and I began to feel very weak. I loaded up with more water for fluids and we decided to go to the hospital an hour early just in case there was a problem. Within about two more hours of that (around noon) my heart went back to normal. Not sure if it was one of the drugs or dehydration. I don’t really think it was dehydration as I was getting extra fluids in the IV’s but at least it is better now. I feel much better at the moment.
We are hopeful that I’ve had the bad time for this round already but it is normally two or three days after the last day of chemo. That means that it could be Tuesday or Wednesday but again, maybe it is already gone.
As Katie wrote in the last post, the bone marrow results came back totally clean. I’m still cancer free which is exciting. One more round of chemo and I’m free for a while. I can’t wait!
Brad
July 22nd, 2007 at 04:24pm
Posted by
Brad |
General |
4 comments
Hey everyone! This is Katie. I got down here yesterday around lunch time, just in time for food and a nap. After laying around for a few hours with Dad, Mom and I went to get the bed that our WONDERFUL friends Syndi and Shaylor offered us. Just so happens we found Rice Village, a very nice shopping area by Rice University. Needless to say we were excited. It may be time for a little “retail therapy”. You would think a twin size bed wouldn’t be too hard to pick up, and then you realize that it was just Mom and I. It involved people thinking we were bed stealers and wondering why we wouldn’t have chosen to steal things more valuable like electronics, then my shoe getting stuck in the elevator shaft as we try to beat the closing of the doors, then trying to get off the elevator in the parking garage and realizing it was easier to have mattress races to the car than carry it. It was an interesting adventure. All for the cause though…I’m much happier on that than the air mattress I was originally given. Thanks Syndi and Shaylor!!
It’s been good to be here with Mom and Dad. Last night we all ate dinner together, which doesn’t happen very often these days! It was very nice to wake up to biscuits cooked by Dad like it used to be. Dad keeps hugging me and telling me how good it is to have me here. It definitely makes it worth it. I’m looking forward to spending this quality time as a family.
Now for the good news…around 9:30 this morning we found out the bone marrow is CLEAR!!! Yes that’s right we are still cancer free! Definitely a moral booster around here for all of us!
Daddy is off with Aunt Cheryl getting this morning’s chemo treatment and will be back shortly. Then it’s time for the ladies to go out on a shopping trip…in celebration of the bone marrow results…or at least that’s what we’ll tell him!
July 20th, 2007 at 10:15am
Posted by
Katie |
General |
14 comments
My numbers went way up today. White cells went from 2,200 Monday to over 20,000 today. ( Way too high but we’ll take it ) Platelets were already doing great at over 200,000 but today they are over 250,000. They weren’t that high when I was tested BEFORE I began my first round of chemo. My neutrophils that were 980 on Monday are now almost 19,000! Hemoglobin is still below 10,000 and red cells are just over 3,000 which are both low but not terrible.
Needless to say, they sent me to the ATC unit to begin round 5. I’ve just been hooked up to the only drug I receive today which begins with a low dose and then is increased each thirty minutes or so to make sure you aren’t having problems with it. It last 6 – 8 hours so we’ll be here until after 10pm tonight…but, at least we are starting.
Our daughter, katie, and my sister cheryl are coming down tomorrow. Katie is moving in with us for the last 6 weeks of our treatment…..yes, it is a good thing and we are excited.
Well, the drug I’m getting requires that you get benadryl first so needless to say I’m getting a little sleepy. Tami is sitting in one of those chairs that lays out into a bed and is already just about asleep. Until tomorrow.
Brad
July 18th, 2007 at 02:56pm
Posted by
Brad |
General |
6 comments
The CT scans from Friday all showed that the cancer is still gone. The lymph nodes were even smaller than last time which made me think the cancer was still there but the doctor said that isn’t the case. We are still waiting on the bone marrow results which will be late this week.
My platelets came way up from Friday to over 200 but for some reason my white cells and hemoglobin went down. They were close to being good enough to start round 5 but the doctor said we were taking a bigger chance on me going back in the hospital with complications if we pressed it so….we’ll wait. I rec’d both red and white cells shots today and will get another white cell shot tomorrow. Blood work will be Wednesday morning and if all goes well, Wednesday afternoon will be the start for round 5. They have decided with my reaction to the last two chemo rounds to reduce the potency of the drugs so we are hoping that helps me get through it with no reactions this time.
An interesting conversation took place today that I wanted to share. Most of you know how I’ve got the most aggressive form of Mantle Cell Lymphoma which is blastic. Whenever you tell someone you have blastic, the usual response is “oh, so sorry” or “I hear that is the worst one to have” or something along those lines. Today I was visiting with the nurse who was giving me my shots and she informed me that she had just been to a meeting where they mentioned that blastic has turned in to the one you might want if you had a choice. Seems that more and more experimental treatments like what I’m receiving are getting better and better results. True, it still kills more people more quickly than the other types but if you beat it down quickly and not relapse quickly, longevity is getting better and better. A decade or more isn’t unheard of which is amazing when you think that just a few years ago 2 years or so was about the best you could hope for.
It was good to get back home this weekend and see our little Katie (ok, she is almost 20 years old but she is still our little katie) and realize that it isn’t THAT long before at least this phase of our cancer journey is almost over. Looks like I’ll miss the first week or so of school but not much if any more than that. Not too bad.
I’ll report again Wednesday once I get my blood numbers back.
Brad
July 16th, 2007 at 05:44pm
Posted by
Brad |
General |
8 comments
It is 7:30p.m. and we just got home from the “testing” day. We left the apt. this morning at 7:30 a.m. Makes for a long day. Brad’s numbers looked good this morning and we are hoping that after our dr. visit on Monday, we will be ready to start round 5. It is amazing that right when you start feeling sort of normal is when you can’t wait to get the next round started that will beat you up again. This is a weird dance we are doing.
I am writing because I wanted to tell of my experience today. As you read in a previous post, I was planning on giving platelets starting today. Well, they had me hooked up to the machine by 2:10 this afternoon! It was the weirdest feeling. My blood was going into a machine from one arm. My platelets were being removed and sent into a bag, then my blood was sent back into me. The first suck on my arm I felt nothing, just like having a blood test done. But man, when it went back into me it was crazy! I starting shivering from the inside out. My head sorta went swooning and then my lips started to tingle. Thank goodness they knew that all of that was a good sign! I don’t want to have the bad sign for sure! They covered me with warm blankets, they gave me a sip of 7 up, then shoved two Tums in my mouth(calcium is lost in this process)! Notice I did nothing. That is because both arms were needled up and had tubes coming out of them, couldn’t move them at all. Not even to scratch my nose-so you know what happened next-right? It is amazing how trapped you feel when you can’t move your arms at all. Two hours later I had donated almost 2 bags of platelets in replacement for Brad’s 4 that he has had so far. When they were unhooking me, they say see ya next week. Hmmm…..don’t know……might rather have a root canal or something. But…I did get a cute t-shirt and a really cool bag when it was over. They have 2 other styles of T-shirts so I might be convinced to go back 2 more times!
Shhhhh—-we are sneaking to mom’s house this Sat. am until Sunday afternoon. Probably the dr. would say “heck no!” but you know what rebels we are. We really need a Katie fix. Had a mom fix this week. My sweet brother-in-law brought her down to see us for a couple of days. 1 1/2 weeks of school remain until I am done with my Master’s degree! I can’t wait for that load to be lifted. I just wish this cancer thing would go away just as easy, but I have this feeling we will have to deal with it or the thought of it for a long time. No posts this weekend. Look for news Monday evening after the dr. visit. Pray hard, tami
July 13th, 2007 at 07:51pm
Posted by
Tami |
General |
8 comments
I just returned from having the dressing changed for the last time on this daily change for a week deal. There was not much drainage at all and the nurse said it wasn’t very red either. We are still hopeful that we’ll be able to sew it back in and not have to take this one out and put another one in. Some of you have asked what this dressing change thing is all about. It is called a CVC line (Central Venous Line) You can click HERE to see a picture of what it looks like. Basically there are two lines that go into my chest near my heart. They are used to administer the chemo and some of the time to draw blood out.
I know some of you like specifics when praying for our situation so I’ll post our schedule for tomorrow.
8:00 am Blood Draw
9:00 am Bone Marrow aspiration and Bone Marrow Biopsy
1:20 pm Chest X-ray
3:10 pm Prep for CT scans (that wonderful drink that you get 3 cups of)
4:40 pm Full lymphoma CT (Neck, chest, abdomin, and pelvic)
We’ll leave the apt about 7:30 and hope to be back around 6pm or so.
Here is info on the bone marrow tests
Monday I meet with my doctor to see if my blood counts are good enough to start round 5 on Tuesday. We REALLY need to get started as any more delays will cause me to miss some school which we don’t need at all.
Hope everyone has a great weekend.
Brad
July 12th, 2007 at 09:07am
Posted by
Brad |
General |
7 comments
Just returned from day 6 of 7 daily dressing changes to make sure there is no infection. They informed me that on Monday they will resuture the line into my chest. The also said we need to switch from having the dressing changed once a week to twice a week to make sure moisture doesn’t get to it and sit there to get germs growing.
Katie called last night and is sick with a bug that the dr said she got from the kids at the day care where she is working. That means she has to stay away from work for the rest of this week. This is when all of us being apart really sucks!
Friday is the big 8 – 10 hour day with all of the test. Can’t wait!
Brad
July 11th, 2007 at 10:12am
Posted by
Brad |
General |
4 comments
We were a little surprised, but all of my numbers went up. Some went WAY up. Everything is in really good shape with the exception of my platelets. They were 21,000 when we left the hospital and we were a little concerned they would go back down. They came back at 30,000 today. Not great but certainly much better than they could have been. My white cells that had been down below 1,000 most of the last two weeks were over 5,000 today! Hemoglobin was around 9,400.
I don’t have much else this week until Friday. I have the bone marrow tests along with all of the CT exams and blood work. This is to restage the cancer. If you remember all of the disease was gone after two rounds. We are hopeful that the current results will show the same thing. The doctor we had in the hospital said that with my results not coming back up quickly, there was a CHANCE that the disease was back in my bone marrow. It is a small chance but enough to get my mind wondering.
I actually got out and did a little work today. My truck has been sitting still for a month and the battery wouldn’t take a jump. I had to remove it from the truck and take it to the auto parts store to get another one…that I had to then bring back and reinstall. I was worn out since we did it at 4pm here in Houston but it felt good to get out and do something.
Until next time.
Brad
July 9th, 2007 at 08:44pm
Posted by
Brad |
General |
5 comments
Just returned from the daily hospital visit. My CVC line appears to be doing better. The nurse said today that it didn’t look that red to her and it didn’t sting near as much when she was cleaning it. She said that was a very good sign. Still awaiting the results of the culture to see if there is an infection there. Also rec’d my last neupegon shot today….depending on where my numbers are today.
A lady came up to us today while waiting to have me CVC line cleaned and was trying to get people to donate blood. Tami talked to her and has agreed to start giving platelets this Friday. I’ve been getting a lot of them and they say they often have to fly platelets in because so few people are willing to give platelets even though the time to do it is just over an hour as opposed to the several hours it use to take. It’s just as easy, just takes longer than giving blood. I had to have 4 bags last week so if anyone wants to donate platelets, I still have an account with Carter Blood care.
I’ll post after I get my numbers tomorrow and let you know how things are going. I’ve heard from a few people now that are on a similar protocol to mine ( except no Velcade) and are having more problems with their numbers recovering than I did and have actually been taken off of the treatment. Yeh, it really can be that hard on the body. I consider myself lucky.
Thanks for all your prayers. I really believe that is what has gotten us through so far.
Brad and Tami
July 8th, 2007 at 11:26am
Posted by
Brad |
General |
8 comments
I was out walking this morning and saw the doctor that has been seeing me these last 10 days. He was just staring at me. I asked him what the look was for and he said “Cuase you are going home today”. I haven’t seen my numbers yet but from what he said, they all went up and those neutrophils that needed to be at least 500 before I could go home were almost 600.
We are just waiting to get our final instructions and will then run out of here!
Brad
July 6th, 2007 at 09:03am
Posted by
Brad |
General |
11 comments
Just had more blood work done. Why? Hemroids. Yep, no fun. The good news is that ALL of my numbers had come up from this morning…white cells are 1,100 hemoglobin and red cells went up, platelets are 21,000 after the transfusion. They will most likely go down for tomorrow morning’s numbers but they were down to 7,000 earlier today. That is why they were so concerned about the hemroids. It’s difficult to stop the blood when it won’t clot.
I know there are hundreds praying for me. I would like to ask a favor. Katie and Tami are both really struggling right now. Please pray for them that they could make it through this easier than they are finding it right now. I have doctors and nurses taking care of me. They don’t.
Life isn’t all bad right now. Tami and I just went down to the lobby and bought some white donuts from the vending machine and I made some hot chocolate. Not a bad way to get ready for bed…LOL
Brad
July 5th, 2007 at 09:53pm
Posted by
Brad |
General |
3 comments
Some good, some not so good. My white cells finally jumped more than 100 in a day. They went from 600 to 900 today! The neutrophils that had been sitting around 20 but had jumped to 90 yesterday are now at 320. I need those at 500 to get out of here. All of my other numbers went down again. My red cells went from 2.94 to 2.70. My hemoglobin went from 9.1 to 8.2 . The platelets still won’t go up. The last three days after my last platelet transfusion had been 29,000 to 18,000 to 13,000 and today they are at 7,000 That means another transfusion which is on its way as I type.
I’m really excited about the neutrophil jump but equally worried about why the platelets just won’t get going. Maybe I should not say worried but more frustrated. They have now said there really is no way I’m going to be starting round 5 on Sunday. We pretty much knew that but still, hearing it is a bummer. I’m still hoping to get started next week some time but my platelets must be at 100,000 or higher to begin…..being at 7,000 now you can see why I won’t be starting anytime soon.
Keep the prayers coming. God is in control!
Brad
July 5th, 2007 at 02:59pm
Posted by
Brad |
General |
4 comments
Believe it or not, the entire computer system is down at MD Anderson that deals with lab work. The one day that we might get good news and there is no news at all. They have no idea when it will be fixed other than it will be today.
Tami and I left my room about 9pm last night and walked out to the parking garage across the street and went to the roof level to watch fireworks. We got there and found out that the hospital blocked our view so we walked all the way to the end of the hospital where there is another parking lot and went to the roof top of it…..only to find out that had metal slats there to keep people from slipping or jumping out. There were 1 inch openings so we were able to watch through those with a few other people for a while.
Although I’m sure I’m the walking champ on this floor, walking outside last night with all of the humidity just about wore me out.
July 5th, 2007 at 11:34am
Posted by
Brad |
General |
one comment
Just met with the Dr and he said that there is some number on my blood work that indicates that I’m growing baby cells which indicates that my numbers will “shoot up” shortly. I’m not sure what “shortly” means. He did mention that my personal dr starts his two week rotation up here on Sunday but he said he hoped I wouldn’t be here that long. That is music to our ears. I would doubt that my numbers would be high enough to begin round 5 then but we’ll be ok pushing it back a couple of days.
Well, this will help us enjoy our 4th of July even though we’ll be here in the hospital. Tami and I send our best wishes to everyone out there and hope you will find a way to enjoy this holiday even though if you are in Texas, you are most likely going to have to do something inside due to all of the rain.
Brad
July 4th, 2007 at 11:17am
Posted by
Brad |
General |
7 comments
We just rec’d the numbers for today. Everthing went down except two items. White cells finally moved from 500 to 600 and neutrophils went from 20 to 90. Those neutrophils need to be 500 for me to get out of here. The red cells, hemoglobin and platelets all went down. The platelets are the main concern. They are back down to 13,000. We just can’t figure out what is going on with those. Dr. shold be in within the next hour so I’ll update then.
Hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July. We might be able to see a fireworks show from a window up here…at least that is what we’ve been told.
Brad
July 4th, 2007 at 08:52am
Posted by
Brad |
General |
one comment
White cells are still at 500 while my platelets went down from 29,000 to 18,000. The hemoglobin was the only thing to go up and it went from 9.3 to 9.4. At least it was an increase of some kind. Doc came in this morning and still seems confused just like us. He said there was a small chance that either my bone marrow just wasn’t working (but didn’t mention what if anything we could do about it) and that it could be that I’ve got Leukemia now. No panic now…he said it was a very small chance but felt he needed to mention it. I’m still of the opinion that it’s just taking longer for me to recover this time due to all of the chemo. Tomorrow’s numbers will hopefully tell us something as they aren’t going to do any transfusions today. I’m hoping that my platelets have bottomed out and that tomorrow they would have gone up even if just to 19,000.
To answer the question before you even ask, yes, we are getting a little more “down” each day that results are like this. You can’t keep up a great attitude all of the time. However, I’m still convinced that this is just a bump in the road and that my body will come around eventually.
Continue to pray as we know that God has a plan and a time schedule, even if it isn’t what we expected.
Brad
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:37am
Posted by
Brad |
General |
4 comments
The dr. just came in and said they are amazed at how slowly my numbers are recovering. I love amazing the doctors but not in this way. The will not do anything today except continue with two different IV antibiotics. The doc said they may just name this room after me if I stay any longer.
He said that in some cases the numbers just don’t recover enough and they have to pull the person off of all chemo. We don’t like that idea at all. To me, that sounds like a shorter time until relapse and then most likely a stem cell transplant. That is another 5 months or so….not looking forward to that at all.
I’m still hopeful ( and the doctors are too ) that we’ll wake up one day (sooner than later) and my numbers will do their usual jump up. If not, we may be done with chemo.
Brad
July 2nd, 2007 at 10:27am
Posted by
Brad |
General |
7 comments
I just rec’d my numbers for today. My white cells still didn’t go up and are still at 500. My platelets did go up to 29,000. They wanted 30,000 to replace my CVC line. I’m hoping that 29000 is close enough. My red cells did go up…the hemoglobin was 7.8 and is now 9.3 so that part is good. My neutrophils that need to be 500 for me to go home are still at 20.
The doctor should be in shortly and I’ll post an update and post what he says we are going to do.
Brad
July 2nd, 2007 at 08:36am
Posted by
Brad |
General |
one comment
Just rec’d my numbers for today. Platelets went down again from 17,000 to 13,000. White cells did go up from 400 to 500 and neutrophil count went from 10 to 20 but again, it needs to be 500 before I can go home.
My hemoglobin went down again to 7.8 so they are bringing in another blood transfusion in a few minutes.
I’m ok….I thought that would really bring me down but with the white cells going up a little, I can cling to the hope that they are starting their rebound. Many times, once they start that up tick, they can really jump up fast. Unfortunately, the platelets are much slower at going up. I need the platelets at 30,000 to have this CVC line replaced and then 100,000 before next Sunday so I can start round 5. Pray hard!
UPDATE as of Noon. Dr’s just came in and said they have decided I need platelets as well. We haven’t started any of the transfusions yet but will in the next hour or so. This wiill be my third platelets transfusion in the last 5 days and my second blood transfusion in the same time.
Brad
July 1st, 2007 at 09:19am
Posted by
Brad |
General |
8 comments