Chemo round four

Well, this is the 2nd to the last round. She got there this morning and they started chemo about noon today. She'll be there until Saturday night/Sunday morning.
She's currently in room 2403 which is a private room, but who knows if she'll get to stay there all week or not.
So far she's doing ok, said she had some back spasms and leg pain today but they gave her "something" and it was feeling better. Not sure what happened but hoping its just a one time thing.

A few questions answered, I hope. :)

I've been asked a few times now - whats in fruit and veggies and flowers that she can't have. The answer is not what's IN them but whats ON them. Bacteria collects on them and when she touches them she can get sick. She "could" eat a banana or other fruit that has a hard skin but cannot touch the food until it has been washed with anti bacterial soap and peeled by someone else. Yeast and mold and other bacteria can grow in the dirt of flowers or in the water in vases and become airborn and make her sick.

The second question I get alot is what do the blood count numbers mean...
A normal person has a white blood count of between 4500 -10,000 (or 4.5 to 10.0). When mom first went to OHSU her WBC was in the 40,000 to 50,000 range because that is where the leukemia cells grow.
White blood cells are made up of several types of cells with the largest percentage being neutrophils and lymphocytes.
Neutrophils are the first response team - they do the actual work of fighting infection, they are the first to arrive on scene. In a normal person the range is between 2500 to 7000 (or 2.5 to 7.0).
Lymphocytes also help fight infection and range from 1700-3500(1.7 to 3.5) in a normal person.

Chemotherapy drugs kill blood cells to give the body a chance to create new healthy cells instead of the sick ones. Chemo cannot differentiate between the healthy cells and the sick ones so it kills them all. The body produces new cells all the time which is why they can give chemo to you and it doesn't kill you (as long as it is given in the correct dosage).
What this means is that temporarily the blood cell levels get down to dangerous levels until the body has a chance to recover. With Mom's first infection her WBC was down to .2 (or 200) and her neutrophils were at .00.

Platelets (what helps the body clot blood) are the final key indicator...in a normal person levels range from 150,000 to 450,000. After chemo Mom's levels have gotten down to 6000, anything below 10,000 and you can bleed out and die. This is why we don't leave the infusion room without finding out if she needs platelets and why Dr. Lee fights so hard with the blood bank to get them for her.

So hopefully that gives some perception on those things.

Back for more chemo

Mom had another blood draw this morning. Her numbers are moving up steadily now and her platelets are over 100. This means that she is well enough to have chemo on Monday, so she'll be headed back to Corvallis for treatment again. Another 6 days of chemo, 2x a day, stuck in the hospital again. At least this moves us one step closer to being done with this process...

new photos

I uploaded some new pictures today. For some reason the slideshow isn't working right so here is a link to them on flickr...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7288844@N08/sets/72157624306365800/

Phew, what a month this has been...I started my new job at Allied Waste on the 8th (which is going good, very busy and lots to learn but I'm getting there). We've had 3 birthdays (Rachel turned 12 on the 8th, Kam turned 36 on the 13th and Jessika turned 14 on the 14th), an 8th grade graduation and this week is the first of four weeks of interviews for our church Pastor (I've been on the Call Committee since last September and we're finally to the interview stage). Jessika leaves for Washington DC on Sunday and Kam starts school on Monday...busy, busy, busy! Mom has been doing really well - going to church, coming to the birthday parties and just enjoying being able to go out and about a little.

Mom had another blood test on Monday, her platelets were still on the low side at 78 so Dr. Lee has decided not to do chemo next week. Instead she'll be going in on the 28th. We're headed to the Relay for Life event at West Albany High School tonight to see all the luminaries, hopefully I can get some good pictures.

I pray daily for comfort and healing and strength for everyone who has this horrible journey to take. For our friends Renee and Jon and for the Rupperts who have recently lost their loved ones to cancer, I pray for you to find comfort and joy in life, to remember the good times and not the bad. Love to you all! Amie

OHSU appointment

Yesterday was Mom's check up with the doctor at OHSU. She had blood drawn again and her numbers are improving but slowly. Her neutrophil # is 1.65 and should be at least 1.8 for her to eat and move about freely...her platelets are now at 51, they want at least 80 before the next round of chemo. Her WBC is 3.1 which is up substantially...Dr. Lee had called last week and let him know that we wanted to postpone chemo until after the 16th, which he said wasn't a problem, in fact she probably wouldn't have been ready for it by the 14th anyway. It's looking like it will probably be the 21st when she goes back in. I asked if he was mad about the infection and he just said well, most people end up back in the hospital 3 out of the 4 consolidation therapy rounds so we'll just hope that it's only 2 out of 4...

Otherwise she is doing really well...feeling good but tired still. She said she is tired of being tired. :) So, she's up for visitors now as long as you are healthy...just give her a call before stopping by.

Rachel's birthday

Tuesday is Rachel's birthday and Mom has been upset about not being able to participate in the party festivities this year. (Kam and Jessika's birthdays are the 13th and 14th too). So Mom talked Dad into bringing her out to the house tonight for a little while to visit and watch Rachel open her presents during her birthday party. We had a fire going in the backyard and the kids were all playing outside with the unexpected good weather. It was so nice to sit out there and visit with Mom and see her laugh at Jessika and Madison being teenage girls and Rachel and her friends playing volleyball and Kasey and his friend playing in the pool...finally a moment of normality.
She was only able to stay about 45 minutes before she had enough and needed to go home, but it was so nice...in fact, it was the first time that Jessika and Kasey have seen her since Joyce was here at the end of April...

Doing better

Mom has been doing well the last couple of days. She is very, very tired but that is expected after what she went through last week. I took her to the doctor's today. Her blood counts are increasing. WBC was 1.5, neutrophils at .9 and platelets at 15. Dr. Lee decided not to give her any blood products and believes she is past the worst of it for this round. She's still on antibiotics and potassium but that's it for now. She goes back to OHSU next Tuesday to see Dr. Fleming again. Then back to the lab on Monday the 14th for blood work again...depending on her counts that day either she'll go back on the 18th and then in for chemo again on the 21st OR she'll go back for blood tests on the 23rd and in for chemo on the 28th.
She was very excited to hear that she'll be able to go to Jessika's promotion ceremony and have some time to be around the kids again. She's feeling very down in the dumps right now, not depressed but sad about how much she's missed this spring. I've been taking lots of video but its just not the same. So hopefully we'll get a little break and get to enjoy spending some time together, not just talking about chemo and cancer and blood and insurance...