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...

SHE'S HOME!!!

She was able to go home this morning. Dad left work and went to pick her up so she has been relaxing and enjoying being at home this afternoon. She is doing pretty well, Cale and Rheanna and Gary are over there now helping keep her company while Dad is at work. They were even able to get her to eat a little soup.
Not sure what the plan is from here, we've got to wait until tomorrow to talk with Dr. Lee. We're hoping that they won't want to start her next chemo until around the 20th of June, to give her a good long time to heal. (and so she can go to Jessika's 8th grade graduation ceremony on the 16th).

Finally some better news

Friday I talked to Mom in the morning and they had decided that they were going to go ahead and remove the port just in case as they really couldn't find anything else that could be causing the fever and infection to keep returning. So they were trying to get a team together (on a holiday weekend) to do the surgery yesterday. In the meantime, Rachel and Dad headed over there to spend some time with her in the afternoon. Apparently, Dr. Lee finally got Mom's blood tests results for Saturday back and was frantically calling the hospital/nurses/surgeons to cancel the surgery as her numbers are finally starting to rise to safe levels...she even called Mom's cell phone to tell her to NOT let them wheel her in for surgery, just in case she couldn't get ahold of the right people to get it canceled in time...so anyway, they have decided that it isn't necessary to remove the port and her fever has now been gone for about 48 hours and her platelets, WBC and RBC numbers are moving in the right direction and she seems to be getting better finally.
Today she is feeling a bit better, just having a hard time with eating as nothing tastes good and is hard to force down.
We are hoping that they may let her out of the hospital tomorrow, or possibly on Tuesday...she is so ready to be home again.

ugh...

Well if I had updated this last night I would have said that we were on the road to recovery. The CT scan did not show anything and she was starting to feel better....but today her fever came back and she isn't feeling well again. They have decided to do another chest xray tomorrow because she definitely has a rattle in her lungs and they can't decide if it is "anything" or "nothing to worry about". So for now she's stuck in the hospital indefinitely. I'm really hoping that her fever is short-lived and she's back on the road to recovery soon.

Better today...

Her fever broke yesterday late afternoon and has stayed down all night and into this morning. They decided to do a CT scan last night to see if they had missed anything. She has been coughing and having a little shortness of breath, plus on Monday some of the nurses noticed a little raspiness when they listened to her lungs. When I called this morning they didn't have the results of the scan back yet so we're still waiting...but I'm holding out hope that the little switch in antibiotics they made yesterday did the trick and we are on the road to recovery now.
It's been a tough week but maybe she'll be out of the hospital by Friday and that should lift her spirits.

not much new news...

I wish I had more of an update today...but really I pretty much know what I did yesterday. She is still fighting the fever and not feeling well. They think they have 3 basic possible scenarios for what kind of infection she has. It could be from what she ate, it could be from a sore she has on her lip or it could be from her port. So they have taken a bunch of blood and are doing cultures on everything so we have to wait for the cultures which can take 24 hours or so. If it is the port, they will need to remove it.
If they are not able to get the fever down and keep it down without meds, they will most likely move her to ICU until they can get her stabilized. She is not aware of this possibility as she is already upset about having to be in the hospital. She is still holding out hope that she could go home tomorrow which just isn't going to happen.
I wasn't able to talk to her this evening, so not sure how it has developed but at 3:45 she didn't know anything more. Hopefully we'll know more in the morning.
I hate the nights because I feel out of the loop and am worried about her being OK overnight. It's a long time to go without contact with her or the hospital and a lot can happen.

Infection update

So Mom has been fighting this fever since Saturday morning. I talked with Dad this morning early and he said they had not been able to get it under control and that we won't know more about where the infection came from until tomorrow.
After church this morning I called back and he said that the fever had broken and they THINK that the infection is from a meal they had on Friday night - take out. Dr. Lee was very emphatic that they do NOT eat out or have meals brought in for the first two weeks after treatment from now on. She will need to have all meals cooked at the house and no veggies/fruit/flowers start as soon as she leaves the hospital after chemo.

I talked with Mom tonight about 9 and she said the fever is back. She got the chills right after Dad left late afternoon and they haven't been able to get it under control again. She is not sounding very good at all...very shaky and weak. So I guess for now, we just have to wait and leave it in the hands of God and the doctors to help her get through this.

Another infection

Well, Mom ended up back in the hospital this morning with a 103.8 temp...I don't know a whole lot, just talked to Dad on the phone after I got off work. She has another infection and they are treating her with IV antibiotics and gave her some sort of shot to try to fight it off. Will try to get some more info tonight and find out exactly what is going on. This sucks!

More blood

Well Millie took Mom over to have blood work done this morning. She needed two units of blood so she was admitted to the hospital for the day and will get the blood over the next six hours. She should be able to go home tonight around 9 or so if they got her started by 1. I may go get her after I get off work or Dad may get her if it doesn't get too late. While they were over in Corvallis I was able to get over and clean their house again, so at least she'll come home to a clean house tonight.
She said she is feeling a little better, food still tastes funny but at least it is staying down.

New look

Well, the hair is gone. Mom's got a new look. I went over today and shaved off what little she had left, the pile was less than I have when I get a trim...it was really getting to be more of a nuisance for her, coming off in clumps and getting all over the place. So I took over my clippers and scissors and now its gone. It was tough. But she looks cute in her hats!

I've been slacking in getting any updates done but she got out of the hospital on Sunday morning. She hasn't been feeling well at all this time around, lots of stomach cramping and nausea and tiredness. Today was a little better. I took her over for blood tests this afternoon and she had to get a bag of platelets. Her WBC is down to .2 and her neutrophil # is .1 - so back to no flowers/fruits/vegetables and staying away from people. We had quite a long afternoon over there, the blood bank was being stingy with the platelets, said emergency patients only. So Dr. Lee had to get on the phone and tell them that Mom WAS an emergency and we needed it NOW. Her appt was at 1:30 and we finally got the platelets at 4:40...left the office at a little before 6. Made for a very long afternoon for her, I hope she ate some dinner and then laid down.

Anyway, emotionally she's hanging in there. She's sad that she's missing out on so many of the things the kids are doing. We're not sure if she's going to get to see Jessika's confirmation on Sunday or not. She says she's going to sneak in and watch from the back, but I told her that we need to play it by ear and see how she's feeling that day. My Aunt Sheri and Uncle Mike(dad's brother) are coming from Nebraska on Saturday for a week, so she really wants to be feeling well enough to visit with them. Anyway, she said it seems silly to miss all this stuff, she doesn't really need to, and I said um, yes you DO! We'd rather have her miss one year's worth of stuff than forever, tough to say...

Almost done again...

Well only one more full day in the hospital and we'll have another round of chemo under the belts...Mom has definitely been feeling the effects this time around. Lots of nausea and tiredness...they've been giving her anti-nausea meds to cut down on it some but she still isn't feeling really great. I was able to get over there yesterday and spend a little time with her but not today and won't be able to tomorrow, so we'll have to wait to see her again after she gets home from the hospital on Sunday.
Dr. Lee says that her blood counts are doing better this time so we're hopeful that she won't need as much blood or platelets as last time. She is also better prepared and will be monitoring things more closely so hopefully Mom won't need to go to the hospital for large amounts, just in the infusion room with a bag at a time.
Next week looks to be very busy with trips for blood tests and check ups again.

Chemo is kicking in again...

Mom has been feeling pretty good so far but the chemo is starting to kick in again. Today she had a little bit of nausea and is feeling really tired, and bored...with me working I haven't been able to get over to see her and keep her occupied during the day so the days are dragging by for her.

So we're getting there - August feels like a long ways away but really it isn't, June is almost here already and then July and then we should be done with this nasty chemo crap.

Round 3

Well this morning was the beginning of round 3 of chemo. Mom and Dad went to the hospital about 7am and by 9:15 she was being wheeled in to have her port installed. I made it over there about 9:45 and Dad and Dave Olson were sitting in the waiting room. By 10 they had called to say she was being moved to recovery; by 10:30 Dad and I were up in her room with her. She was wide awake and doing great. No pain, just hungry. :)
Dad left to head to work and I stayed until about 1:15. About 1:45 they got her first dose of chemo going, she will do another round of 1 dose every 12 hours for six days. So she should be out of the hospital next Sunday.

In other news...
Kam started a job today. He is working for Advanced Mechanical in Brownsville. This is temporary thing for now but we are very hopeful they will like him and keep him on in a more permanent position. There is even a possibility that he could get into an apprenticeship program with them, on the job training type of thing with the ability to earn a millwright card at the end of two years, so we are very hopeful!

I was also offered a job today. I am going to be working part time at Bing's Kitchen restaurant in Lebanon as a waitress. Not my forever job, but its money in our pocket as my unemployment is set to run out (with no further extensions) at the end of this month. I'll be working evenings and weekends, which in some ways is a blessing as I'll still be able to take Mom to doctor's appts and run errands and go to school functions during the day and work in the evenings...

It really is a world where its not what you know but who you know...without the help and caring of some really terrific people neither of us would have these opportunities for work. While neither of them "fix" our financial situation, they certainly bring hope that things are turning around. So thank you Chad and Chonda, Tami and Sara - we love you!