One of the hardest thing about this cancer thing is that I feel like I can't escape it. Even when we aren't at the hospital, when I'm not giving shots or pills, when the home health nurse is long gone, when Steven is at school--somehow all my thoughts come back to cancer.
It isn't because I'm not trying. I am sleeping pretty well. But in every dream, Steven has cancer. I pick up books to read, and every once in a while I can, especially if they talk about cancer. Movies are hard--I just can't sit still long enough. Today I helped the younger kids build and paint a house out of a furniture box. I enjoyed every minute of it, but I think I owe that to my newfound respect for life and how fleeting it can be.
I will keep trying. We just entered spring break in all it's glory here. Steven went to school today for the first time this week--I am glad he did so he can appreciate his time off. His ANC was good on Thursday (although his red blood cells and platelets were pretty low). We won't need labs again until Wednesday and then he's scheduled for another round of chemo Easter weekend, so hopefully we can sneak away for a night or two before then. And if we are lucky, we can sneak away from the cancer thoughts, too.
Showing posts with label labs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label labs. Show all posts
Friday, April 15, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
And back down again
For those interested in the labs--he got them drawn today and his ANC was down to 100 already. I seriously just can't believe how much they can drop. (By the way, I thought the last number was a misread and I had him read it to me three times.) His hematocrit or red blood cells are pretty low, too--borderline needing a transfusion. We'll see what happens Thursday. I will continue with the shots until at least then and hope that we really have seen the lowest. If the last round was any indication, he would be low on Thursday, too. In the meantime, Steven is feeling pretty lethargic and I am praying he doesn't get a fever!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Record numbers
The nurse practicioner called me with Steven's blood counts today and I was blown away with how high the white blood cell counts were. This is the effect of the nuepogen shots he is getting, but his ANC was 11,100. What? The normal range is between 1500 and 8000 and the "safe" number to go to school is 500. And then his white blood cell count was 12.5 (the normal range for that is 2.4-12.5, but the highest he's been since chemo started was 5.2). I'm happy that he responds to the nuepogen or G-CSF shots. But mostly I'm hoping that his tumor responds to the chemo and my limited knowledge of all this stresses me out! Is he not sick enough? The answer I normally get from doctors and nurses is, "It depends."
Time will tell exactly how the shots affect him. In the meantime, he is okay to go to school tomorrow and be about people on Saturday, but since Sunday and Monday would be when he would start the low period, he won't be at church Sunday or school Monday until we see what his labs say. The nurse told me to do shots until we see his next labs.
Steven really has done well with this round of chemo. He has thrown up only once, though certainly he is nauseated and his appetite has been very small. His red blood cells are kind of low, so he feels a little tired. But who knows? Maybe it is part of sitting around in his recliner so much. When the home health nurse came to draw labs today, he was on the couch instead of the chair and she was like, "Wow! I've never seen you out of your chair!"
It is rare for him to be out of his chair, but he does mix it up a little bit. Yesterday we went to the farm and he even rode his bike around. He found the geese and ducks hilarious.
Time will tell exactly how the shots affect him. In the meantime, he is okay to go to school tomorrow and be about people on Saturday, but since Sunday and Monday would be when he would start the low period, he won't be at church Sunday or school Monday until we see what his labs say. The nurse told me to do shots until we see his next labs.
Steven really has done well with this round of chemo. He has thrown up only once, though certainly he is nauseated and his appetite has been very small. His red blood cells are kind of low, so he feels a little tired. But who knows? Maybe it is part of sitting around in his recliner so much. When the home health nurse came to draw labs today, he was on the couch instead of the chair and she was like, "Wow! I've never seen you out of your chair!"
It is rare for him to be out of his chair, but he does mix it up a little bit. Yesterday we went to the farm and he even rode his bike around. He found the geese and ducks hilarious.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Zero
It's Thursday and Steven had more labs run today. His last ANC or neutrophil count was .2 or 200 and now they are 0. Steven said, "They can't be zero--there must be some in there." I don't know enough about it to say with all certainty, but the number they gave me was 0.0, so it seems kind of like zero to me. So, I guess school is out for tomorrow and Monday. I not feeling as dissapointed about it as I was last time--maybe because now I'm scared of infection!
We had another good day today. We got to wish Steven's cousin, James, a happy birthday. Steven wanted to surprise him with something and so we brought ballons and a cake. It made a huge difference in his attitude.
This afternoon I noticed a lot of hairs on his shirt and chair. He started tugging at his hair and sure enough, lots came out. He started to tell me about an idea, but it made him laugh so hard he couldn't spit it out. When he finally stopped laughing, he told me he wanted to play a trick on people where he acts really mad and starts pulling his hair out. We'll have to make a video--I'm sure we could use it in our family film festival somehow.
We had another good day today. We got to wish Steven's cousin, James, a happy birthday. Steven wanted to surprise him with something and so we brought ballons and a cake. It made a huge difference in his attitude.
This afternoon I noticed a lot of hairs on his shirt and chair. He started tugging at his hair and sure enough, lots came out. He started to tell me about an idea, but it made him laugh so hard he couldn't spit it out. When he finally stopped laughing, he told me he wanted to play a trick on people where he acts really mad and starts pulling his hair out. We'll have to make a video--I'm sure we could use it in our family film festival somehow.
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