Three Weeks and Counting - November 18, 2011

Derek has now been home for three whole weeks as of today. He is gaining strength back even though his appetite is not always good. After four weeks of chemo, he has reached the lowest level of immunity yet.

On Monday when we went for more chemo, his blood counts were quite low. He received three different chemo drugs including one as a spinal. When the labs came back from his blood test, we found his hemoglobin was quite low, and they needed to give him a blood transfusion. So a clinic visit we anticipated would take only a couple of hours turned into an all-day event. After nearly eight hours, we finally walked out the door at 5:45 p.m. The doctor wanted follow-up blood work on Friday to see how his counts were doing. Just a quick blood draw.

This morning we went for our “quick” appointment. Two hours later, we finally had the lab results. Derek’s counts were so low I can hardly believe he feels good. His white count is 500. Normal is 5,000 to 10,000. His ANC is 100. Normal is over 2,000. He is at extreme risk right now. Four straight weeks of chemo have finally taken their toll on his immune system. The doctor wanted to give him a medication to help bring up his white blood count but needed to check to make sure it was alright, considering the study he is on. They and we do not want him to get kicked off for a simple mistake. Two hours later, after two people looked over all the study details, they approved the medication. He will need this injection for 5-7 consecutive days, but the clinic is closed over the weekend. I had to learn how to give it to him. The last time I tried to give him an injection, it did not go well, and we ended up going to the clinic every day instead. This time, that was not an option. He needed to let me give it to him. After some coaxing, some numbing cream on his arm, and a nap, he agreed to let me do it. The nurse held his arm and coached me while I gave the first injection in my life. He cried a little, but he did not fight it as he did before. We will see how tomorrow goes here at home. We finally left the clinic after our "short" visit of four and a half hours and headed to the pharmacy to pick up supplies and the medication to do the injections at home. Please pray that he will be willing to let me do it again.

Each time we visit the clinic, the nurse has to put a needle in Derek’s port in his upper chest. This is called “accessing” the port. They draw blood and administer most of his medications through the port. As we were eating lunch at the clinic this afternoon, Derek stuck a straw into a little milk box for a drink. Kristen piped up, “Look! The milk box’s port is accessed!” All three of us laughed. Derek joked that the white milk was actually white blood cells going into his body. When your children see everything from the perspective of cancer treatments, you know it has become too much a part of your life. We are left to find the humor in it.

We have another clinic visit on Monday and one more dose of chemo. Then we will have about two weeks break from chemo before we start the next round. Until his counts go up, we are sticking to the house. Please pray that Derek will remain healthy and that his white count will rise significantly over the weekend. We would really like to stay out of the hospital, especially for Thanksgiving.