May 14, 2012

Last week, the day after celebrating Derek's birthday, we went to the clinic as expected.  He had labs drawn, was sedated for a lumbar puncture (LP) and spinal chemo, and then got two more chemo meds, one of which took about six hours from start to finish.  We were there 10 1/2 hours. 

When we got his lab results back, I learned to my dismay that his ANC (his ability to fight infection) was only 200 (normal is 3000+), and we had just had friends and family over the day before!  Thankfully he did not get sick, though I learned on Thursday that several members of one family came down with colds the next day and week.  I had thought it would be higher, or I would not have planned it for then.  Thursday it had been 1300.  Anyway, we had a lovely birthday celebration.

Derek had chemo Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, though those visits were much shorter.  Wednesday's visit only lasted 40 minutes from the time we walked in the door to when we walked out!  Amazing!  It was our shortest visit yet.  On Thursday, he had labs drawn again.  His ANC was ZERO.  That's right! 0!  His white count was 0.48, and hemoglobin 8.2.  The doctor was sure he would need a blood transfusion by Monday, but she fully expected him to run a fever before then, which is a common side effect of the particular chemo he got all week.  If that happened, he would be admitted to the hospital to make sure it wasn't an infection since his immunity was so low as well.  When I got home, I packed his suitcase and mine for such an emergency and prayed that we would not need them.

We spent a very quiet weekend at home, not venturing out for anything lest we bring any germs back with us.  By Sunday, he still had no fevers, though he was anemic -- pale and less than the normal amount of energy.  I knew he would need blood as expected.

Today, we went to the clinic at 8:30 again.  Already it was packed, and I knew we were in for a very long day.  He had labs drawn within an hour, but had to wait until just after noon for his LP.  He did not sedate as easily as usual.  They said since he had just had an LP the previous week, his body may have gotten a bit used to the medications.  They also had a hard time drawing enough spinal fluid, but at last it was over.  Derek's ANC was 300, white count was .7, and hemoglobin was 7.3.  We had to wait until 2:30 p.m. for the blood to arrive.  Derek slept during most of the three hours it took to transfuse him.  Finally, just before 6:00 p.m., we were done.  Another long clinic day completed. 

This is the last week of chemo in this phase.  The next two weeks he will have cranial radiation.  I am not thrilled about it, but the options are not good.  Then he will have completed this fourth and dreaded phase of Delayed Intensification.  I cannot wait for it to be over!  I am thankful, though, that he has done so well.  So far, he has done much better than I expected and feared. Thank you to all those who have prayed for Derek, especially during these last few weeks.  Your prayers have been answered.