October 10, 2009

• Busy bee

  Posted by Stephanie 11:20pm from the house

  I soooo thought it had only been a week since I posted last. It’s been two. Oops. Goes to show how crazy busy I become when I’m home, whether I mean to be or not. Let’s see how much I can remember about the happenings of the last two weeks….

  Chemo Day 8 was a week ago Wednesday. It went fine–I got both the gemcitabine and docetaxel just like I was supposed to, and the only snafu came at the end of my infusion when I spoke to the nurse about labs. I told her my platelets were going to be a problem, and that I’d need to have bloodwork starting a few days from then. My platelets were only 140K on Day 8, and if they followed the normal pattern, they’d drop about 120 in the first 3-4 days, putting me low around the end of the weekend. She consulted my chart, and said that I was only due for bloodwork once a week, on Wednesdays. I told her they’d be dangerously low by then, and that I really needed labs by Monday at the latest. I briefly went through my platelet history, including being on Nplate last fall, but was somewhat blown off and told that I shouldn’t have a drop like that with this regiment. No matter what I said, I got nowhere, so I ended up losing that battle and leaving with an appointment for labs a week later. I decided to call Romer’s assistant the next day and explain myself again. They must think me such a pest, I call there so often! I was granted labs on Monday, and sure enough, when I went, my platelets were already down to 27. Why doesn’t anyone think I know my body and what’s going to happen?! Anyway, even with platelets that low, they don’t feel the need up here for daily labs, so I had bloodwork again Wednesday (platelets were 17 that day), and then again today, and they were thankfully 26 and heading back up. Had they still been dropping, we’d have been in trouble, since they don’t do weekend labs up here. I do miss having daily results that I can use to track my counts and get a complete picture of how they’re trending. But, I’ll deal, and I avoided a transfusion yet again, so that’s what is really important. The rest of my counts look okay–hemoglobin is hanging steady, but low. My white count, which hasn’t really gotten low with this chemo combo, is actually on the high side…….WAY on the high side. It always jumps super high a day or two after getting Neulasta, which is designed to prevent my white count from dropping too much. Afterwards, it usually settles in normal range, which is between 4.0-10.0. Right now, my white count is 16.3, and that’s more than a week after Neulasta. In fact, it started out around 10 at the start of the week and just keeps climbing. That is very unusual, so I don’t know what’s going on. Hope I don’t have some sort of infection somewhere that’s causing it to skyrocket.

  Aside from the counts issues, this chemo round was fine. I had my normal couple of cruddy-feeling days over this past weekend, but nothing out of the ordinary. The bite on my leg is still there (crazy, I know), but looking much, much better. I took a total of two weeks worth of antibiotics before it looked as though it could continue healing on it’s own. Of course, with a white count like I have now, I ought to be able to heal just about anything….

  So, I start another round this coming Wednesday. After that, it’s back to Houston for scans and surgery. Oof. I’m not gonna think about that yet. I’d rather focus on the four weeks or so I still have at home. Speaking of home, it’s been so nice to be here. I get to sleep in my own bed, hang out with the cat (who’s thrilled to have company during the day, I’m sure), get together with friends (which I’ve tried to do often the past few weeks), etc. I do as much as my energy allows around the house–laundry, dishes, paying bills……I feel like I’m behind no matter what I do. Too bad I’m not wealthy so I could hire a maid, and a crew to shovel out/organize things, and someone to do yard work. Oh well, a girl can dream.

  It’s after midnight–I should get some sleep. I’m usually in bed by about 10:30, but it’s the start of the weekend, and I’ve been trying to wait up tonight for Sammy to get home from the football game. Poor guy–out in this cold rain tonight (and this week during rehearsals), and then out again tomorrow for a competition. At least it’s not supposed to rain tomorrow. The show is in Kettering–I think I might try to go and see the band play, as long as it’s not too chilly. I love fall for the leaves, and the food, but sometimes I wouldn’t mind being back in Houston where it’s still warm! Goodnight all. I will try not to let so much time pass between entries–I actually had people e-mailing me to see if I had fallen off the face of the earth.

  –Steph

  • 12:36 am
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