Feb 7, Day +11 Ready to climb

"Just the Facts"--More platelets, more pain, more weariness, more chemo, some sleep, and a new chair.

As the pain in B's bones increase, the more weary he gets.  He is pushing to continue walking laps although each lap gets harder and harder and he becomes winded.  This evening he could only do 1 lap.  I say he got some sleep, as in the middle of the night, cabin fever or "mad cow disease" hit him like a frenzy.  In an effort to get more comfortable he cut up a mattress pad I had brought in earlier.  He didn't want to use it earlier in the day, but then at night, cut off the elastic portion and threw it on the bed.  Then he attacked his shoes and cut the backs out of those to make them slip ons.  I say "mad cow disease" as this is the one disease that the US does not test for in blood products and we had to sign a waiver in case he got it. Can it strike for a moment in the middle of the night?  Fortunately, things settled down as the sun came up!  We got a new chair in the room as well. B does not like to sit in bed to eat, even as a patient it is just not his thing.  The chairs I have been sitting in are extremely uncomfortable and with his aching bones, difficult even for moments.  The physical therapist was able to find a soft recliner type chair.  So you might say today was successful on a few fronts.  Bed comfort was somewhat achieved, shoe frustration was eliminated and sitting comfort was added, and some all over frustration was spent.

I am sure you all know that we have 3 types of cells to our blood, red, white and platelets.  They each have different functions and also work together as a whole.  Normal platelet counts are 150, to 400.  They use these numbers but really you need to add 3 zeros to these.  Well since the chemo, B's platelets have been decreasing.  The caution here is fear of bleeding as platelets are needed to coagulate the blood which helps to stop bleeding.  So B has to be very careful not to cut himself in any way.  His count has been at a 9 to 11.  He won't be able to go home until they are at least 50.  These cells are just another cell that the new super cells are going to start producing.  Up until today his platelet infusions had not been holding.  He just kept decreasing.  Today's platelets increased slightly and held.  This was most likely due to getting a good batch with matching antigens.  It could also be those super cells beginning to work a bit.  Time will tell as this is only day 11, and they say it begins to show around day +15 or so.  Today is also the last day for chemo.  Again it is just low dose for maintenance, but yea, the last round.  We were very happy to be this far along.  We are excited to see what this week will reveal.
Until next time,
Hopeful Believer