Can We Get A White Blood Cell?

Wednesday Mom headed back to the doctors to check her WBC and possibly begin her final Revlimid cycle. Unfortunately, she's only at 1100 white blood cells. Her doctor doesn't seem worried and thank God (yes, please take a moment to thank Him) the kids (and thus my mom) haven't been sick yet. She got another Neuprogen shot and will make the 30 minute drive again next Wednesday to have blood work, again.

As I was going through some boxes this week, I found the notebook I kept during my mom's stem cell transplant. It was kind of funny to see how neurotic I was. I wrote down everything, medicines she had to take, her temperature and blood sugars, a few days I wrote what food she ate and how she reacted, and near the end her blood work. I discovered after her chemo, her WBC dropped to below 100. We are grateful for the extra 1000 this time, but could really use about 4000 more :)

Today Mom is hosting a Lily & Nana Special Day. Right now they should be taking naps but what they are actually doing...hmmm.

Little Improvement

My mom had her appointment on Wednesday and there wasn't much improvement. Her WBC is only 1100, still a far cry from where it needs to be. She got another shot of Neuprogen and holds off on further treatments for another week.

Friday, November 7 2008

My mom has been a regular at the doctors' offices this month. Lots of check ups and check ins to be done. The original plan for her current treatments was 3 cycles of Revlimid then re-evaluate. Over time her Greenwich doctor has upped it to 4 cycles then take a break. But because my mom has been responding so well her Yale doctor wants her to continue on with even more cycles. He figures if it is killing cancer and her body is handling it, why stop when you can kill more.

Wednesday Mom went in to begin cycle number four. They always do blood work. Checking for cancer, of course, but also checking her white blood count, red blood count and such to make sure her body is still handling it well. As they were preparing the vast amounts of paper work it takes to get Revlimid, her doctor got the results in and stopped everything. Apparently her white blood cells are down to 1000, a normal range is 4500-10000. Our white blood cells help us fight infection. Right now my mom has no ability to fight off a cold or any other type of infection. They gave her a shot of Neuprogen to help bring white blood cells from her bone marrow to her blood. The same stuff from her stem cell transplant. She gets another week of rest, well another week without treatments. Next Wednesday, she'll go back to Greenwich to find out how her body is doing. Meanwhile, my mom is being very cautious and trying to keep herself well. I may try to go with her next week to make sure another set of ears are there. Sorry to cut this short but my girls are not cooperating. I'll post again after next week's appointment.