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.

On The Mend

My mom is doing much better. Yesterday she seemed to have a turn around and today she's back on her feet, even babysitting grand kids!! I'm sure the cold will linger a bit, she's still coughing. She's able to sit up, walk around and all the other things that only days ago seemed too much.

She saw her oncologist today to start round 2 of her drug treatments. She'll have a total of 3 rounds-each lasting a month. I believe she did blood work today so hopefully next week I'll be able to update you on her numbers.

Thank you all for your prayers and kind words. God Bless!!

A Lesson for Winter??

We had a nice trip to Maine last week. Unfortunately, either my girls or the hot/cold weather gave my mom a cold. If it was the cold my girls and I had, then it only manifested itself in us as runny noses. I pumped us full of Airborne and we all bounced back quickly-within days. But because of my mom's cancer and the current treatments she's on her immune system is that of an infants on formula - in other words weak. She's very sick right now. Even with all the cold medicines and vitamins we bought her, her body isn't able to fight it off.

Please pray earnestly for healing. I'll try to update in a few days.

Good Update

My mom had her Zometa treatment this week and got back blood work results. After only a week on the Revlimid and Dexamethasone treatments, her cancer is responding and her numbers dropped from .7 to .4. (That's a good thing.) These new drugs aren't as toxic and so her body seems to be handling it well. Wednesdays are her Dexamethasone days. Usually Thursday she sees a slight rise in her blood sugars but nothing to worry about -especially since she isn't eating many bagels these days. Her energy level is pretty high and she's able to do all the activities she did before treatments started. I'll keep you posted on any other developments.

Thank you for all your prayers and support!

Mom's New Treatments Began

It's been an interesting few weeks. At the end of July, around when this blog started we found out my mom's cancer had grown a significant bit. We have known for awhile that it's been growing but it's been slow enough that the doctor's haven't been too concerned. At her last appointment with Dr. Cooper it almost doubled (I have to double check with my mom about that). So he wanted her to start treatments again. When we went to Dr. Hollister to discuss and begin the treatments, he wasn't as convinced so ordered the full sha-bang: MRI, skeletal scan, and more blood work. (I'm surprised there is any cancer left with all the blood she's had taken out of her lately.)

It took about two weeks for all the testing to be done and results to be in. They showed a small spike in the cancer count, not as high as Dr. Cooper's findings but still a jump. We also found out she has some new lesions, a pesky one in her right hip bone which explains a lot of the pain she's been having and a new lesion in her 'leg of steel' femur. Amazingly the old lesions have healed over-which I didn't know would happen. Praise God for that. So it is official, she'll begin treatments of Revlimid and Dexamethasone.

They have caught the cancer early this time. These treatments are to kill the cancer and are not done with an intention of then doing another stem cell transplant. It's been about a week on the treatments and my mom's biggest complaint has been fatigue (which is to be expected). Also, she's been having difficulty with her blood sugar due to the dexamethasone, but that to was some what expected as well. She's holding in there pretty well. I know this because last Wednesday she watched her three grand kids (two-3 year olds and a 20 month old) for the whole day. Not a task for the weary.

To learn more about her new treatments I'll send you to the MMRF once again because they have it written out pretty clearly. That link should take you directly to their Revlimid page.

On a side note: The tests also showed that all the pain she has in her back is due to arthritis not cancer lesions. For now that's the latest. Please keep her in your prayers.