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| My sweet friend sent this fruit bouquet today at just the moment I needed a pick-me-up! |
Unfortunately, after taking all of the blood draws and getting my port accessed, I was unable to do the infusion because my blood labs came back very low. Dr. Curley looked at the results and decided to postpone the infusion until next Friday. My white and red blood cell counts were low, in addition to my hemoglobin, hematocrit, platelets, and neutrophils absolute. I do not know what all of those are and was unable to speak with the nurse navigator, David, or Dr. Curley. I left a message with David to get some more information.* And I asked the nurse, Yvette, who took my blood labs, if there was anything I could eat or do to bring these numbers up during the next week. She said no, that every person reacts differently to the chemotherapy and that it is not uncommon to have to put off an infusion due to low blood counts. I felt a little bummed that we had to reschedule because we are anxious to keep fighting the cancer. It’s kind of like gearing up for a baby delivery only to be sent home and told you aren’t ready yet. :) But I realized there was nothing I could control here and decided to focus on something I could control.
This last week I felt much better than my first week. I had less nausea but more fatigue, perhaps due to the low blood counts. I did not have to take any nausea medication and my constipation finally regulated. I was able to control my nausea with what I ate and how often and I was able to regain the weight I lost during the first week. I am still taking the antacid to settle my stomach and I am continuing to walk almost every morning with Glen or Rebekah. We spent some time working on updating our wills and coordinating with insurance for chemo treatments. The highlight of the week was celebrating Rebekah's 21st birthday!
On Tuesday, we got some wonderful news that we have not been able to share yet. We heard back from our geneticist that our testing came back negative for all gene mutations linked to breast cancer! Great news for reducing our chances of the cancer coming back and for our children being possible carriers for the gene mutations.
We are looking forward to a great week. My niece who lives in Queen Creek offered to take some family pictures for us before I lose my hair and before Paul leaves on his mission. Thank you, Cass! Next Thursday, my mom will arrive from Utah and will stay with me while Glen takes the kids on June 27 to Manti for an Andersen family reunion. They will be at the reunion for one week and then the younger three kids will stay with some Peterson cousins for an additional week while Glen and the older three kids come back for work and school.
This last week I felt much better than my first week. I had less nausea but more fatigue, perhaps due to the low blood counts. I did not have to take any nausea medication and my constipation finally regulated. I was able to control my nausea with what I ate and how often and I was able to regain the weight I lost during the first week. I am still taking the antacid to settle my stomach and I am continuing to walk almost every morning with Glen or Rebekah. We spent some time working on updating our wills and coordinating with insurance for chemo treatments. The highlight of the week was celebrating Rebekah's 21st birthday!
On Tuesday, we got some wonderful news that we have not been able to share yet. We heard back from our geneticist that our testing came back negative for all gene mutations linked to breast cancer! Great news for reducing our chances of the cancer coming back and for our children being possible carriers for the gene mutations.
We are looking forward to a great week. My niece who lives in Queen Creek offered to take some family pictures for us before I lose my hair and before Paul leaves on his mission. Thank you, Cass! Next Thursday, my mom will arrive from Utah and will stay with me while Glen takes the kids on June 27 to Manti for an Andersen family reunion. They will be at the reunion for one week and then the younger three kids will stay with some Peterson cousins for an additional week while Glen and the older three kids come back for work and school.
We hope you are all well and we send our love!
Di
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*UPDATE:
I just got off the phone with my nurse David and he was able to give me some more information about my blood results. He said that the chemotherapy drugs will affect my bone marrow, which is where white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets are all produced. I am low in each of those areas. In order to proceed with an infusion, they like white blood cells to be above a 3 (which is still lower than the normal range of 4-10.9). I was a 2.4, so they looked at my numbers for Neutrophils absolute, which is a specific type of white blood cell that fights infection. The normal range for that white blood cell is about 1.5-8.3 and they won’t give chemo if it is below 1. I was 0.62, so they are very concerned about my risk of infection and that was the primary reason for them postponing my infusion today.
Even though I am also low in my red blood cells, hemoglobin and hematocrit (which all indicate I am anemic), they were still high enough for them to give me an infusion. The hemoglobin number is primarily what they look at to monitor my anemia. Normal range is 12-16 but they will still give chemo if it is above 10. I was 10.2. If I drop below 7, that is when they look at having to do a blood transfusion. Platelets numbers, which indicate my ability to stop bleeding or clotting, have to be at at least 100 for chemo and I was at 112, normal range is 130-450. So ... that may be more info than you need or want but FYI. These numbers are not affected by what I am eating or not eating or doing. It is merely a result of how the chemo is affecting my systems.
Also, David told me that when they give chemo amounts there is an acceptable range for effective treatment, they usually begin somewhere in the middle but everyone’s body responds differently and if my numbers don’t come up, the oncologist may reduce the dosage so that it is still effective but not quite as hard on my body. Next week, if my numbers are up, I will receive the same treatment of Taxol that I was going to receive today and my treatment schedule will just push out a week. So we will be praying for a week of healing and that we can move forward next week!
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*UPDATE:
I just got off the phone with my nurse David and he was able to give me some more information about my blood results. He said that the chemotherapy drugs will affect my bone marrow, which is where white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets are all produced. I am low in each of those areas. In order to proceed with an infusion, they like white blood cells to be above a 3 (which is still lower than the normal range of 4-10.9). I was a 2.4, so they looked at my numbers for Neutrophils absolute, which is a specific type of white blood cell that fights infection. The normal range for that white blood cell is about 1.5-8.3 and they won’t give chemo if it is below 1. I was 0.62, so they are very concerned about my risk of infection and that was the primary reason for them postponing my infusion today.
Even though I am also low in my red blood cells, hemoglobin and hematocrit (which all indicate I am anemic), they were still high enough for them to give me an infusion. The hemoglobin number is primarily what they look at to monitor my anemia. Normal range is 12-16 but they will still give chemo if it is above 10. I was 10.2. If I drop below 7, that is when they look at having to do a blood transfusion. Platelets numbers, which indicate my ability to stop bleeding or clotting, have to be at at least 100 for chemo and I was at 112, normal range is 130-450. So ... that may be more info than you need or want but FYI. These numbers are not affected by what I am eating or not eating or doing. It is merely a result of how the chemo is affecting my systems.
Also, David told me that when they give chemo amounts there is an acceptable range for effective treatment, they usually begin somewhere in the middle but everyone’s body responds differently and if my numbers don’t come up, the oncologist may reduce the dosage so that it is still effective but not quite as hard on my body. Next week, if my numbers are up, I will receive the same treatment of Taxol that I was going to receive today and my treatment schedule will just push out a week. So we will be praying for a week of healing and that we can move forward next week!
Sending you my healing thoughts (and powers!). -Mark
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for all the detailed information. Sending lots of love and prayers! We love you!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! So hard when there is nothing you can do to help those numbers behave! So sorry Diana!
ReplyDeleteThat's frustrating when you arent expecting delays and can't control having them! I love your determination, even knowing what side effects you will have, still wanted to get at it to keep fighting the cancer. You are truly a worrior. I also love your attitude to control what you can. Prayers for healing and that this weeks numbers come back better. Love, Heather
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