Schedule of Events
 | 8/1 - There is not much to report on today.
Jeri sat in a chair in her room while I held up all of the clothes in her
dresser and her closet and she told me whether they still fit or not.
Now her stuff is all cleaned out. I'm happy and Jeri is glad that I'm
happy. |
| 8/3 - The blood counts are still too low for the next
chemo treatment (see the table below). I think the delay is starting
to wear on Jeri. I had my bags packed and was ready to spend the
evening at the hospital. Virg and Randi are planning on "back to
school" shopping tomorrow. This is the "no sales tax"
weekend. It's clear now that Jeri's blood counts are not recovering as
quickly as planned. Remember, the object is to kill the cancer.
Killing the bone marrow is a byproduct rather than the target as is the case
with leukemia. The doctors said that they will reduce the dosage of
drugs by 10% this time (see the roadmap
for this phase). Nothing to do but..............lunch. Virg and
Jeri went to Pino's, an Italian restaurant on
Westheimer. Jeri ate
well. They said it was better than the Grotto (Monday's event).
I guess that's an alternative form of retail therapy. Jeri had
physical therapy later in the afternoon. I sure hope that the food had
settled. Anyway, Jeri did well. Dr.
Davino came by and was impressed with Jeri's progress. She wowed
them all with her quad lifting ability. That girl will do anything to
avoid having dear old dad get back into drill sergeant mode. Here are
the counts.
| Category (see
link for definitions) |
Normal |
Adequate / Acceptable |
Jeri |
| Hemoglobin |
12 |
8 |
9 |
| Platelets |
250,000 |
100,000 |
91,000 |
| White Cells |
4, 000 - 10,000 |
4,000 |
1,400 |
| ANC (Absolute Neutrophil
Count) |
1,500-5,000 |
1,000 |
280 |
|
| 8/4 - Today was the first day of sales tax free shopping
weekend for back to school clothes. Jeri didn't participate this
year. Virginia and Randi had to go out on their own. Jeri
figured that it would be best to wait until December for back to school
clothes. That way she wouldn't miss any style changes for the second
semester when she hopes to be back in regular school. The clinic
called and want Jeri to start the G-CSF (aka
Neupogen) shots again to stimulate the white blood cell and ANC
counts. It will be an artificial rise but should get her over the top
for admittance to the Bone Marrow
Transplant Unit for the next chemo treatment. I think that they
are getting concerned about elapsed time between treatments. Don't
want to give those bad cells any more time to recover than is absolutely
necessary. |
| 8/5 - Jeri's friend Rene has a birthday party
today. It's late night at the bowling alley and a sleepover.
Jeri really, really, really wants to go. She hasn't been out with her
friends since this whole thing started. Virginia and I are very
reluctant to agree to this. Virginia talks to Rene's mom. Her
mom is very aware of the situation. Her husband has been giving
platelets for Jeri. Rene and her mom were at the hospital to meet Jeri
the morning of her surgery. She says that they will take all
precautions and make sure that Jeri takes her pills. Jeri started G-CSF (aka
Neupogen) yesterday so her white counts should be coming up. We
both lecture her on being aware of her surroundings and leaving is she
suspects anyone is sick. We remind her to wash her hands frequently.
Most of all, just be very careful. She really, really, really wants to
go so we've given in. We tell her to call anytime, day or night, if
she's uncomfortable with the situation. Somehow, I don't think we'll
hear from her. |
| 8/6 - We didn't hear from Jeri. She enjoyed the
evening. Check out the pictures from Rene's
Birthday Party. I think they all had a good time. Jeri said
she got more sleep than the rest of the girls. She seems to have come
out of the thing unscathed except for the fluorescent yellow dots on her
head. They were having fun with he black lights. She goes back
to the clinic tomorrow to try one more time on the blood counts. We'll
see if the G-CSF has had any effect. |
| 8/7 - The counts finally met or exceeded the minimums
for Jeri to begin the next treatment. It's amazing what a couple of
shots of G-CSF will do to stimulate a
bit of white blood cell growth. She was checked in this afternoon and
has started the hydration process. That means that she's still feeling
pretty good and eating well. She's already sent Virginia out for take
out. That girl is definitely spoiled when it comes to hospital
food. I guess it's a relatively small price. By this time
tomorrow, she'll probably be finished eating solid food for a few
days. Melanie Ellis is
next door to Jeri. She's been there for a while and is feeling the
effects of the treatment. Virg has already volunteered to pick up
takeout for Michelle the next time she goes on a run. Here are the
counts:
| Category (see
link for definitions) |
Normal |
Adequate / Acceptable |
Jeri |
| Hemoglobin |
12 |
8 |
9.6 |
| Platelets |
250,000 |
100,000 |
103,000 |
| White Cells |
4, 000 - 10,000 |
4,000 |
7,300 |
| ANC (Absolute Neutrophil
Count) |
1,500-5,000 |
1,000 |
5,000 |
|
| 8/8 - The hydration was completed this morning and Jeri
received the first dose of chemo and also anti-nausea medicine. She
ate well at lunch. This afternoon brought the next dose of chemo. I'm
not sure the sequence of the drugs but you can check it out on the phase 2 roadmap.
She had a spell this afternoon where the tears flowed but they passed and
she was back in a good mood when I got there this afternoon. Dr.
Johnson was there when I arrived. He was checking up on Jeri and
was pleased at the way her leg is healing. He's stopped the
antibiotics and will order an x-ray while Jeri's at the hospital. That
will save a trip next week. He'll check it out and let us know whether
Jeri can start putting weight on her leg. We had a good discussion on
the presidential race, theater, tort lawyers, Irish music and experiences
with eBay. He's had good experiences
when buying and selling on eBay I've
only bought and all have been good. Jeri participated in some of the
discussion and got pretty bored with the rest. He reminded me of Fred
Steinmark, a University of Texas
football player who had the same type of cancer as Jeri. He passed
away in 1971. We were reminded that 30 years ago, this was a fatal
disease and now it is considered one of the most curable forms of
cancer. That was a bit sobering. I'm old enough to remember him
standing on the sidelines of a game after his leg was amputated. Jeri
kids Dr. Johnson all the time
that she wants to be a lawyer to keep doctors like him honest. He's
trying to convince her to go into medicine to give something back to the
profession. They have a good time sparring. It was time to leave
& Virginia was going out for takeout for Jeri. Jeri says that it's
the third day (tomorrow) before she will lose her appetite. We stopped
by to see how Melanie Ellis and
her mother Michelle were doing next door. Melanie
has been having a rough time with her chemo. She's getting different
drugs than Jeri, but they include some of the ones that Jeri had during her
first sessions. We saw Dr. Murali
on the way out. He was also checking in on Jeri to make sure that
things were going ok. |
| 8/9 - Things sure can change in a hurry. When I
came back from lunch today, I had a voice mail from Virginia telling me that
Jeri had been moved to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at TCH,
details on the location to follow. Jeri had developed a fever and
then, as they say, everything crashed at once. Her blood pressure
dropped to 50/30 and here heart rate jumped to 180bpm to try and keep
up. Doctors and nurses gathered around and started doing their thing
to get her stabilized and moved to the pediatric ICU. Virg called once
they got settled and let me know the location. It was definitely one
of the longest hours I've had in a while. By the time I got to the
hospital, Jeri had a fever of 102.9º and her
blood pressure was still low, but rising. She was being given a drug
to increase her blood pressure. I can't remember the name. (added
later - it was Dopamine) They've also started antibiotics. The doctors said that her condition
was symptomatic of a bacterial infection. They had taken blood samples
to run cultures so that they can determine if, in fact, that is what had
happened or if it was a reaction to the chemo. Jeri had completed two
of three drugs (Melphalan and one
dose of Cyclophosphamide). The
second dose of Cyclophosphamide was
scheduled for 3pm. They have decided to skip that dose and proceed
with the stem cells as soon as
she is able to sustain her blood pressure without artificial assistance. She
will also stay in the ICU until then. By the time I left this evening,
her fever was down to 101.7º and her blood pressure and heart rate were
within her normal range (as assisted by the drug). The culture results
should be back in the morning. They'll start to wean her off the blood
pressure medicine during the night. She's will have 10-14 days in the
hospital as a precautionary measure, instead of coming home on Friday as
planned. They want to keep her until they are absolutely sure that the
infection, if any, is eliminated and, if not, just to be sure
that they didn't miss anything. She's been very fortunate that nothing
like this has happened up until now. Dr. Murali
had warned us that this could happen. Now we understand why he was so
concerned about a fever over 102º. We were
to get Jeri to the emergency room as quick as possible if that
occurred. She was fortunate to be in the hospital when it occurred so
that the medical response could be swift and sure. Anyway, she is
now stable and resting. Let's pray that the night goes well and
that the worst of this episode is behind her. |
| 8/10 - Jeri and Virginia
agree that the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit is no place to spend the
night. Neither of them got much sleep. Jeri's vital signs were
normal during the night and into the day. She was moved back to the bone
marrow transplant unit (BMT) this afternoon. She's still receiving
Dopamine but at a much smaller
dose. Maybe they can both get some rest tonight. The doctors
confirmed that they will skip the second dose of Cyclophosphamide.
Jeri's stem cells will be infused tomorrow. The cultures that were
taken yesterday to test for bacterial infection have, so far, been
negative. That's good news. Meanwhile, Melanie
has developed a high fever. It's even higher than Jeri's was. She has
not had the system crash that Jeri had so she's still in the BMT,
but under close surveillance. |
| 8/11 - Brit is staying with Jeri this weekend so Virg
will do the weekend updates. Jeri received her stem cells today (about
three hours after Melanie received hers). Everything went
smoothly. The actual infusion is uncomfortable for Jeri causing even
more nausea and smelling and tasting horrible. This is from the
preservative that they pack the stem cells in before they freeze them.
The odor will last about 48 hours and then will be gone. Jeri's
temperature and blood pressure were fine all day but she is exhausted.
She was a little teary-eyed this morning about spending the next 10-14 days
in the hospital. The cultures that the nurses took from her blood are
still showing no signs of growth, so the doctors are now calling Wednesday's
events a "presumed sepsis incident". A fancy term for
"we don't know what, why, where or how but it happened and our best
guess based on the symptoms was a bacterial infection." They are
giving Jeri three different antibiotics to cover the wide spectrum of possibilities
and they seem to be working. I had just about resigned Jeri to the
"it is safer to stay in the hospital for awhile than to go home
immediately" theory when the doctors did their rounds this
morning. The BMT doctor mentioned to Jeri that if everything remained
stable with her temp and blood pressure, and if Jeri's mom was willing to
learn how to administer the IV antibiotics, Jeri might be able to negotiate
an early release. Those of you who know Jeri well can imagine the look
on her face at that moment. She lit up the room with that big grin of
hers and informed the doctor that she has excellent negotiating
skills. When I relayed this story to Dr. Murali, he just grinned and
shook his head. He has been on the other end of several of Jeri's
negotiations and knows that she was very truthful about her skills.
Meanwhile, she is still in the room next to Melanie, and since
Melanie also
spiked a high fever on Wednesday, she is also in on the 10-14 day
plan. We hope to remain neighbors and be released at the same time.
(after a thoroughly boring period of time...we hope!) |
| 8/12 - Brit said that Jeri had a very quiet day
today. She is fighting bouts of nausea and is not interested in food
and drink yet. I guess that means that the credit card will enjoy a
brief respite from all of the therapies inflicted on it. |
| 8/13 - I'm back home and Virg is back for the
duration. I'll be going to Bartlesville tomorrow so we'll see if Randi
will do the update tomorrow. I'm sure she will if I'll help her
out. Jeri slept in this morning, as usual for the latter part of
a hospital stay. Last night was very quiet. They've cut the
fluids back a bit so she only had to get up once during the night.
That means I only had to get up once too. She had a couple of bouts
with nausea but there wasn't much there since she's still not eating.
She probably won't eat until she leaves the hospital. Her blood
pressure is holding up and they've reduced the Dopamine
once again. The "on call" doctor said that they would start
to teach Virginia how to administer the antibiotics on Monday that Jeri
might be released on Tuesday. that was pretty good negotiating on
Jeri's part. We'll see. Virginia called before she came up this
afternoon to see if Jeri wanted anything. Jeri said that she had a
craving for chips and salsa from Pappasito's.
Yeah right! Virg got the chips, salsa and guacamole to bring to
Jeri. Jeri wasn't hungry by the time she got there around 3pm. I
wasn't surprised. I called back after 10pm to see how things had
gone. Virg said that she and Jeri had eaten all the chips, salsa and
guacamole. She also said that Jeri had kept it down.
Amazing. She's definitely starting to feel better. We'll have to
get an update tomorrow to see how long it stayed down. Don't mean to
be a pessimist but....... |
| 8/14 - Randi Entry:
Daddy's in Bartlesville and Mom's at the hospital, so the update is up to me
today. Jeri is feeling well although she is very weak. Her blood
counts have already dropped. This morning white count was 300, and
platelet count was 22,000. Jeri still receives antibiotics every 8
hours. Mom says that the Pappasito's
stayed down wonderfully.
Yes!!!!!!! Today she also added some croissants from La Madeline and
some Marble Slab Ice Cream. Mom and Jeri are still on track to come home
tomorrow, and Jeri says that Mom can administer the antibiotics with no
problem...anything to get out of the hospital! |
| 8/15 - Virg Entry: We
did make it home finally! We had planned to leave the hospital after
Jeri's 1PM antibiotic infusion but you know that old cliché about the best
laid plans... When they did Jeri's counts this morning, her platelets
had dropped to 17,000, her hemoglobin had dropped to 8.3 (from 10.5
yesterday) and her white count screamed up to 500. So, before we could
leave, Jeri received two units of platelets and two units of red
blood. That all took about six hours to infuse. Jeri didn't
mind...she slept all day. Virg didn't mind...she read all day.
Lucky
Melanie got to go home in the early afternoon because she got all of
her blood and platelets yesterday. After we got home, a home health nurse
came by the house and gave me my lesson on administering the IV
antibiotics. It is not too difficult and eagle-eyed Jeri will keep me
from messing up. Jeri is happy to be home and enjoyed some home
cooking tonight. She also informed me of the menu for tomorrow
night...more home cooking. Brit will be happy about that. An
added note: While Jeri and I hung out at the hospital, Randi
started her senior year, tried out for the musical that the theatre
department is producing and was awarded the part that she wanted, the witch
in "Into the Woods". We will let all you theatre fans know
when you will be able to see her on stage. |
| 8/16 - This will be my last
entry for awhile as Brit will return tomorrow. We had a very quiet day
today. Jeri feels good but is very fatigued. We have to do the
antibiotics at 6Am, 2PM, and 10PM. Neither of us is real fond of that
6AM call. Today is Randi's 17th birthday and we celebrated with
birthday pie as Randi opened her gifts. Tomorrow, Jeri and I head to
clinic for our first post-hospital visit. |
| 8/17 - Jeri had her first
visit to the clinic today after her release from jail.....excuse me...TCH.
Her blood counts are dropping as predicted. The infusions she received
on Monday are helping keep the platelets and hemoglobin up but not too much
help with the white blood cells. The routine of infusing antibiotics
continues. Virg learned that she could give both types at the same
time so that will cut the time. The are infused using Jeri's central
line. They come in small, clear plastic bags and hang from a
portable IV tree. It looks like a scene from M.A.S.H. except that the
liquid is clear rather than red. Jeri's a trooper though. She
says that the biggest downside is that she has to go to the bathroom more
often than normal. Virg says that she's glad she can do both at the
same time (Jeri's central line has
two lines or lumens as they are called). She felt that she was having
to prepare for the next IV right after the last one had finished. It
wasn't quite that bad but was close. Here are the counts for today.
| Category (see
link for definitions) |
Normal |
Adequate / Acceptable |
Jeri |
| Hemoglobin |
12 |
8 |
10.4 |
| Platelets |
250,000 |
100,000 |
37,000 |
| White Cells |
4, 000 - 10,000 |
4,000 |
100 |
| ANC (Absolute Neutrophil
Count) |
1,500-5,000 |
1,000 |
Not Measurable
|
|
| 8/18 - Not much to report today. Jeri slept in
and read a while before getting up. She had physical therapy this
afternoon. She's still having a bit of trouble stretching her left leg
out straight. They said she was a bit ahead of the same time following
the last round of chemo. |
| 8/19 - I only thought Jeri slept in yesterday.
She really slept in today. She then proceeded to read a whole book
before getting out of bed sometime after lunch. This evening's menu
was selected by Jeri before she was released from TCH
last week. Today was summer picnic day......hot dogs, chips and
home made ice cream. It was pretty good. Not all that healthy
but pretty good. |
| 8/20 - Blood counts came earlier than expected this
week. Jeri woke up with a rash on her face. Virginia called the
"on call" oncologist at TCH
to see if there was cause for concern. As expected, the doctor asked
that Jeri be brought to the emergency room at TCH
so that she could have a look. That was about 10:30am this
morning. Jeri and Virginia took off and prepared for a long day, i.e.
plenty of reading material. The rash was evidently a reaction to the antibiotics
that Jeri's been taking. Several doctors conferred and decided that it
was definitely a reaction to the drugs and that they would change
them. They went ahead and took blood counts while Jeri was in the
neighborhood. They were not good but not unexpected at this
stage. Virginia called throughout the day to keep us up to date.
Her ca. 5:45pm call told us that there was a vacant room in the BMT
so Jeri was moved there for a platelet infusion. It takes about 3
hours for Jeri to receive platelets. They learned that Melanie
was in the BMT. It's going
to be a long day for Jeri and Virginia. Both will be tired by the time
they get home. They get to go back to the clinic tomorrow for the
scheduled 8:30am appointment. The doctor wants to check the
rash. Virginia has already warned the doctor that they better not keep
her 3 hours while looking for a doctor that will come by and say,
"looks ok, you can leave now." It's happened before.
The doctor said that they could call her if there wasn't anyone quickly
available. We'll see. Anyway, let's hope that the diagnosis on
the rash is correct and that it turns out to be a minor deal. The low
blood counts are obviously of concern but, as I said, we expected that.
Let's hear it for hospital time.
| Category (see
link for definitions) |
Normal |
Adequate / Acceptable |
Jeri |
| Hemoglobin |
12 |
8 |
10.4 |
| Platelets |
250,000 |
100,000 |
6,000 |
| White Cells |
4, 000 - 10,000 |
4,000 |
750 |
| ANC (Absolute Neutrophil
Count) |
1,500-5,000 |
1,000 |
0
|
|
| 8/21 - Well, this is Virg doing the update as Brit is
back in Bartlesville for a few days. Jeri and I did go to clinic this
morning. We left the house at 7:30 and returned home at 6:30 this
evening. It has been two very very long days down in the medical
center. Jeri got her blood counts done again this morning and the
nurses went ahead and infused the two new antibiotics (since we haven't
received ours from the pharmacy yet.) After her counts came back from
the lab, we discovered that Jeri needed another infusion of platelets.
It is not that time consuming to infuse the platelets. It just takes
awhile to get them from the blood bank and get through all of the protocols
to make sure that Jeri gets the correct platelets. Anyway, the day
involved a lot of waiting but everything really was done as promptly as
possible. Jeri is ready to spend a day at home and so is her
mom. The new antibiotics and all the accompanying medical accessories
arrived at the house tonight at 8:30. By the time I got everything
sorted out, called the nurse for instruction (they sent one antibiotic in a
form that was new to me) and got everything started, it was 10PM. The
next dose will be at 6AM in the morning. I am even more tired just
thinking about it. The good news is that Jeri only has to take the
antibiotics until her counts come up and they are on the rise. Jeri is
still covered from head to toe in a red polka-dotted rash from her reaction
to the old antibiotics. I hope she has better luck with this
batch. Melanie was also changed to these same new antibiotics because
she spiked a fever while on the old ones and the docs said that they must
not be working too well. Jeri is just glad that she hasn't had to
spend the night in the hospital...she is really partial to her own
bed. Today's counts:
| Category (see
link for definitions) |
Normal |
Adequate / Acceptable |
Jeri |
| Hemoglobin |
12 |
8 |
10 |
| Platelets |
250,000 |
100,000 |
14,000 |
| White Cells |
4, 000 - 10,000 |
4,000 |
1300 |
| ANC (Absolute Neutrophil
Count) |
1,500-5,000 |
1,000 |
533
|
|
| 8/22 - Hooray!! This was a day NOT spent at the
medical center. Jeri had her first home schooling session of the
school year including her first test. She also had a productive
physical therapy session this afternoon. In between those two
activities she was just tired out. The rash is itching like crazy
today and that combined with her fatigue has made her a less than happy
camper. At this point, she is just looking forward to another day at
home (with no schooling or PT and lots of R and R) before we return to the
clinic on Thursday. Brit returns tomorrow. |
| 8/23 - Jeri got to rest and do nothing today. She
had no clinic visits, no physical therapy, no school and even her rash looks
like it's healing. I think she needed the break. The last few
days have worn her down. In fact, she's getting weary of the whole
thing. Very understandable I do believe. Tomorrow (Thursday)
holds another trip to the clinic for blood counts and, perhaps, an end to
the antibiotics if the results are good enough. I have a short stay at
home. I'm helping my Dad drive his car back home. That means
Virg gets to continue with the updates over the next few days. |
| 8/24 - Today was yet another clinic day. We did
get the ok to halt the antibiotics and Jeri and I are both happy about
that. The 6AM, 2PM and 10PM schedule for those got old pretty fast but
we survived. The good news for the day is that Dr.
Johnson looked at
Jeri's X-rays and said that the juncture between her bone and the allografted bone has healed beautifully. Because everything looked
good, he has okayed Jeri to start weight-bearing on that leg. Now the
work really starts to regain all of that lost muscle. This will be
another big challenge for Jeri but her specialty seems to be meeting and
exceeding all expectations as far as challenges are concerned. I'm
sure there will be more tough moments during her rehab but she will do just
fine. She did have to receive more platelets today due to the low
platelet count. As you look at the white count and ANC, remember that
she is still receiving Neupogen injections daily and that these counts are
artificially high. The object is to get these counts high enough to
give Jeri some protection rather than keeping her hospitalized. Once
the injections are stopped, her counts will plummet (but hopefully not all
the way back to 0.) We will be continuing the injections until the
next blood counts at clinic on Monday.
| Category (see
link for definitions) |
Normal |
Adequate / Acceptable |
Jeri |
| Hemoglobin |
12 |
8 |
9.9 |
| Platelets |
250,000 |
100,000 |
12,000 |
| White Cells |
4, 000 - 10,000 |
4,000 |
11,100 |
| ANC (Absolute Neutrophil
Count) |
1,500-5,000 |
1,000 |
8,858
|
|
| 8/25 - Jeri was feeling much perkier today. It is
amazing what one good night of sleep can accomplish. Our friend, Holli
Palmer stayed with Jeri today so that I could head over to Kingwood for
tennis. The mixed doubles team that I play on is playing for the state
title. Once Randi got home from school, she relieved Holli.
Thank You, Holli! Jeri had her schooling this morning and then Randi
took her to physical therapy this afternoon. Jeri had lots of new
exercises now that she has gotten the ok to bear weight on that left
leg. She says that it feels weird to put weight on the leg after all
this time. She is getting stronger and eating better. |
| 8/26 - Jeri got dressed up, put on make-up and went to
the movies with Randi and friends today. She said that it felt good to
get out. We did find out that her next chest CT is scheduled for this
next Thursday. This is where we hope and pray that all is well!! |
| 8/27 - I made it back from Silverton.
It will take a week or two to shed the pounds from all the outstanding meals
everyone offered to Daddy and me. I asked Jeri what she had done for
her mind and body today. She had done her worksheets and studying for
Biology and Geometry. That's good. She hadn't done much for the
body yet but had good intentions. I'll observe the exercises after
this update. She's good at doing the exercises but it is a weekend
after all. Thanks to everyone I saw in Silverton
for all the good wishes for Jeri. I know that everyone is rooting for
her to have a positive CT-Scan later
this week and to continue her recovery. |
| 8/28 - Jeri continues to feel better. Today was a
good day for studying and preparing for class. She also did her
exercises as witnessed by her mom. No doubt that she did something for
her mind and body. She was working on a scrapbook that one of my
friends from work had given her. It's nice when she's starting to get
her strength back. She was up for a bit of verbal sparring so I knew
she was feeling good. Tomorrow is a double dose of the clinic and
physical therapy. It's possible that her blood counts have improved
enough to discontinue the Neupogen.
That will be good. She's showing a lot of bruising on her leg where
she receives the shots. That's an outcome of low platelets. |
| 8/29 - Jeri's clinic visit started out with an
encounter with a major Houston rush hour traffic jam on I-45. There
was a wreck at Cavalcade, just inside loop 610. What a way to start
the day. An hour later, Virginia and Jeri were past the wreck and on
their way. Good thing they have learned to leave early. The
counts were ok. Jeri's platelets were just high enough that she didn't
need an infusion today. However, they decided to keep the G-CSF (aka
Neupogen) going for a couple of more days since her white blood cell
count dropped. They had lunch at Pino's.
I guess that's become one of their favored Italian restaurants. Back
to the North side of Houston for a visit to physical therapy. It was a
tough session. I think Jeri may have cried a couple of times from the
frustration. It's obvious, and expected, that the mental acceptance of
relying on her leg is going to take a while. That's a key function
physical therapy in addition to the physical aspects. Oh yeah, here's
today's addition to the "alls well that ends well" saga. The
doctor at the clinic was to have called the prescription for additional G-CSF
to the home care group. They didn't have any record of the call around
6:30pm. After calling the on call oncologist at the hospital and
coordinating with the home care pharmacist (who had already gone home),
Virginia got everyone together. The medicine was delivered just after
10pm this evening. It had the wrong needles but we lucked out and
still had a few of those. As I write this, tonight's dose is warming
to room temperature so it can be administered before Jeri goes to bed.
Here are those blood counts:
| Category (see
link for definitions) |
Normal |
Adequate / Acceptable |
Jeri |
| Hemoglobin |
12 |
8 |
10.5 |
| Platelets |
250,000 |
100,000 |
23,000 |
| White Cells |
4, 000 - 10,000 |
4,000 |
8,700 |
| ANC (Absolute Neutrophil
Count) |
1,500-5,000 |
1,000 |
6,742
|
|
| 8/30 - School was the highlight of today. Jeri's
teacher came by to continue with Jeri's studies. Don't know if I
mentioned it, but Jeri's teacher is very good and very understanding of kids
with this type of illness. She works them as much as they can go while
being sensitive to them getting tired. She was a super advocate for
Jeri when setting up the Curriculum with faculty at Cypress
Creek High School. The normally allow the regular curriculum for
home study students. She showed Jeri's record at Bleyl Middle School
to the faculty and administration. She convinced them that Jeri should
be allowed to take honors classes so that her grade point average would not
be penalized when she returns to the general population. Cypress
Creek High School is very competitive for college preparation as Randi
has learned. We thank her for her perseverance. Jeri is doing
her part. She made 100 on a Geography test today. She also has
reading and homework for the next lesson. She has some reading and
other homework to prepare for the next lesson. The rest of us are
waiting anxiously for tomorrow when Jeri has her scheduled CT-Scan.
Virginia thinks we may hear the results tomorrow evening or perhaps on
Friday. I was thinking they might wait until the next appointment at
the clinic. We're all praying and hoping (and I mean all of our
friends too) that the chemo has done it's thing and the spots have gone
away. |
| 8/31 - No way to sugar coat today's news. The CT-Scan
was done today. Virginia received a call this afternoon with some of
the results. One of the lung spots was responsive to the last chemo,
one was not and there may be more forming. That's all we know right
now. We go to the clinic tomorrow to meet with Dr. Murali
to find out the details and what comes next. It's getting harder to
remain optimistic but we'll keep doing our best:-( |
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Brit: brit@stickyshoe.com
Virg: virg@stickyshoe.com
This page last updated:
August 10, 2001
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