July 29, 2003
Friends,
Even though I am recovering nicely from induction chemo, I think today has been one of my hardest days emotionally. Having Menchie here to give me a hug every once in a while has been a lifesaver. Generally speaking things are going real well. I was off the IVs fom most of the afternoon. That was pleasant. I went outside for a while and talked on the phone. I also worked for quite a while today. I slept real well last night. Right now my next goal is to reach 3.0 on my WBC count. At that point, they will do the bone marrow biopsy. Once that is complete, they can start making decisions about future courses of treatment. The doctor said I would probably get a week to 10 days of rest before starting consolidation therapy. They are also considering what is called an autologous bone marrow transplant. In this procedure they use my own stem cells to transplant back into me after killing off the rest of my bone marrow. We shall see!
On the medical front, the nephrologist said that my kidneys are working normally and they will not be visiting me any more. All of my antibiotics except for 2 have been switched to oral from IV. The next one will be switched when my neutrophils reach 1.0. They are currently at 0.9, so I am real close. The final antibiotic, amphi-terrible will continue until the lab determines that all fungal infections have been eliminated. I believe that is being checked daily.
Lab Results |
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Blood Cell Type |
|
|
|
|
| WBC | 4.5 | .8 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| RBC | 4.30 | 2.45 | 3.01 | 2.83 |
| HGB | 13.9 | 8.0 | 9.7 | 9.2 |
| PLT | 130 | 279 | 298 | 259 |
Good evening to all.
Ted
tw@wilcoxent.com