Four Days off before next round of Chemo

Back to Back check in days were achieved without a transfusion. Good news indeed! Joe's Red Blood Cell Count (RBC) is stable with a current count of 3.00 while Wednesday's was 3.13 ( normal is 4.5-6.0). Joe's Hemoglobin (HG) is stable with a current count of 8.7 while Wednesday's was 8.8 (normal is 14-18). Joe's Hematocrit (HC) is stable with a current count of 26.9 while Wednesday's was  27.9 (normal is 40-54).  The really good news were Joe's platelets that went from 27 on Wednesday to a soaring 73 today (normal is 140-440). There was not so good news with Joe's White Blood Count (WBC) jumping from a normal 9.9 to 39.3 (normal 4-11). It is a concern of mine that his Mantle Cell Lymphoma is growing once again. The PRN was not overly concerned and told Joe to cease taking the Neupogin shots which enriches the growth of white blood cells. I wonder if they are the bad guys or the good guys. Another piece of good news is that Joe will not need to check back in till next Wednesday when he is scheduled to start the next round of HyperCVD-R chemotherapy. Joe will probably be in the hospital till Monday with the next week to have several check ins to see what is happening. We pray for good results so we can head back to Atlanta and do the every 21 days chemo at Emory University Hospital downtown at the Winship Cancer Center. We shall see.

I had the infusion department check Joe's PICC point since when I changed his dressing yesterday there seem to be a bunch of blood on the interior bandage. The expert nurse took a look at it and said it looked good and that I was taking good care of it. The tech finished putting his dressing on. In between all the running around at the clinic we had lunch in the cafeteria which is booming with people and a very active place at lunchtime.

As we headed back to the apartment Joe asked me what we were going to do with the four days off. I suggested maybe a short two night trip to San Antonio to visit the Alamo and Riverwalk. Max will go with us after I researched a hotel that would allow pets and not charge  large non-refundable deposit. It turned out to be the La Quinta Inn within a block and a half of Riverwalk. I already made dinner reservations at the highly rated Baudo's on the Riverfront at 8:30 PM. Joe is looking forward to getting away and having a change of scenery.

Tonight we had dinner at Outback Steaks several exits south of us. We both enjoyed the petite fillet.Joe always enjoys Outback. Now we are back watching the worse day of the week TV. Right now Joe has boxing on. Ugh! There is nothing interesting on anyway. Tonight I will probably go to bed before Joe since he had a long nap while I worked on the San Antonio plans and the excel spreadsheet graphs that I use to follow Joe's blood counts and look for trends.

Yes, it was another beautiful day in Houston which seems in abundance and we enjoy so much.


Remember the Alamo this weekend where Joe and I will explore and remember the bravery of our frontiersmen. Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. God watch over our brave men and women who serve our country and give wisdom to our leaders to do the right thing.

Off to the Alamo in the morning!
Ciao!
Bonnie