Can we breathe now?

Lots of good news today.

First news from the benign hematologist managing the ITP, Dr. A, and the ever changing platelets: Crazy high platelets  are now over 600 (150 to 400 normal), but it's all good. That means we don't have to go back on Friday for the Romiplostim; the Prednisone comes down another 10 mg to 30 mg daily starting on Friday; no need to repeat blood work until next Friday, 2/21. All this good news and it was still only 8:30!

Next came the visit with Dr. S, (lymphoma/oncology) which also went well except for the frustrating, and unreasonably long wait time-- an hour and a half in the exam room? We had an 8:30 appointment but didn't see him until 10:20. Can you imagine how far behind this guy must be by 2:00? Kidney function looks great. Liver function looks great. Blood looks good and much better than previously. White blood count is normal-- first time since we started this process three months ago. Platelets, again, look good. Other indicators in blood work tell the doctor that it looks like Eric is doing well and responding to the chemo and Rituximab although it is really the PET scan that will tell us that for sure. Eric in good shape to have his treatment this weekend.

Eric's blood pressure has been very high (160/95) and we've been concerned, although it was actually normal today for the first time in quite some time. Dr. S said not to worry about the BP: the nature of what Eric goes through while he's there, the treatments, the stress will cause elevated BP (Interestingly, today's normal reading was after the good news from Dr. A.) That was a relief. We were also concerned about Eric's continued shortness of breath and anxiety-- also normal because of the extreme stress. As the doctor pointed out, this is stressful for anyone; add all these complications Eric has had and that stress level is going to go up even more. Tapering off on the Prednisone should also help along with really focusing on relaxing and trying to feel as well as you can in the face of what you're dealing with.

The last CT scan showed enlargement of one of the affected lymph nodes identified on the previous PET scan. This is not uncommon and highly unlikely to be indicative of growing cancer, more likely to be indicative of many cells congregating (for lack of a better word) to kill the cancer cells in that lymph node,  but we'll get a better look when the PET is repeated next month. After the chemo this weekend, Eric is halfway through. The PET scan is done after the 3rd, but before the 4th, (of 6) chemo cycle to see how the disease is responding and to re-stage it.

We were not entirely surprised when Eric has been sick immediately following, or even during, his treatments, but we were perplexed when he would start running a fever 24 hours or later after the treatment. Dr. S says this is indicative of the pre-meds, Acetaminophen and Benadryl, given via IV prior to each treatment, wearing off. It should help Eric stave off the fever and sick feeling if he continues to take these drugs by mouth in the day or two following his treatments. If that's true and it works, that's going to be fantastic. We'll see what happens early next week after the treatment this weekend.

Eric has to travel for work the week of 3/9 to 3/14 and would have his next chemo on 3/15. Well, there are two problems here. He has to see Dr. S always the Wednesday before his treatment, and he has to have his PET scan the week before his March treatment. They won't do them the previous week and they are really sticklers for changing things like this but there really is no other option. Dr. S said, given how well Eric is now doing, it is not a problem to postpone the March treatment by an additional week. That was a huge relief, too! So, the PET is scheduled for 3/18 and the next follow up with Dr. S is 3/19. A great deal of genetic testing was done when Eric's disease was first diagnosed and, while we have access to the reports, we have no idea what they mean. We do know that these reports tell the doctors how a patient might respond to different treatments and they help identify certain prognosis factors. When we go see Dr. S for the PET results  on 3/19, he'll go over all that with us as well.

In the meantime, we'll still be going on Friday mornings for blood work and visit with the APN (Advanced Nurse Practitioner). We are really looking forward to when we can stop that. It's not the blood work but the APN visit we'd like to stop. There's an MD Anderson satellite location right near us where Eric can have his blood drawn. It's the visit with the APN that requires our driving in rush hour ever Friday morning into the Medical Center. This has been very important. For so many weeks, those visits were what sent Eric to so many different treatments, the ER, and hospital admission. As things become more stable, hopefully those visits will no longer be needed and Eric can just get his blood drawn near home every week and continue on his way to work. That would be nice!

As we were leaving MD Anderson today, we were very uplifted by all this news on how much things are improving. We were also very mindful of what a crazy past three months this has been. It's been so scary and overwhelming which makes us appreciate even more how much better things seem to be getting now. We're feeling good about the future and, although we hate to wish the days away, we do look forward to May when the last of these 6 treatments will be completed and we will hear the words: "your cancer is in remission."

So, it's a chemo weekend, all day Saturday and a few hours on Sunday.  By Tuesday we'll know if Eric gets through this without getting sick. Bloodwork next Friday.We will get to celebrate on 28th anniversary on 2/22 which will be Eric's first Saturday "off" since the first week of December.

Thank you for all the prayers and good wishes!