Life's Journey

Yesterday was a nice Easter with Roy and my parents.  I was feeling "human" and "sane" and could eat a little more - Sunday's are good days!  We had a honey baked ham thanks to a family friend and all the fixin's.  We sat outside, enjoyed the beautiful weather, played games and had a nice evening.

This morning I woke up early (bregudgedly), got ready, sent Roy off to work, packed my bag of chemo day supplies (prayer shawl, notebook, iPad, snacks, funky socks (for flair) and misc necessities) and headed off to a long day of chemo with mom.  We arrived right on time and were shortly taken back for vitals and labwork.  Mom and I were settling in, pulling things out of our bags, moving chairs, etc.  while waiting for the lab results.  About 15 minutes went by before the chemo nurse explained that she is unable to give me chemo today due to the lab results.  I am neutropenic and cannot handle the chemo drugs today.  This means that my White Blood Cell (WBC) count and Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) are too low and I am at high risk for an infection.  The normal range for WBC is 4.0 - 10.5 and mine is 1.4.  The normal range for ANC is 2.2 - 4.8 and mine is 0.8.  She said that because they can't give the chemo treatment today they will instead add a treatment to the tail end (sigh) of the entire treatment cycle.  She didn't feel they needed to treat me with drugs in any way, instead I should be extra cautious and wait it out til next week.  By "extra cautious" I mean that I should be around as few people as possible, no crowds, wash my hands often, avoid raw foods - all in an effort to avoid an infection.  She answered all our random questions and sent us on our way.  We went down to radiology to see if they could squeeze me in early rather than going home and having to turn around and come back in a few hours for treatment.  They got us in after a 30 minute wait.  I talked to the Physicians Asst. and she confirmed the lab results explaining that they can continue with the radiology treatment (phew).  If the ANC drops below 0.5 they will have to stop.  She said they would retest the lab work on Wednedsday to see how I'm doing.  Here's some info on neutropenia - this looks like an ad for the product that is referenced at the end, but I don't think it is and the info is consistent with other sites just a better synopsis: www.neutropenia.ca/about/optimizing.html

I don't feel awful.  I'm SUPER tired (my blood pressure was also low and partially to blame for th
is).  My tummy is still enjoying that rollercoaster ride.  But overall I'm feeling better than I was last week.  So, I will get a small break from the chemo this week.  Hopefully it will give my stomach a chance to get off the rollercoaster ride for awhile and settle on solid ground.  It's going to be a lonely week - just me and Ben - no visitors, no errands, no leaving the house.  I'm a "bubblegirl", my friend told me to look for a big version of the hamster balls so I can go out.    That's a funny visual. 

The goal for now is to allow the radiation to work while staying healthy healthy healthy!  Roy came home armed and ready.  He stopped by the grocery store on the way home and unveiled Lysol Disenfectant (to spray on all the door handles), Immune Boost vitamin packs, and multiple bottles of hand sanitizer.  This bubble will be as germ free as possible!  More to come from the bubble later in the week...