Update

Here's an update from this week's CBC Blood Tests.

The Hemoglobin and Red Blood Cells were down slightly. This surprised us since Thursday's Procrit injection was the 3rd week of injections to help the Bone Marrow generate more RBCs. We were expecting a break even at worst like the previous week. The Dr. said the drop in the counts were not significant and it will take a few more Procrit injections to see a positive result.

Of Major concern is that the White Blood Cells dropped to .9 and the Absolute Neutrophil Count dropped to .575. These are very low and is an indication that not only is the Bone Marrow not generating RBCs, it's also not creating WBC's. This means the immune system is virtually non existent and contact with others needs to be avoided. This will be treated with weekly injections of a drug called Neupogen.

So now, the treatment will be weekly injections of Procrit and Neupogen. Very expensive medication, but let's hope these injections start boosting the counts and the talk of a Bone Marrow Transplant can be put on hold for a few years.

The injections will be done on Thursdays and then on the following Monday, another CBC will be performed to measure the counts and see the progress.

Update July 23rd

This is Fred with a recap of yesterday's visit at Mayo. My blood counts remain below normal, but are better than before the recent hospitalization.

First for the little good news there was :  The Leukemia is in Clinical Remission.

As a serious side effect of the Chemotherapy, I have now developed Myelodysplastic Syndrome. This is another Blood Disorder and is just as serious/deadly as the Leukemia.  This is the same disease that Robin Roberts from ABC TV developed after her treatment for Breast Cancer. Google her name & you can read about MDS and her struggles.

The MDS is suppressing my Bone Marrow from creating enough new Blood Cells. This is the cause of my Anemia. The plan is to treat this with weekly injections of Procrit to boost the Blood Cell production with the hopes that within 3-6 months the Red Blood Cells & Hemoglobin will  show improvement. If the Procrit does not work, we will start serious talks about a Bone Marrow Transplant.

Procrit does not boost the White Blood Cells and they are also a concern. The Dr. wants to wait another month or two to see if they can improve on their own. If there is no improvement, then we will try weekly injections of Neupogen to try and boost them to normal.

I'll be getting weekly Blood Tests so the progress or lack there of can be measured.

Yesterday's blood work

Fred's blood work yesterday showed improvement.  His hemoglobin was up to 10 (normal 11-18) and his platelets came up to 45,000 (normal is 150,000 to 450,000), but better than 36,000.  His white blood cells are at 2.4 (normal is 4.5 to 10.5) and his red blood cells are at 3.02 (normal 4 - 6). 

We were elated that his numbers were up, we were just hoping they were the same as Saturday's numbers when we left the hospital.  Praying they keep going up.

Thank you blood donor!

Saturday

Sorry I did not post yesterday, it was kind of a busy day.  Fred's hemoglobin came back Saturday morning at 8.3.  He was released from the hospital and we are now home. 

We go tomorrow morning for blood work at are local doctor and pray that his hemoglobin in still in the 8 or higher range.
Platelets were 36,000 as of Saturday morning and definitely hope they go higher also.

day 3

Fred received 2 units of blood last night.  His hemoglobin rose  to 8.3 this morning.  He did not have a temperature all night and handled the transfusion fine.

He felt great this morning and even had color in his face (he was very pale).  He was allowed to go outside and walk around which he handled well and was not short of breath.

This afternoon his temperature spiked at 102.4.  Antibiotics and Tylenol brought his temperature back down to normal.  More blood work was ordered.

I will let you know what tomorrow brings!

day 2 in hospital

Fred was fever free all day while we waited for them to find blood for his transfusion.  He has antibodies that make his blood very "special" as one nurse told us.

They finally got blood and of course he started to run a fever.  They gave him antibiotics and by 8:30 tonight his fever was normal again.  They started the transfusion at 9:00 pm.  It will be a long night cause they are giving it to him very slowly to avoid any reaction to the blood.

I will post tomorrow how the first bag of blood went and see when and if they will give him the second bag.  They are trying to figure out where his blood is going that his number drop so drastically.

Blood

Fred was admitted into Mayo Hospital today.  His hemoglobin is down to 5.7, normal is 13.5-17.5.  He needs a blood transfusion which they were going to do about 5 pm, but of course since Fred does nothing normal, they have not been able to find any blood because of the antibodies in his blood.  So as of 9 pm tonight, no blood transfusion yet.

Will keep you informed!

finally posting...

I know it has been a long time since I posted anything on here, but Fred has been having some rough days.

We went to Mayo on Tuesday, July 2nd and presented to the doctor all the problems Fred has been experiencing.  In total 18 vials of blood was taken and a chest x-ray.

Fred tested positive to a test that I had to look up to understand completely.  Fred has autoimmune hemolytic anemia which is rare and causes antibodies to be made against a person's own red blood cells.  In other words, he has antibodies attacking his red blood cells.  He received an injection of Procrit, which he will have to receive weekly to boost his red blood cells.  If this does not work it will probably mean a blood transfusion.

He is also running continuous fevers in the 100 range.  He has 2 antibiotics for this, which yet have not helped. 

We are just taking one day at a time.  He has to have weekly blood work done, so we will see how well his blood work is next week.