Monday, July 28, 2008

Well we are home AGAIN! Fred's blood work was good. His red blood cells are low 3.91 (normal 4.32-5.72), but not bad; his platelets are 168,000 which is good; his white blood cells are 5,800 which is GREAT.

The problem this time is his rash that he had all over his body has moved to his extremities (from his knees to his toes and from his elbows to his fingers) which is causing swollen ankles and hands. Dr. Solberg decided to run more extensive blood tests and we have to wait for the results. They are checking for a possible unlying viral infection which could be fatal (which Dr. Solberg mentioned 3 times) if he had chemotherapy today. Fred said he only needed to hear that once.

So we are home waiting for the test results and we will keep you posted.

Monday, July 21, 2008

The doctors are finding out something I have known for years which is Fred does nothing the normal way.

Saturday morning around 10 am Fred broke out in a full body rash, except for his face, neck and hands. He did not run a fever and did not itch so we were not too concerned since we knew we were going to Jacksonville the next day. Sunday evening Fred started getting itchy.

This morning Fred had blood work done and then we went to see the doctor. His blood work is much better. His white blood cell count is 5,300 (great), his red blood cells are 4.12 which are low, normal is 4.32 to 5.72)but not too bad, and his platelets are 197,000 (great) normal is 150,000 to 450,000. That was the good news. Then Fred showed the rash and it was like "wow". They got us into the dermatologist this afternoon and it is a reaction to one of his prescription drugs that he has been taking since the middle of May, which they said is not unusual to have happen after 8 weeks. They took him off the allopurinal and the Bactrim DS. He was given a prescription cream to put on twice a day and a prescription strength benadryl to take every six hours for itching. They told him the worse is yet to come, he will get really red (they told him he is only pink, but it looks really red to me) and he will start to peel like a sunburn.

Chemotherapy is now temporary set for next Monday, July 28th depending on how his rash is doing.

Flexibility is the key to this whole situation and we are doing are best to keep a positive attitude.

Monday, July 14, 2008

We went to Mayo Clinic today, had blood work done and saw the doctor. Dr. Solberg said Fred's response to treatment was excellent. Fred's white blood cells were 7,500 (great!) however his red blood cells and platelets were below normal so the decision was to wait another week before having chemotherapy in order for the red blood cells and platelets to regenerate themselves and hopefully get into the normal range before having chemo knock them even lower.

So we are now home and will go back next Monday for the chemotherapy.

Thank you for the prayers.

Wenesday, July 9, 2008

Fred went for his weekly blood work today and his white blood cells are down to 10,700 which is still high but what we really have to watch is keeping his red blood cells and platelets up. They are dropping close to the low level. Chemotherapy attacks all blood cells (good and bad) so we have to watch very closely the red blood cells and the platelets that they do not drop too low. Mayo Clinic was pleased with the test results today.

We go to Mayo Clinic on Monday for more blood work and chemotherapy.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Good news! We went to our local hematologist today for weekly blood work and Fred's white blood cell count went from 56,600 last Thursday to 12,500 today. Normal range is 4,000 - 10,000. We are headed in the right direction, just hope it doesn't start going back up too quickly.

We go to the local hematologist next Wednesday for blood work again.

That is all for now. Fred and I wish you all a great 4th of July weekend.