Round 2; day 4:

Fred is very tired, queasy, and his muscles are achy.  He received his Neulasta injection this morning.  He has been running a low grade temperature, but nothing Tylenol won't help. 

Tomorrow is his nebulizer treatment and then we can head home. 

Hopefully the rest of the day will be uneventful.

Round 2, day 3 done.  Fred received the same cocktail as yesterday.  Yesterday he felt good after his treatment, but today not so.  He is very tired, which I keep telling him the drugs build up in his system over the 3 days which makes him feel worse as the days go on.

He is sleeping now and we will monitor his temperature throughout the day.  Tomorrow is his Neulasta injection and Friday is a new treatment, a nebulizer treatment, since he is allergic to Bactrim.

Round 2, day 2:

Today was only the fludarbine and cytoxin.  Took 2 hours.  Fred was feeling good afterwards and wanted to go have lunch so we went to the Town Center and walk a little then had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory.  Towards the end he just started to fade.  He has been sleeping since we returned to the hotel (4 hours ago). 

Good day!

Round 2, day 1....a very long day.

The day started with blood work at 7:45 am
Red blood count: 2.81 (normal 4.32-5.72)
White blood count: 3.4 (normal 3.5-10.5)
Hemoglobin: 10.1 (normal 13.5-17.5)
Hemocrit: 30.1 (normal 38.8-50.0)
Platelets: 97 (normal 150-450)
Absolute lymphocytes 1.0 (normal 0.9-2.9)

Overall, not too bad. 

Doctor at 9:30 am, then chemo at 10:30 am. 
This time around Fred received Rituxan (which took 4 hours to run), than Fludarabine and finally Cytoxin.  Got out of chemo at 5:00 pm.  As I said a very long day.  Fred slept through most of it and woke up around 4:15 pm.  Then he was very "chatty". 

He is resting now and we start again tomorrow at 8:30 am. 

Thanks for all the prayers, it means so much to us.

Sorry it has been a while since I posted, but after being off work for a week, I was backed up at work and too tired when I got home to do any posting.

Last weekend was rough for Fred.  Between throwing up and high temperatures he really did not feel well at all.  Late last Saturday his temperature got to 100.5 (we have to call Mayo if his temperature gets to 100.4).  I called Mayo and they had him start his antibiotic Levaquin which he promptly threw up after taking.  We waited about 1/2 hour and his temperature got to 100.9 so Fred took another Levaquin an hour and a half later since we figured he threw up after taking the first one that it did not get into his system.  Two hours later his temperature was down to 98.9.  Sunday we watched his temperature closely and between Tylenol and another Levaquin it did not get over 99.0.

Tuesday afternoon Fred finally started feeling better.  On Tuesday he had a CBC done at our doctor here.  Here are the results:

White blood count: 1.9 (low, which is normal after chemo) Normal is between 4.5 - 10.5
Red blood count:  2.26 (low) Normal 4.00-6.00
Platelets: 83 (low) 150 - 450
Hemoglobin:  8.3 (low) Normal 11.0 - 18.0

The CBC was faxed to Dr. Solberg at Mayo.  He was fine with the results, perfectly normal after chemo.  His resistance is low, which means crowds are a definite NO.  He is feeling better cause he is not liking "house arrest" as he calls it.

His temperature during the rest of the week has been good, but we must monitor it at least 3 - 4 times a day.

Fred went for a walk this morning and realized he does not have the energy to walk very far.  At least he got outside.

Sorry I did not post yesterday but it was a busy day.

Fred received his Neulasta injection yesterday.  Neulasta is prescribed to reduce the risk of infection in patients receiving strong chemotherapy that decreases the number of infection fighting white blood cells.

We had the 3 hour drive home and for someone who is feeling nauseous, isn't always fun, but Fred did well.

We are taking his temperature to make sure he does not spike a fever of 100.4, cause that means a call to Mayo.  The highest he has gotten is 100.2, but thankfully his temperature went down.

One of the things I hate the most is the hallucinations Fred gets from the chemotherapy.  He thinks something is always on fire and it takes a lot to calm him and reassure him that everything is all right.

Let us hope things go smoothly and we DO NOT have to go back to Mayo until our next scheduled appointment on February 18th.

Day 3 of Round 1 done.  Fred in typical fashion is sleeping, which is good cause otherwise he just babbles.  Blood pressure was good again today after his chemo.  He got the IV taken out today (which has been in since Tuesday) and he is so happy about that. 

We are going to discuss with the doctor about putting in a port since they could not find a good vein in his arm to put the IV and had to put it in his hand, which really hurt having it in for 3 days.

Tomorrow is the injection and we can head home.

So far this week has gone quite well.  He did experience some nausea yesterday afternoon, but thank God for Zofran pills.  One of those and he did not complain anymore.

I have noticed a difference in his behavior post chemo and that is mainly attributed to his not getting the pre-chemo medicine Benadryl.  Benadryl makes him totally loopy.  Let's hope they continue can continue not giving him this.