Invariable -- Word for the Day -- Sunday, January 18, 2009

Invariable

DEFINITION: (adjective) not changing or subject to change.

The last week went by like last year -- FAST! ChemoSabe hit the Infusion Center every morning around 6:30 - 7:00. This helps him to get in/out pretty quickly, if you call 11:30 quick. He had to have an antibiotic drip on Tuesday. His blood culture came back bad. When he came home with a phosphorus bag last Sunday and I changed it out I asked him where the cap was... There was none so we thought maybe we were hallucinatin! ha. Well, I clamped the tube after flushing it with saline and Heparin and he discovers that maybe the iv got a bacterial infection because the nurse didn't give him a cap. I got a sick green feeling in my stomach. His CRP (crap) didn't go up until Thursday, though. So that made me feel better.

He has started the Velcade injections. Those are the mamma jamma shots, if you remember. We will be starting classes again this week on his levels. We -- meaning you!!!! Have you studied?

Here are his counts for this last week:

01/14 -- Wed. WBC -- 4.24 Platelets -- 110 CRP -- <5
01/15 -- Thurs WBC -- 14.97 Platelets -- 91 CRP -- 23.2
01/16 -- Fri. WBC -- 20.67 Platelets -- 81 CRP -- 26.3
01/17 -- Sat. WBC -- 11.83 Platelets -- 60 CRP -- 16.4
01/18 -- Sun. WBC -- 8.99 Platelets -- 52 CRP -- 10.3

So, you see, we are coming down slowly, but surely. He will probably be neutrapenic by Tuesday. AND,
1. what is neutrapenic?
2. What happens when the Platelets get below 50?
3. What level does the WBC have to be to indicate one is neutrapenic?
Send me an email at lazydaz@sbcglobal.net with the answer and I will post the winner. What is your prize? A photo of ChemoSabe with a girl in a black bikini on Saturday night... AND IT AIN'T ME, BABE! (Sonny and Cher song, if you remember). Winner is "FIRST WITH THE RIGHT ANSWER"

He worked all last week and even drove to Greenville, Mississippi on Thursday. We had a followup doctor's appt. for 4:00, but they are usually late so he went for his labs at 4:00. I arrived in the clinic at 4:15 after high tailing it from work and signed him in on the doctor's sheet and had a seat. I waited and got a call from him in Infusion and the doctor's office had called and cancelled the appt. at 4:15. Oh well, I needed to go to the bank and see my mom anyway. We were just in time for the 5:00 traffic. (Hey, it's 5:00 somewhere!)

My 'older' brother came in over the weekend and that gave us a break from the nursing home for a couple of days. Even though it is only about six miles from the house, with ChemoSabe crashing in the recliner when he gets home, the added trip is starting to weigh on me. We did, though, take my brother to some kick boxing fights on Saturday night. The son has been begging us to go for some time. We thought we would get out one more time before ChemoSabe's levels went down. That's where the photo of the babe came in. (Ring girl) Son set that one up, too. I wonder if I were ill if they would call in the Chippindales! Whew!

The Velcade injections have caused a rash on ChemoSabe's face. The chemo injection causes the skin to blister like a sun burn. They gave him Benedrel for today and tomorrow. It knocked him out all afternoon. That means his next dose is at 8:00 p.m. and I will be sleeping in the spare room. Anything that knocks him out, kicks in massive snoring. I set up our upstairs office/bedroom and put one of those egg shell pads ont he day bed and it is pretty darn comfy. Got my own alarm clock and tv, too. He slept in there once and that was last week and even though he is almost too long for the bed, he admitted, too that it was a comfortable bed.

Well, as you can tell, I am starting to ramble. It is 8:00 and he is already in bed. We had a good supper of cold meat loaf sandwiches, so I will be watching Desperate Housewives and calling it a night myself.

I will keep you posted on his levels this week and on the winner, also.

Before I forget -- Keith and Diane from Alabama got a good report and headed back home on Friday with Consolidation treatment. Billy and Sherry went home on Thursday back to Alabama and got a good report and will be Bridging. I forgot to tell you in my last blog that Roger and Ruthie had been here during the Christmas holidays and he finished up his second Stem Cell transplant. He says it was pretty rough in that it made him very weak. I believe he lost about eight days. They will be back in March.

Keep them in your prayers and us, too. You have been so faithful.

Good night and Love --- Pepper