Fantastic Week
Remember how excited I was on Monday when my platelet count had gone up from 20 (last Thurs) to 24 (on Monday) without me getting a platelet transfusion? Well, I got my counts done again today and got even better news. My platelet count went from 24 on Monday to 53 today!!! I am officially producing my own platelet cells!!! Even Dr Lestingi came over to the chemo wing and joined in the happy dance. He told me I was unbelieveable. He had thought there was no way this was going to happen. My platelet count hasn't been this good without a transfusion in about 2 years.
So this is my best week in ages. I got my cast off yesterday and checked out fine to drive around in my new little VW Bug. It's a blast. I've been tooling around town, and all those platelets are tooling around inside me doing their jobs too.
Other counts today were:
WBC 6.3 (still well into the normal range)
HgB 9.1 (slowly creepng down, may need transfusing in the next week or so)
It's possible that if my counts stay pretty good that I will move to a 3 week chemo schedule instead of every 4 weeks. The chemo would be more effective against the large cell lymphoma that way.
My chemo nurse, Ann, said that it's a good thing I broke my foot. If I hadn't, they wouldn't have tried me on the Neulasta shot instead of Neupogen, because I didn't fit the criteria. It was a desperation move caused by my broken foot and inability to drive to the center every day. Some silver lining, huh? There are no coincidences...
Erin, Steve and I will be going down to Peoria tomorrow and Saturday to visit. I want to take my new car, regardless of how much smaller the back seat is than Erin's old bomber. Cruising at 70 mph in a new car with a sunroof? Can't beat it.
Monday, August 26, 2002
From the NHL list
--- In nhl@y..., "gregdafoe2000" wrote:
>I hope this is a sign that your marrow is going to start working
> normally again, and you can say goodbye to transfusions for good!!!
Greg,
What a great dream that would be. It's been so long since I could hold my own blood counts without transfusions or growth factor shots, that I can hardly imagine doing without them. I guess I'd better start imagining it!
I so envy people who come in for blood counts and a check up and then go live their lives for 3 to 6 months with no medical stuff in between. At one point several years ago I got up to going 2 months in between appointments, but that was short-lived and frequently interrupted by problems. But maybe I can get back to that and even surpass it!
Right now it just seems like a miracle to me that I don't have to go there every day, only twice a week, and that I only see the doc for "official" appointments every two weeks. That makes me feel so much healthier than just a few weeks ago. In fact, I don't think I've called the on-call doc over the weekend for about a month. You can't imagine what a relief that is--not only for me but for the docs. I was WAY too well known by all of them, although they were very sweet about it.
I want this cast off my foot so I can do a real happy dance. It's just not the same in a cast. Hopefully, I'll be cast-less by Wed afternoon. And then I can drive my new car, too! So many things to look forward to.
--- In nhl@y..., "gregdafoe2000"
>I hope this is a sign that your marrow is going to start working
> normally again, and you can say goodbye to transfusions for good!!!
Greg,
What a great dream that would be. It's been so long since I could hold my own blood counts without transfusions or growth factor shots, that I can hardly imagine doing without them. I guess I'd better start imagining it!
I so envy people who come in for blood counts and a check up and then go live their lives for 3 to 6 months with no medical stuff in between. At one point several years ago I got up to going 2 months in between appointments, but that was short-lived and frequently interrupted by problems. But maybe I can get back to that and even surpass it!
Right now it just seems like a miracle to me that I don't have to go there every day, only twice a week, and that I only see the doc for "official" appointments every two weeks. That makes me feel so much healthier than just a few weeks ago. In fact, I don't think I've called the on-call doc over the weekend for about a month. You can't imagine what a relief that is--not only for me but for the docs. I was WAY too well known by all of them, although they were very sweet about it.
I want this cast off my foot so I can do a real happy dance. It's just not the same in a cast. Hopefully, I'll be cast-less by Wed afternoon. And then I can drive my new car, too! So many things to look forward to.
Good News!!!
My last platelet transfusion was last Monday. On Thursday they were
debating whether to transfuse me because my platelet count was 20 and
they didn't know if I would make it through the weekend without
needing platelets. They decided to try putting it off til Mon
(today) when I would need platelets for sure, and hoped that I
wouldn't be down to zero again like the last time I went out of
town.
Guess what! I didn't need them! My platelet count this morning was
24! It actually went up! I seem to be producing some of my own
platelets. This is the longest I've gone without a transfusion in
over a year, I think. My counts will get done again on Thursday,
when I will also see my onc doc.
And my WBC is still holding in a good range. It was 7.6 today. It
seems like the Neulasta is working okay. They were worried that the
effect of it would wear off too soon with me, since I didn't meet the
criteria for getting it. So far, so good.
My HgB has been bouncing back and forth between 9 and 10 the past
couple of weeks. It was 9.4 today.
This is so cool. The nurse tore up the order for platelets and sent
me home with cheers. Amazing, huh?
My last platelet transfusion was last Monday. On Thursday they were
debating whether to transfuse me because my platelet count was 20 and
they didn't know if I would make it through the weekend without
needing platelets. They decided to try putting it off til Mon
(today) when I would need platelets for sure, and hoped that I
wouldn't be down to zero again like the last time I went out of
town.
Guess what! I didn't need them! My platelet count this morning was
24! It actually went up! I seem to be producing some of my own
platelets. This is the longest I've gone without a transfusion in
over a year, I think. My counts will get done again on Thursday,
when I will also see my onc doc.
And my WBC is still holding in a good range. It was 7.6 today. It
seems like the Neulasta is working okay. They were worried that the
effect of it would wear off too soon with me, since I didn't meet the
criteria for getting it. So far, so good.
My HgB has been bouncing back and forth between 9 and 10 the past
couple of weeks. It was 9.4 today.
This is so cool. The nurse tore up the order for platelets and sent
me home with cheers. Amazing, huh?
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