Hurray, today is over. Well the worst bits anyway.
We were at clinic early to get Scotty checked over and make sure he is well enough for anesthesia and chemo. His counts were 1750, and platelets 232. Both are down from last week but I won’t stress. He also had atypical lymphocytes and a few other ‘abnormals” which I questioned nurse Bob and Dr. Tebbi about. Neither was concerned and I was told that in t-cell they see quite a lot of this, perhaps in pre-b it would be a red flag, but unless there were considerable numbers seen then I shouldn’t panic. I also took the opportunity to quiz Dr Tebbi about all his other blood work and he seemed happy with everything. He also said that chemo wouldn’t be increased as Scott was already receiving as large a dose as is recommended.
Before the spinal tap with chemo Scott had pentadamine. The doctors are keen to keep him on this as they believe he is tolerating it well and it protects well against pneumonia. So much for me thinking bactrim would be better and help with his high counts. We had a real bitch of a respitory nurse and she nearly got my fingernails straight through her eyeballs. She tried to insist that I leave the room when Scott had his treatment and told me she would also be leaving the room as pentadamine made her itch!! Daft cow. No, I will not leave Scott alone unless I am perfectly confident he is with someone with experience and with someone he trusts. She also should not leave the room. She should be monitoring him and making sure he is using the face mask correctly and breathing the medicine deep into his lungs. I told her that I was advised that a nurse should be there at all times and that I also would not be leaving the room. She again said we should both leave. I helped myself to a mask and sat down. She rattled on and on but in the end walked out of the room. Fortunately I have done this enough times now to know how it works. I was fizzing though.
Then we went to the day hospital and Scott had his spinal with chemo. Dr Tebbi did the procedure so that pleased me. He is awesome. His spinal fluid, which is drawn out, before chemo can be given, looked clear and disease free. However this is not fool-proof, leukemic cells could still be found in fluid which looks healthy. Obviously this would be devastating and hopefully this will not be the case.
Next, back to the clinic and his vincristine. By then Scott was a bit of a mess and needed a wheelchair. He really doesn’t do anesthetic well, it just seems to stress him out and make him a weepy and very unhappy little man. He also had pain in his back from the spinal. Anyhow, Bob gave him a shot of Tylenol and codeine and within half an hour he was smiling, laughing and drooling.
We are home now and he has had his first 4 steroid pills. 7 more to squeeze in before the end of the day, and ofcourse some 6mp (chemo) at bedtime.
That’s it for now, gotta go clean the house and stuff.
Oh and ps. Derry did finally make it to school. Tuesday was a hurricane day but he made it yesterday and today and so far, so good. Apparently the girls are hot, lunch is good and people don’t walk around with their pants around their knees.
Awesome.