August 20, 2003
Friends!
Well its just another boring day of chemotherapy. Last night, after sending my update, I began to feel somewhat ill. Eventually, the nurse gave me some intravenous nausea medicine which quickly turned my lights off for the rest of the night. I was snoring within minutes. After this mornings final dose we rushed home and I spent the rest of the day sleeping and resting. The chemo again made me feel unwell and has been a serious damper on my appetite. Menchie doesn't like it when I am not eating. I am sure that my appetite will return to normal "Wilcox" level tomorrow. The really good news is that my next hospital visit is a week from today. My doctor told me to go out and have fun (stay out of trouble). I can still eat real food!!! On a more serious note, the doctor indicated that I will probably have one more course of chemo prior to a bone marrow transplant. He said that I would probably meet with doctors from City of Hope Hospital in Duarte, to discuss a bone marrow transplant after I recover from the current course of chemo. At that time, we will schedule harvesting of stem cells from my brother. He should have a month or so of notice. Unless something significant happen, I will send out the next update next Wednesday.
On the medical front, I have to continue the eyedrops until tomorrow evening. The only other medication I will be taking is the Coumadin to prevent blood clotting around my catheter. As I hypothesized last night, my blood counts were down again this morning. So this rigidly controlled, single data point, empirical study has conclusively proven my hypothesis. The doctor said that this sawtooth pattern is not unusual in this kind of chemo, but the trend is downward.
Lab Results |
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Blood Cell Type |
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|
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| WBC | 4.5 | 2.6 | 3.3 | 2.0 |
| RBC | 4.30 | 2.88 | 3.10 | 2.80 |
| HGB | 13.9 | 9.7 | 10.4 | 9.5 |
| PLT | 130 | 150 | 168 | 138 |
Until next week!
Ted
tw@wilcoxent.com