Leif had a good night's sleep last night, got up and took his laps around the ward, ate a breakfast sandwich and half a bagel; asked us to hold his blueberry smoothie, raisin bran, and other half-bagel for later this morning, and is now taking a good nap.
The weekend doctor, Dr. Keating, came by this morning. They are discontinuting the Cytoxin (cyclophosphamide) today and starting him up on doxorubicin and vincristine, the second part of this cycle's chemotherapy regimen. The doxorubicin is a 48-hour infusion, and once that's complete, we'll be able to leave the hospital, so we should be going home on Monday.
His heart test results look really good - thank you Ultimate Frisbee - and his blood test results are looking a little bit better every day. One concerin is that if his uric acid levels rise too high he can get kidney damage; so they are giving him allopurinol for that. So far his uric acid levels are not rising. His white blood cell count was 130 when he came in, and now is down to 106, so that is going in the right direction. His platelets are a bit down and he's a bit anemic, both of which are expected, and not too bad. A transfusion is likely at some point in the future to deal with that. His fluid levels are stable; he's peeing out slightly more than he's drinking, which is a good thing. His legs are somewhat swollen because they give him tons of fluids to flush the chemotherapy out. He is not experiencing any pain, just fatigue and loss of appetite. He's powering through his meals manfully whether they appeal to him or not, and the hospital has been great about sending up any foods that he thinks he would like.
Thanks so much to all our friends and family for the outpouring of support. It means the world to Leif and he feels so grateful for all your help, kind words, hugs real and vitual, calls, emails, and good energy.
Posted by Becky
The weekend doctor, Dr. Keating, came by this morning. They are discontinuting the Cytoxin (cyclophosphamide) today and starting him up on doxorubicin and vincristine, the second part of this cycle's chemotherapy regimen. The doxorubicin is a 48-hour infusion, and once that's complete, we'll be able to leave the hospital, so we should be going home on Monday.
His heart test results look really good - thank you Ultimate Frisbee - and his blood test results are looking a little bit better every day. One concerin is that if his uric acid levels rise too high he can get kidney damage; so they are giving him allopurinol for that. So far his uric acid levels are not rising. His white blood cell count was 130 when he came in, and now is down to 106, so that is going in the right direction. His platelets are a bit down and he's a bit anemic, both of which are expected, and not too bad. A transfusion is likely at some point in the future to deal with that. His fluid levels are stable; he's peeing out slightly more than he's drinking, which is a good thing. His legs are somewhat swollen because they give him tons of fluids to flush the chemotherapy out. He is not experiencing any pain, just fatigue and loss of appetite. He's powering through his meals manfully whether they appeal to him or not, and the hospital has been great about sending up any foods that he thinks he would like.
Thanks so much to all our friends and family for the outpouring of support. It means the world to Leif and he feels so grateful for all your help, kind words, hugs real and vitual, calls, emails, and good energy.
Posted by Becky
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