Posted by Becky
So today is a week of waiting while Leif heals up from Friday's surgery. The plan is to have the surgeon check the site on Monday morning, and if he gives the OK, admit Leif immediatly afterward and start chemo that afternoon. He'll be getting the same high Ara-C, Etoposide, and Rituxan regimen as last time. It's stressful to wait a week since he needs to get back on chemo pronto, but the surgeon was adamant about giving him time to heal at least until next Monday.
At yesterday's clinic visit, Leif's blood counts were down. This could be due to infection (although there are no other signs of that), the antibiotics he's taking, or the disease. They'll do another bone marrow biopsy next Tuesday after he's in the hospital. If they did a biopsy now, the results wouldn't be back by Monday anyway, so they will not hold off on chemo. In the meantime, he got some platelets today to help with clotting at his surgical site.
The other thing going on this week is getting as much of the pre-transplant workup done as possible, since we're not expecting any free time between this round of chemo and the transplant. This morning Leif got a dental exam and a pulmonary function test, both of which look okay, and got some paperwork out of the way. Tomorrow he's getting an ECG and chest Xray. He's also been getting Neupogen shots, to keep his neutrophil count up to prevent infection at the surgical site while it heals.
Our expectation is that Leif will be admitted to the hospital on Monday for chemo and recovery from that, which will take about six weeks, and then immediately begin the transplant process, which will take at least another four weeks.
So today is a week of waiting while Leif heals up from Friday's surgery. The plan is to have the surgeon check the site on Monday morning, and if he gives the OK, admit Leif immediatly afterward and start chemo that afternoon. He'll be getting the same high Ara-C, Etoposide, and Rituxan regimen as last time. It's stressful to wait a week since he needs to get back on chemo pronto, but the surgeon was adamant about giving him time to heal at least until next Monday.
At yesterday's clinic visit, Leif's blood counts were down. This could be due to infection (although there are no other signs of that), the antibiotics he's taking, or the disease. They'll do another bone marrow biopsy next Tuesday after he's in the hospital. If they did a biopsy now, the results wouldn't be back by Monday anyway, so they will not hold off on chemo. In the meantime, he got some platelets today to help with clotting at his surgical site.
The other thing going on this week is getting as much of the pre-transplant workup done as possible, since we're not expecting any free time between this round of chemo and the transplant. This morning Leif got a dental exam and a pulmonary function test, both of which look okay, and got some paperwork out of the way. Tomorrow he's getting an ECG and chest Xray. He's also been getting Neupogen shots, to keep his neutrophil count up to prevent infection at the surgical site while it heals.
Our expectation is that Leif will be admitted to the hospital on Monday for chemo and recovery from that, which will take about six weeks, and then immediately begin the transplant process, which will take at least another four weeks.
I hope all goes well tomorrow and on into this week of more chemo. One more rough chapter getting you closer to the goal.
ReplyDeleteThinking of you two today, and sending lots of love.
ReplyDeletePrue
One day at a time. Sending warmth and love.
ReplyDeleteMike