1st week doctor visit after Chemo #2

Holly went back in to have her levels checked this past Monday, Feb 17th.  Her WBC (white blood cell) count was low, but her ANC count (better measurement of immunity) was within normal range.  Since this was the second cycle and her counts were similar to the same time after the first cycle, we could establish a pattern of when and how she will react to chemo.  This helps a great deal so that she’ll know when she’ll feel bad, when she can go out and when she needs to stay in.  So far things really are going much better than expected, treatments will get a little more harsh each time, but she’s off to a very good start. They will be scheduling a PET scan the end of next week and we should get results back on Monday March 3rd, it’s just a progress check, they are still expecting for her to have 6 to 8 chemo sessions.

This is what her pattern looks like it’ll be, at least for now, Day 1 is chemo day on a Monday:

Her remaining chemo days are: March 3rd, March 24th, April 14th, May 5th.  If 8 cycles are needed: May 26th and June 16th.

Day 1-3 (Mon-Wed): ANC is up and she feels pretty good these days, just a little tired and food tastes and smells weird
Day 4-8 (Thu-Mon): ANC is up, but these are her worst days as far as how she feels
Day 9-12 (Tue-Fri): ANC is up, these are her best days because her ANC is up and she feels good
Day 13-19 (Sat-Fri): ANC is rock bottom but she feels ok, just a little tired (and isolated)
Day 20-21 (Sat-Sun): ANC is back up and she feels good

The highlights since the last blog are that Holly got to see her grandbabies the other weekend.  It had been about a month where she was used to seeing them several times every week. She said it was wonderful getting all her baby hugs!  Not only was she able to see her grandbabies, but we were also lucky to have our baby (Julia) come home from UT last weekend.  It had also been a very long month since the last time she was home.  We enjoyed every minute of it, and Holly got lots of hugs and kisses, almost enough to last another month before she sees her again.

Note, we thought there would be a PET scan this week, but they said they won't do it until after the 4th treatment, and Holly is scheduled to do between 6 to 8 sessions of chemo.