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Sunday, July 5, 1998Things did not go exactly as planned this week, which began when I went in to have my bloodwork done this past Wednesday. They have to test my blood prior to each chemo treatment to be sure I have enough white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets to withstand another round of chemo. Well, I wasn't too concerned about having a problem with this because, unlike many cancer patients, my pre-chemo blood counts were well within normal ranges. Also, I seemed to tolerate the chemo pretty well health-wise, so I just assumed my count would be fine. Well, turns out they took quite a hit from the chemo. My white blood cells were down from a count of 6.2 to 1.8. They need to be at least 2.0 for a chemo treatment, so the upshot was that my doc postponed my second treatment for a week, in hopes that my bone marrow will produce enough new cells this week to get my counts up again.
At first I found this a bit upsetting, because the doc told me originally that the most important thing about getting my treatments would be to keep them within 15 days of each other, since that is what makes them most effective. However, he said this sort of thing
"happens a lot" and that this one week delay between treatments one and two is standard procedure in this type of circumstance. If we continue to have a problem with my counts for future treatments, they will give me a drug called Neupogen, which causes your bone marrow to produce more white blood cells, and that should keep me on schedule from that point on. In the meantime, I was instructed to stay away from crowds and minimize contact with people to avoid catching anything since I don't have many white blood cells to fend off infections right now.The up side to all of this is A) I didn't have to have chemo this week, B) My chemo schedule has now changed by one week, so I will not have a chemo treatment on my birthday, as originally scheduled, and C) I will not have a chemo treatment scheduled for my trip to Provincetown, during the second week in August. So I'm looking at it as a blessing in disguise, in a way.
I've been feeling pretty well despite all this, which also made the low blood counts thing a surprise to me. One thing that did happen to me this weekend was that I took a new herbal supplement called "Lymphoplus" that was prescribed for me by Dr. Vreeland last
week. I just got it in the mail Friday morning, so I tried it for the first time then. I had already been taking over a dozen other supplements prescribed by him and my nutritionist without any trouble. Anyway, he had told me that this particular supplement might
cause me a few problems at first, like headaches, but that if I stuck with it, they would go away. Well, I took this thing Friday AM and within an hour I was felt downright sick. I had the headache but also a lot of weakness and feeling generally ill. This lasted all day Friday and into Saturday morning, when I still felt too weak to take my morning dog walk. Fortunately, by Saturday night I was feeling much better, and today (Sunday), I felt perfectly fine and had a full and active day. So, needless to say, I won't be taking THAT stuff again anytime soon! Things are tough enough when I'm feeling well, never mind when I'm feeling ill!The other new development that has occurred just in the last two days is that my hair has actually started falling out! I first noticed it Saturday AM when the shower drain filled up with hair. Then I noticed the sink full of hair after I brushed it. It's like I'm shedding as bad as my dog usually does! So on the 4th of July, my friend Lyn's cousin, Kurt, who is a hairdresser, obligingly gave me a really short haircut. Not an all over buzzcut or anything TOO radical, but shorter than I've had it in many years. I figure it's less mess to have short hair falling out, and my hair was getting really long. Now I'm having fun freaking out my friends by going "Hey, look!" and then pulling out a big hunk of hair. I think they're taking it rather well. My hair still looks pretty normal, but at this rate, by the end of the week, it won't! My hopes that my hair might just thin instead of completely fall out are looking pretty doubtful at this point! Ah well, I always toyed with the idea of shaving my head someday, so now's my chance.
Well, my second chemo treatment has been rescheduled for this Thursday at 11:30 AM, with my bloodwork occurring on Wednesday again as well. In the meantime, I'll be visualizing lots of healthy white blood cells getting cranked out by my bone marrow. I'm also hopeful that my new "CES" diet (see my previous status report for details!) prescribed by Dr. Vreeland last week will help with my counts. It's been nearly a week and I'm still sticking to the diet so I'm very proud of myself. I've also lost 5 additional pounds and had to go out and buy new pants today, since all mine are getting too big. I'm not worried about this at all since I'm eating very well and
feeling well.Stay tuned for more to come next week! Anyone want to start a betting pool on when I'll actually break down and shave my head?
Carpe Diem
9:45 PM
