Monday, April 2, 2012

2 months into maintenance...

Update after a 2 months of the pill form of chemo. 

I have begun the 2 year journey of this maintenance and I have to say, I'm getting back into life. I am currently on an every two week visit to COH. One week for IV form of chemo, 5 days of steroids and lab work to see my levels. The other week I get to go in and have labs drawn and I get to leave. Then the nurse calls me with the results. I'm calling it my "stick and run". 

After the first month of the recommended dose of chemo, my labs show that my liver was inflamed and that could cause damage. So my dosage was cut down by almost half. This the chemotherapy treatment for leukemia is really hard on the liver and I have had bouts of this throughout my first year. If the liver suffers too much damage, it could prevent me from being able to get the treatment needed if my cancer reoccurs. So for now, the doctor is going to be dialing in the dose so that I get the highest dose based on what my body can handle. Taking these pills every day are the key to keeping the leukemia in remission. The plan is for the dose to be gradually increased to see what is the best balance for me and my body. 

The latest news is.....

I have a new buddy................................................and mom has his sister
Luke






River





















They are toy size schnauzers and are 11 weeks old. (yes, their collars are cancer bracelets we wear on our wrists) This was something mom and I lots of spent time talking about while I was in treatment last year and we agreed once made it to maintenance and would have the time to spend with them, we would get a dog for each of us. Now the count in the house is 2 girls and 2 boys. They are inseparable and really should be called pete and repeat. Ü

Well that's about all the news this blog. Thank you for staying on this journey with me...

Until next time.  wait, current numbers below...

ANC: 2.2
WBC: 3.9
RBC:4.19
Hemoglobin: 13.9
Platelets: 170

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