Low Counts . . . Again

11/14/12:  1:31 PM

We had a great weekend.  My family was in town to celebrate my parents (Dad and Step-mom) 25th wedding anniversary. We visited with my aunts whom I have not seen in seven years. We celebrated with a nice family supper.

mi famiglia. My dad and my aunts.

 

Last Thursday, Davis hit his knee pretty hard on a chair at Taekwondo. It bruised instantly. We didn't worry too much about it.  Over the next couple of days, I noticed little bruises on Davis's arms. I asked him from where they came, and he had no idea.

Monday night, Davis started complaining of a pain in his lungs. I was immediately concerned about a pulmonary embolism stemming from the horrible bruise on his leg. Kyle and I decided to call the hem/onc doctor on-call to make sure we weren't looking over any symptoms.  After explaining the symptoms (pain under the rib, difficulty taking deep breaths, sore rib cage), Dr. Herman felt that an embolism wasn't likely, but she did want us to check Davis's counts, since the bruises were numerous.

On Tuesday, Davis came home from school sick. I was at work, and Kyle was taking Annakate to a doctor's appointment in Effingham, so my mother-in-law saw to Davis. She picked him up from school and took him to get a CBC.  Within thirty minutes, Sarah Bush had notified St. Louis Children's who notified Kyle who notified me. Davis's counts were critically low. His ANC, which was over 2000 to weeks ago (over 1500 is healthy), was now 237. 

Side note: My mother-in-law, Marylee, is amazing. It is because of her (and my amazing husband among others) that I am able to teach again. She has watched Davis on numerous occasions when he has come home sick or stays home sick, and she is so willing to help out whenever needed. I am very grateful for the support we receive from everyone, and I am thankful to have such a caring family on which we can depend.

The clinic decided that Davis needed transfusions, which led us to St. Louis today. When Davis and I arrived, another CBC was done. His counts have dropped even more since yesterday. Davis will receive almost two pints of red blood cells and nearly a pint of platelets today. He has to be pre-treated (Benadryl drip) before his platelets because he had an anaphylatic reaction a couple of times ago.  We are hoping that these transfusions will be what is needed to boost his bone marrow until it starts working for itself again.

Causes? If you remember, Davis had low counts for nearly a month about a month ago. It is likely that the doses of oral chemo, 6MP and methotrexate, he is receiving is too strong for his body to handle. The plan for now is that Davis will hold off of oral chemo until his counts improve and recover, and then he will be given his oral chemo at 1/2 dose rate. The oncologists will slowly increase the amounts until they found a tolerable level for Davis. Caroline, the PN whom I met with today, believes that a virus is probably not plausible now. She did mention that there is always a concern for relapse with persistent low counts, but there are no blasts in the blood to indicate that. Although not comforting, her best answer to whether or not his low counts could be related to a relapse was, "If it happens, it happens. Eventually, a relapse will show itself." 

I am confident that this is not a relapse. I pray against it every night - all the time. I serve a prayer-answering God, and I am not interested in doubting Him now.  Low counts are just the bumps in the road on this cancer journey. An inconvenience, that's all.

 

With that being said, we sure love and appreciate your prayers. Sometimes I feel like these little hiccups are wake-up calls or slaps in the face to remind us (my family) that we are not "normal" and although, we have fallen into a "normal" routine, we still have a very special set of circumstances we must endure every day. I think these moments help me to not forgot what we have been through and how far we have come. I never want to forget or belittle how hard my son has fought to stay alive, or how much my family has suffered and grown because of cancer. Spending an entire day in the chemo lounge helps me to remember.

Davis's spinal and port chemo have been postponed for now. His next appointment will be on November 30. The hope is that the two-week break will give his counts time to recover. His oral chemo is postponed until his counts bounce back. The only meds that he will be on for the next week will be his side effects meds.

We will continue to pray for a count jump and protection against a relapse as he enjoys the break in taking medicines.

We will keep you posted.