Dad's bloodcounts have dropped to next to nothing as expected. He has virtually no white cells left and his platelets are low. They gave him platelets yesterday and they keep his red cells up to a decent level with transfusions as needed. They take blood samples daily to keep on top of his counts and give him what he needs.
As of yesterday, his weight was down to 217 from 270 a month or two ago. Becky thinks he looks skinny, but she sees him everyday. I think he just looks like dad at his normal weight. I don't think anyone else would think much of his weight loss, but too much more and he might start looking thin... I think he's started losing some hair, but since we shaved his head it's a bit harder to tell. I won't see him until he gets home since I have another head cold and I'll be out of town next weekend. I'm not looking forward to seeing him without eyebrows. That's always the telltale cancer patient sign, and it's yucky looking. I might bring an eyebrow pencil and draw them in for him!
Great news - his spinal fluid came back clear of cancer which is great. He'll still get 5 more lumbar punctures with chemo to ensure it stays that way. He has gotten a nasty spinal headache that hurts every time he stands up. That's from the spinal fluid leaking out where they punctured him. It takes days to weeks for that to heal and the headache to go away. By that time, he'll have another puncture. Not great, but he takes pain meds when he needs to. Also, the Philadelphia chromosome test came back NEGATIVE! Yippee! This greatly reduces any need for a bone marrow transplant.
He'll be getting another bone marrow biopsy today which should tell them if the treatments are working and if he's in remission. Not everyone is by this point, but they should see a drastic reduction in the cancer cells. The results of that are usually in the same day I think, so we should have another update soon.
Jen
As of yesterday, his weight was down to 217 from 270 a month or two ago. Becky thinks he looks skinny, but she sees him everyday. I think he just looks like dad at his normal weight. I don't think anyone else would think much of his weight loss, but too much more and he might start looking thin... I think he's started losing some hair, but since we shaved his head it's a bit harder to tell. I won't see him until he gets home since I have another head cold and I'll be out of town next weekend. I'm not looking forward to seeing him without eyebrows. That's always the telltale cancer patient sign, and it's yucky looking. I might bring an eyebrow pencil and draw them in for him!
Great news - his spinal fluid came back clear of cancer which is great. He'll still get 5 more lumbar punctures with chemo to ensure it stays that way. He has gotten a nasty spinal headache that hurts every time he stands up. That's from the spinal fluid leaking out where they punctured him. It takes days to weeks for that to heal and the headache to go away. By that time, he'll have another puncture. Not great, but he takes pain meds when he needs to. Also, the Philadelphia chromosome test came back NEGATIVE! Yippee! This greatly reduces any need for a bone marrow transplant.
He'll be getting another bone marrow biopsy today which should tell them if the treatments are working and if he's in remission. Not everyone is by this point, but they should see a drastic reduction in the cancer cells. The results of that are usually in the same day I think, so we should have another update soon.
Jen
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