Quick update on yesterday's third chemo session: five hours + the additional 46 hours with the 5FU infusion pump (that would be the same infusion pump that the FDA this past week decided it needed to oversee more closely because of defective manufacture: glad to see they've finally decided to look into the matter; would prefer it if they'd looked into it a little sooner and had the matter resolved by now).
The five hours pass quickly and uneventfully. He takes his $150 dollar anti-nausea pill before it starts (and one each the following 2 days). They do a quick CBC blood draw to make sure that he has enough white blood cells to tolerate chemotherapy. His red cell counts are good, but because his white blood cell count was low, we got into a discussion with this session's nurse, Mandi, about the levels and their implications. At 1.5 for the neutrophil count, they need a specific physician order to proceed; at 1.0, they cannot give the infusion. They can give you something that works to whip up the excitement level in your bone marrow so that the neutrophil count goes up over a few days. Or, they can just postpone the chemo for a week or so and see how your bone marrow does on its own. 'It's all trial and error,' says Mandi. And although I know that is true, I am not all that excited to hear it.
But, his neutrophils are 1.7, so the oncologist doesn't even have to be involved with the decision and the drips begin. And after five hours, they end. This time, unlike last time, but like the first time, Ed is not anxious to do the driving himself. I drive us home where we are greeted by a lovely lentil stew that has been slowly getting itself together in the crock pot. I would think that the infusion centers might think about giving out crock pot recipe books to their clientele. I mean, who really feels like cooking dinner after a long day at the infusion center, but why not have dinner cook itself while you're gone?
Today, Ed is tired, maybe from the chemo and maybe because he didn't sleep very well last night. In any case, this afternoon he did go over to the Orchard House to do a little cutting of trim. And we'll have a long movie tonight. And the tingling and cold fingers are with us. But nothing else. So that's all to the good.
