Waiting a Bit

Today, Ed was scheduled for his next chemo.  The blood/lab numbers were a little dicey last time (two weeks ago), so we were particularly concerned about the lab numbers the week following.  And those, to our surprise, were way up.  White blood cells, platelets, hemoglobin, hematocrit: all doing very well, normal or close to normal.  So, we didn't have the labs done in Point Roberts yesterday, figuring that they were bound to be okay.  Thus, we drove down this morning, expecting to have this week's blood draw for the labs done at the infusion center.  And they did them, but the neutrophil number (part of the white blood cell count) was surprisingly low; lower than the protocol allows.  That is, if it's that low, they don't do chemo but wait for it to come back some.  Ed's oncologist could override that decision (and might have done so if he had been in town today, but he wasn't), but the oncologist covering for Ed's oncologist was not willing to, so chemo was cancelled.  (My guess is that the oncologists are pretty loose about the protocol for their own patients, but more likely to stick with the protocol with somebody else's patients.)

So there we were: rejected for chemotherapy.  It was hard to know whether one should feel that is a good thing or a bad thing.  It seemed to me that it might be time for a little break in this every two week toxicity; and, yet, I'm supposed to be thinking that it's doing some good every time it's given and that to miss it would be a loss.  Well, it doesn't really matter what either of us feels or thinks because it was postponed until next week anyway, and Ed is otherwise feeling his normal self.  So that's that.  However, an unnecessary drive to Bellingham and back is never a pleasure and we failed to find some way to rescue it.

We went to Trader Joe's and I picked up a new light bulb for my sewing machine, but that was it, and then we drove home.  Where...we found that the carpet guy had come and laid the living room carpet.  The rest will be done by Thursday afternoon, he thinks.  So something got done today.  And Ed will be doing tile grouting tomorrow, without the benefits of 5FU coursing through his veins.