Monday, March 23, 2009

Day +4 Neutropenic

Doug is now officially neutropenic. WBC is 0.3 -- sounds kind of scary but that is expected and it will probably be zero by tomorrow. This means that if he gets an infection it would be dangerous as his body cannot fight it. In that case he would go on really strong IV meds and need lots of prayers! He is already on pills to hopefully prevent viral, bacterial, and fungal infections. This week will be the worst part and should get better after that.

We were in the clinic for 5 1/2 hours today. Doug needed an extra hour and a half for some magnesium. I always feel better after the docs and nurses assure us that Doug is "right on schedule, doing well".

He now has the mouth sores - looks bad but Doug says the pain is tolerable so far. He is only eating ice chips, jello and a little ice cream. I have to keep a log of what he eats now as well as all his meds.
It could be worse -- Doug gets a drug called Kytril that is preventing the chemo-induced nausea. So we are very thankful he doesn't have to experience that.


Neither of us is getting a lot of sleep but we are managing to rest during the day.
The report from Doug on how he is feeling: "Crappier than yesterday". We can do this.
Love to all.

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