Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Counts still low; still on chemo hold

Doug is still on hold from his Revlimid because of low blood counts. His counts are better but not good enough. The oncologist wants his ANC (absolute neutrophil count) to be 2 before starting back, and it is 1.7. I'm not worried about the low counts; I know they will come up. He's been on hold now for 14 days, the longest time ever since he relapsed. He gets another blood test tomorrow. Since the Revlimid is what is keeping Doug in remission, I'm antsy for him to start back on it.

His left hand is much better now, but still a bit tender. We saw the orthopod's P.A. today. She says arthritis of the CMC (carpal/metacarpal joint) usually waxes and wanes. Sometimes just resting the joint by using the brace and taking ibuprofen is all that's needed. If it keeps recurring, a steroid injection into the joint might be necessary; the ortho doc can do that. Worse case scenario would be hand surgery, and that would require a physician who specializes in that. Since it is much better, we don't plan on doing anything. Arthritis can be really painful but it's not high on our worry list now.

Doug is continuing to walk without pain; we are so grateful to God. We have planned a trip back to Nebraska in early October to visit Doug's mom.

"The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning."  Lamentations 3:22-23 

1 comment:

Kristin said...

We'd love to see you if you have time!!!!