ANC falling

Doug had his blood draw yesterday. His ANC fell from two weeks ago. It was 2.1; now is 1.2 (or 1,200). The oncologist is changing Doug from 5 mg. Revlimid every day to 5 mg. every other day. He will get a CBC every week for a while. I think this is a good strategy. We want to keep him on Revlimid - it has been a good drug for Doug. He can tolerate it with minimal side effects (except for the white count), and it is keeping him in remission.

Although the ANC is low, it is not yet dangerously low, as far as susceptibility to infections. Anything below 500 is considered neutropenic, and precautions would need to be taken. We want to avoid that.

Meanwhile Doug feels good. Our lifestyle has not been altered; we are having friends over for dinner Saturday.

Love to all.

^“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 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) is a measure of the number of neutrophil granulocytes^[1] (also known as polymorphonuclear cells, PMN's, polys, granulocytes, segmented neutrophils or segs) present in the blood. Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell that fights against infection.

The ANC is calculated from measurements of the total number of white blood cells (WBC), usually based on the combined percentage of mature neutrophils (sometimes called "segs," or segmented cells) and bands, which are immature neutrophils.

A normal ANC is above 1,500 cells per microliter. An ANC less than 500 cells/µL is defined as neutropenia and significantly increases the risk of infection. Neutropenia is the condition of a low ANC, and the most common condition where an ANC would be measured is in the setting of chemotherapy for cancer.