Tuesday....May 26th....2009

Quite another day today....

Linda actually talked to her doctor last night ..he was very concerned about her "numbers" (ie. blood counts)...he wanted to see her today prior to the transfusions....

So in we went.....

He was very much scratching his head regarding the numbers....the platelet counts had been consistent all the way along....even rising a bit less than two weeks ago....and the red blood cell counts had been acceptable. Why both had "tanked" was beyond his understanding. The good news is that the white blood cells (immune system) had remained OK.

Anyway, the only answer was that the bone marrow had had enough and stopped producing the cells....which means a change in direction. Linda's chemo (day 1 of cycle 6) this Thursday has been cancelled and scheduled a week later...this allows for a monitoring of the counts and allowing the transfusions to take hold. So Linda will go into the Cancer Center Thursday but only for tests. She also received another Procrit shot today to stimulate red blood cell production. The chemo session in a little over a week will be reduced in size and amount because of this significant "reaction?". The Oncologist believes this is the responsible action to take and does not believe it will "compromise" Linda's "plan of action"

We had already been discussing using Avastin in the followup to the 6 cycles Linda is now in...but with her blood pressure soaring and pulse rising (I forgot to mention that too)....a reevaluation may take place at the end of the cycles....her internist may become involved again to work on the pressure and pulse...Avastin does create those symptoms.

That's about what we remember....there was a lot of information exchanged in a short period of time.

Linda then went to the hospital infusion center and got her two units of red blood cells....that took most of the rest of the day....hopefully she will regain her energy....stop the "bleed" episodes (with the platlets yesterday)...and slow her pulse and pressure.....the pressure was better later in the day.

That's about it....tomorrow we rest.....more cruise pictures below to prove we still did have an incredible time...all in all......