I received my lab work results and the ANC has dropped down to 858 from last week’s score of 964.  Obviously this is in the wrong direction!  On the positive side, there is another count called an absolute phagocyte count and that looks reasonable.  However, this is not enough positive info in terms of my body recovering to start chemotherapy so I will hold off again for another week.  It’s a bit concerning but explains, once again, the fatigue and so forth.  The way I look at it though, as with everything else that’s transpired along this road, it’s all in God’s hands.  I have to give it up as usual.  Of course I have to do my part too.  There are no freebees.

If the ANC drops again next week then I’ll be more concerned and I think my doctors will be as well.  Then we have to start looking at other reasons for the drop.  At this point, however, we believe that I encountered a pretty strong virus not once but twice.  Even a healthy person’s ANC would take a hit, albeit not this hard, if they had to fight this off several times and the ANC can stay down for a bit.  We didn’t expect another drop necessarily.  I would’ve thought that after 5 weeks we’d be back in business!  Grrr.  What I am also keeping in mind is that the “standard of care” for my brain tumor is surgery/resection, radiation w/concurrent temodar followed by 6 months of chemo using Temodar.  I completed all of that like clockwork, not missing a single treatment of radiation or chemotherapy.  It wasn’t until cycle 8 or so that I started running into some issues with becoming sick.  The point is I feel good about completing the standard of care at least.  If this was going on in round 2 of chemo and I was having to pause treatment for a month or more, I’d be a lot more concerned I think.

That’s it for now.  Getting ready for the 4th of July!  It should be a great holiday. 

Happy 4th of July to all of you!

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