An Interesting Week

I have had several days since last Friday where I was very achy and low on energy.  On Sunday I realized I was running a low grade fever (99's) and that I felt worse in the evenings.  This is a pattern that scares me because it is what I had last September when the leukemia returned.  On Tuesday Mom & I went up to Richmond for clinic.  My platelets were 76! My Hgb dropped to 8.0 and my WBCs were slightly up to 0.6.  I met with the doctor and they want to hold off on my next round of chemo a few days to see if my counts recover a little more.  He didn't have much to say about the aches and fevers....

We went home and that evening my temperature climbed to almost 101.  So I had to call in to clinic.  Luckily Tylenol brought the fever down and I did not have to go to the local ER.  We did, however, have to report back to clinic on Wednesday morning.  With the icy roads, Brant took the day off so he could be with me.  They did all sorts of cultures on me checking for an infection.  My platelets were at 96 so they are going crazy.  My HgB dropped to 7.6 so I got a transfusion of blood.  And those stubborn WBCs were back down to 0.5.  Not much to do but wait and see if the cultures grow anything so we headed back home.

Thursday was an achy day but my fever was not as high.  Friday was a good day and my fever didn't start until 7pm and went down on it's own.  Today has been another achy day but not much fever.  We were up in Richmond for Chris' volleyball tournament and I got my labs checked.  My platelets were 93 - down slightly but still up there.  My Hgb went to 9.1 after that transfusion on Wed. and my WBCs were up to 0.7.  None of the cultures came back positive so no viral or bacterial infections that they could detect.

So I don't know what to think.  There are good and bad things going on at the same time. I do miss the energy that I seemed to have thru January and February.  I go back to clinic on Tuesday and will likely start my week of Vidaza chemo then.  I think the plan is to skip doing a DLI this month and to then see where I am at after my next biopsy in about a month. 

Brant and the kids have been so great as I have been spending more time on the sofa and have stolen Katie's electric blanket.  Max the cat really likes it too.  I enjoy being able to see the kids off to school in the morning and having dinner together most nights.  So even though I don't feel my best, I still love being home.