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Yesterday was CJ's regular weekly trip to the clinic for his chemo treatment. With an early morning appointment, this trip was shorter than the last. CJ's ANC was 300. For some perspective, a normal ANC is greater than 2500.

I've "borrowed" a paragraph from ViviAnne's blog that my niece, Stacey, put together explaining ANC. (Stace, I hope you don't mind!) Please see below:

ANC stands for Absolute Neutrophil Count and refers to the total number of neutrophil granulocytes present in the blood. Neutrophils serve as the major defense of the body against acute bacterial and certain fungal infections. Neutrophils usually constitute about 45 to 75% of all white blood cells in the bloodstream. When the neutrophil count falls below 1,000 cells per microliter of blood, the risk of infection increases somewhat; when it falls below 500 cells per microliter, the risk of infection increases greatly. Without the key defense provided by neutrophils, people have problems controlling infections and are at risk of serious complications.

With CJ's ANC so low, he is expected to be isolated from any exposure to bacteria, viruses, colds, infections. Obviously, this means that he is home-bound except for visits to the clinic or hospital.

Speaking of the hospital, after his chemo treatment on Monday, CJ was sent to Kosair for an ultrasound of his left arm. This was one last test to rule out a blood clot causing the pain and discomfort to his arm. Once the test was over, it was back home for more grilled cheese and a nap.


Ugh, One More Test, One More Trip to Kosair

Well, now it's Tuesday and we've received the ultrasound results - no blood clots - Yeah!!! But, when viewing the ultrasound, the docs couldn't see the end of the tubing on the port. So, you guessed it, one more trip to the hospital - this time for an xray. Sheree and CJ headed off this afternoon while Greg stayed home with Hunter.

As we've learned from Brent and Kristen, you just never know what ordeal you may have to go through when you show up at the clinic or the hospital. Once they arrived at the hospital, Sheree was told that they had to access CJ's port to run dye during the xray. Since they couldn't do that in the radiation department, they had to go across they street to the clinic and have them access his port. Then back to the hospital for the xray. Once the xray is over, it's back across the street to have the clinic remove the "straw" from the port. Poor CJ is suffering from joint pain in his legs as a side-effect of the chemo treatment so Sheree ended up carrying him back and forth! Next time we will know to find a wheel chair instead.

The result was good - the xray showed that the port was fine. Even better, no more shots of blood thinner!!! CJ isn't believing us yet. Every time someone walks into the house he thinks they're there to hold him down for his next shot. It breaks my heart to think of the torture that must be for him and the kids.

So unless something eventful happens over the next several days, we will probably have nothing much to report. He is not due for another treatment at the clinic until next Monday. They will do another lumbar puncture at that time and as always, will be checking his ANC. Here's hoping we will see his numbers come up!