The Week Thus Far

I've been meaning to write up the rest of the story of my first trip to the vet with Hugh, but I've been feeling under the weather the last couple of days with cold symptoms. I've been trying to head them off at the pass because the last thing I want to do is to infect David. A bad cold would likely send him to the hospital.

So far it started with a sore throat, now cold symptoms like sneezing and coughing. I hope it doesn't progress to the flu.

On Monday the bloodwork showed David's counts to be far below safe levels for treatment. Tuesday a meeting was called to reassess his overall situation and to develop new strategy, because the cancer is by all accounts spreading but his current condition makes radiation unsafe. David's pain levels are increasing, and the x-ray of his leg last week confirmed it to be a new area of concern. Chemo was scheduled right after the meeting. Yesterday David spent most of the day in the hospital getting a transfusion of two units of blood, a unit of platelets, followed by growth factor injections. Today it was back to the clinic for two more injections. In the morning we are due to return to the clinic for more bloodwork to see if it's safe for radiation to resume on Monday. I hope so, because our available options are narrowing (no, disappearing) with the dropping blood counts.

Low blood counts spell trouble:

1. Chemotherapy is unsafe
2. Radiation is unsafe
3. Disqualification from clinical trials

Because David's blood counts can't seem to be raised naturally by his body (because the cancer is attacking bone marrow), the only other means to boost them is artificially, with blood transfusions and growth factor injections. But those can only do so much, the rest is up to his body.

This is a critical time for us. It's hard for me to post these updates... writing ones like this make me tear up at the keyboard, but I try and write while he's resting and be with him when he's awake. I feel it's the best way to spend as much quality time with David as I can while keeping people updated. Thanks for tuning in.