Another Tuesday

Last Tuesday Everett's hemoglobin (red blood cells that contain iron and carry oxygen) was low and he was on the fence in needing a transfusion. But, since he had a reaction to the PEG chemo our doctor didn't want to give him something else that might cause his body to react in a negative way. So all week we watched him closely. And, we made it to the next Tuesday without having an extra visit to the hospital (which means no extra pokes and no reason for increased anxiety on Ev's part).

When we went into clinic our nurse and doctor thought that Ev looked pretty good and above all his energy level was very high, so we started guessing what his hgb was. We were off, Ev somehow seems to maintain a high energy level regardless of a low hgb (or a low ANC...as shown last month). So, two things came to mind... 1) Ev is strong and even an illness won't mess with his fun and 2) how the hell am I going to know when he needs more blood when he acts great all the time?!

Yes, I do look at his color to evaluate him, but that's not as simple as it seems...it's not consistent and the only time Ev really looks like he has color in his lips or face is 24-48 hrs. after a transfusion. Of course, I verbalized this to our doc and he reassured me in a rational way (which is pretty much all I accept when it comes to all of this...because telling me, "it's gonna be okay" or "you'll know" doesn't cut it).

So, Ev got his last spinal tap (at least for awhile) and a less intense chemo med in addition to his blood transfusion. We were there for awhile, but Ev got to sleep a little and Ben stopped by to hang out with us.

Ben is a great older brother...he squirted hand sanitizer on his hands and was ready to help and figure out the clinic. I had wanted him to come so he could see what his brother has to go through and to better understand why he is usually with family or friends on this day. I've told him that we try to have fun there, but really all of us can't wait until its our time to leave and as Ev says, "I'm all done." Ben didn't get the picture...he was stoked about the orange popsicles he got and he even raised the roof to the nurses during their meeting and had them all laughing. Oh well, it was worth a try.

Next tuesday will be an even longer day with more drugs (at least no spinal tap). And, this week Ev doesn't have to take any chemo meds at home and barely any other meds, it will be a nice break.

For those in tune with his ANC, it was 780 last week and 850 this week.