Round 3

Round 3 of chemo did not go as expected. It didn't go at all. The routine at the infusion center is for Marc to check in, get weighed, and have blood drawn. They run three different checks on his blood. Two are done quickly right at the infusion center and the third goes up the hill to check potassium levels or something like that...You think I'd know that by now! If all the levels are within range, the chemo drugs are started.

This week, one of Marc's blood levels was off. His white count was low, but not too low for chemo. However his ability to produce white cells was low. It was 0.3 and it needed to be between 1.1 and 5.5. He also had two enzymes from his liver that were elevated. The nurse said that could be from any number of things.

We will go back Friday to check again. If that level has come up, he will have chemo on Friday. If not, we will go in on Monday morning and try again. If not, the next try will be Thursday.

This has been quite hard for Marc. He feels pretty good and had no outward physical indications that things were off. He asked the nurse what he could do to raise the level, and she said "nothing." That's probably the hardest of all for him!

We are supposed to leave for his parent's house on Monday. If he is able to have chemo on Monday, we can still go, but he will have his chemo bag attached and will be feeling extremely fatigued. If his blood levels are too low on Monday, we'll go and he'll be checked when we come back on Thursday.

I'm planning to leave Marc and Rose with his parents and go on to Port Townsend with my sister Donna for a bit of R&R. Their good news is that Dick's lymphoma was misdiagnosed. The specialist at Virginia Mason had special tests run on the tissue that was removed in Utah and concluded that there is no cancer! Yippee!!!

If you just read all that and wondered if we are abandoning poor Brett. No worries. He is leaving us to go to the beach with two friends. I told his friend's mom she was a brave woman to take three teenage boys to the beach for five days! She just laughed. They really are good kids and will have a blast.

More news Friday.