Well, as the old saying goes 'things never go quite as planned' Today I had my infusion therapy and the good new is that it only took 6 hours this time, the bad news is that the white count is not dropping, and the red count is not going up. My white is at 787,000, which is the highest it has been, and my red count has dropped back to 16, which was where it was when I went in the hospital for the transfusion. It appears the Rituxan is not lowering the white cells they way it should.
So the latest plan is that they will put me back in the hospital tomorrow (after they find the correct blood), and transfuse me with 3 units of blood (last time it was two units). It is sort of an out-patient, in the hospital. They will keep me only as long as it takes to do the transfusion. So probably about 10 hours or so. They will call me tomorrow when they have the blood and the bed is ready. Hopefully this will take care of the fatigue that I am suffering when I do the least bit of activity. Everyone tells me that I ' look good' and I am not nearly as pale as I was when I went in the hospital the last time.
It has also been decided that because the Rituxan is not working the way it should, we will begin a full-blown chemotherapy on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. (probably about 4-5 hours) each treatment. This protocol, because it is more invasive, will knock the white count down to VERY low levels and this of course opens the doors for potential infections.
The main side affect of this treatment is fatigue, which I have already experienced.
All for now
Terry
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