The unplanned hospital visit

We heard that the most difficult days are towards the end. Whoever said that is right.

The last chemo treatment (Doxorubicin) kicked Jordan's butt. He was admitted into the hospital late Wednesday night with a fever. This is standard protocol for chemotherapy patients as they don't have enough of the good blood to fight off infection on their own. Jordan has been through this 2 times prior so he is no stranger to the process. He had a 101.5 temp, which jumped to 103.5 on Friday. No signs of bacteria, however he is getting antibiotics regularly.

Ok, some science if you are interested:

Certain chemotherapies go right for the bone marrow and attack the good and the bad stuff. Doxorubicin is one of them. Bone marrow produces white blood cells that help your body fight off infection. Neutrophils are the most common type of white blood cells. The absolute neutrophil count (ANC) is an indicator on your body's ability to fight infections, especially bacteria infections. A healthy person has an ANC between 2,500 and 6,000. Jordan is currently at 20. He was at 0 when he was admitted.

The hospital draws blood at midnight each night. They do this at night as they prefer the patient to be asleep if they need a blood transfusion, based on the results. Jordan received a platelet transfusion last night. His platelets were at a 7, below the threshold of 10. Normal levels are between 150 and 500. His other blood counts are low (red blood, hemoglobin, etc) but not below the threshold.

He is tired. Understandably. Last Saturday, 24 hours following the Doxorubicin treatment, I gave him a shot in the arm of Nuelasta, which sort of counteracts the Doxorubicin's effects and brings back the life in the bone marrow. It's now just a waiting game for the Nuelasta to kick in. Once Jordan's ANC is showing signs of improvement and gets to a level of 100, we can dip. But then return for another inpatient treatment starting on Friday. We hope he can recover in time so the next two rounds (and final two rounds) don't get pushed back because of this unplanned visit.

His cousins paid a visit this morning, with a special delivery from "Starbees" which put a smile on his face. 90 minutes of cousin time = 3 hours of napping, but it was worth it.

Meanwhile, Dan is enjoying a well deserved boys weekend away and Sami is our perpetual popular orphan again, staying with a friend. Special call out to the "Mean Moms" and their awesome daughters for helping Sami feel supported and distracted as we get through some of these difficult days.

We hope to all be home together in the coming days.

With love and strength,

The CO Obies