April 13, 2012

Quick Update

We just got back from our appointment up at LDS, so I thought I'd hurry and send out a quick update since our plans have now changed a bit.

Josh did some blood work and we meet with one of the transplant doctors, before we were going to move on to starting the shots for the collection process. When were about to leave the room and the doctor said that she wanted us to wait until she looked at his blood results before giving him the shot.....good thing she knows what she's doing!

We found out that Josh's platelets are REALLY low, so we aren't able to move forward until they figure out why they're low and how to fix it. On March 29th his count was at 99 and today they are at 51. I'm no doctor, but I've been going through this long enough to know that his counts are only suppose to go down after he has a round of chemotherapy (which its been almost two months now).....other than that they are either suppose to be on the rise or stay the same. His count at 99 was still on the low end but they were confident that they could work with it. They told us that the results from his heart test showed there was some fluid around his heart, but the EKG looked good and his pulmonary test was not all that great due to his asthma, his lungs (at one time) being filled with cancer and all the treatment he's been through, so when we do start the process, he will be working closely with a pulmonologist to make sure that there's no complication with his lungs. When they did the bone marrow test they collected an extra tube of blood that they are going to send off to test the chromosomes and do one other test. I'm really sorry, but for my life, I can not remember why they are testing the chromosomes and what the other test is that is being ran. It is really bothering me, so I am going to email our coordinator and hopefully she can tell me.

They won't move forward for several reasons, but the main two being that 1) With a number that low, they know that they won't be able to collect enough cells for both treatments 2) They don't want to collect bad cells, because if they were to put them back in him it would turn into Leukemia.

On Wednesday, all 8 of the transplant doctors will meet and make a plan of what to do with Josh next. They may treat him with another round of the ICE chemotherapy (the meds he got when he was hospitalized at IMC), thinking that maybe if they wipe out his platelets and give him the nuelasta shot (that makes his cells grow faster) they can catch his cells at a high point and start collecting then. They might have him do another PET scan (since it's been tow months since treatment) to see if things have shrunk, stayed the same or grown any. Even though the results came back normal, they may repeat his bone marrow test.....just to cover all there bases before making a plan and send us down that road.

We now go back for more blood work (to see where his platelets sit 1 week later) and to meet with the doctors to see what answers they have for us on the 20th. Until then.....we again thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the love and support!!!!


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