11/23/08 - Disappointed

We got Brinley's counts today. Her ANC is 300, so she can't get her next dose of chemo tomorrow. I will talk to clinic tomorrow, because I'm not sure why she crashed so quickly and what that means for the dosage she gets next time. I'm disappointed to have her treatment pushed back again. What will happen now is she will be given four more days to get her counts up. If she doesn't get up to a certain point (I'm not sure what her ANC has to be) she will go in on Friday and get only vincristine and not methotrexate. Vincristine doesn't affect your counts, only the methotrexate. She will have to wait on the methotrexate until her ANC goes up.

That means she is neutropenic again and we will be home all week. We will see about Thanksgiving, there will be 20+ people at Melanie's, a frenzy for germs. Melanie said she would just spread the word to let her know if there are any colds coming, and one of us will just keep Brinley home if anyone is sick. I really wanted to have a worry-free week for Thanksgiving, but it's not working out that way, but then when do things work out just how you want? Her red count was also lower than last time, close to transfusion, but not quite. She looks really pale to us, so I'll watch her this week for energy level. Now that she in neutropenic again, I get very nervous about infections. She woke up at 1 last night crying "ow" but couldn't pinpoint anything that hurt. She wouldn't go back to sleep, we had to finally give her benadryl to help her sleep. Once she was out of her bed, she didn't seem to be in pain, but the last couple days she has been pointing to her tongue saying ouch, and every diaper change she cries that it hurts. I can't see anything, so it is driving me crazy! I wish I knew if there was something there that I just can't see and she really is in pain, or if she is just saying ouch to some other sensation. I suppose if she is getting any mouth sores, they will show up soon.

She is, however, still silly and happy for the most part, so that is good news. We had a great weekend and enjoyed the time together. Let's hope she bounces back with her counts, so we can get this dreadful chemo over with!