Transfusions and "rest" ...

Ben has had more chemo, again, and 3 transfusions since our last entry. On Friday, November 10th, he needed red blood cells and platelets. Since his counts were going to go down in the next couple of weeks, the doctors decided to give him a transfusion before he left the hospital. This will keep his hemoglobin and platelets at an acceptable level. His white blood count is expected to drop, which it has, and to bring those counts back up I am giving him injections of a drug called GCSF. It is rather expensive as only 5 seringes of 0.45ml each, costs $560 CAN. To give you an idea, 0.45ml is about one quarter of a teaspoon. He will be receiving these injections once a day for about 10 days or more, to bring up his white blood cell count. To put it into perspective, a normal person has between 600 and 1600 white blood cells when counted under the microscope. Ben currently has 30. These white blood cells fight off

any infections. Ben has no defense at the moment which is why he cannot go out where there are many people and we must wash our hands every time we come in from outside.

Ben’s platelet count is also down. On Wednesday, November 15th, he had only 6 platelets. A normal person would have between 180 and 440. Platelets help in the clotting process if you were to cut yourself. Ben gets easily bruised and can lose lots of blood if he were to cut himself, as there are not enough platelets to stop the bleeding. He received a second platelet transfusion on the 15th. That should bring his platelet count up to 45 or so. His body should produce more platelets as the effects of the last chemo round wears off. Went returned to the hospital to check counts on the 17th. The counts were still low.

Ben has now completed the erst three months of intense chemo. The doctors are now deciding the next phase in his treatment. More intense chemo will be coming or possibly a bone marrow transplant(?). He is now given 3 weeks to rest from the eff

ects and stay at home for a change. He is very likely to get a fever from his low blood counts, therefore, we may be in the hospital for a few days at a time for antibiotics. We go back Monday, November 20th, to draw more blood and check counts to make sure things are back on the rise. If not, he will receive another transfusion of either red blood cells or platelets.

Ben can’t wait until his counts go up so he can go out to a movie. He wants to see “Flushed Away” and “Happy Feet”. It’ll be such a nice change to be in public and see a movie!