October 31st

Hi

 

Tia is on her way home! 

 

She finished 5 days of high Ara-C, low Ara-C and etopaside late yesterday afternoon.  She handled the drugs remarkably well during her hospitalization, other than being physically fatigued. She also vacillated between being very lucid/sharp and being out-of-it and forgetful. I am trying to figure out in which state she was ordering all this new jewelry - hopefully the latter even though I am afraid it was the former.

 

The fact that she is now sharp mentally leads everyone to believe that any strange behavior she was exhibiting (like changing her voice mail to Birdie from Tia) was due to the fact that she was being affected by the pre-meds and the chemo and that we shouldn't read more in to it than that.

 

The chemo she is now taking will continue to work for the next week.  Unlike her last treatment (methotrexate), which had a rescue drug, these drugs stay in her system and continue to work. Therefore, her blood counts will be effected throughout the week. The drop started on Saturday as her WBC count dropped from above 8 to 6 to 3. We will go back to the City of Hope on Wednesday for some blood work, a shot of neuelasta (which will help the white blood cells rejuvenate) and probably a blood transfusion.  The thing to be most worried about is if she gets an infection. Therefore, if she gets a fever she will need to be readmitted.  

 

The plan is to monitor her this week at home (come visit if you are not sick, especially over the weekend as Ede and I will be in Iowa) and then at some point next week take another MRI.  Hopefully the MRI will show that this chemo has had an effect on the tumor's growth and we will then go back in to the hospital around the 14th for another week of chemo.

 

As always, thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

 

Jess, Tia and the girls