No chemo today...

Michael and I made our usual Friday trip to Syracuse but Michael was unable to receive chemo. Dr. Kennedy said that your platelet (red blood cell) count has to be at least 75 to receive chemo and Michael's was only 21. The good news is that the platelets he does have are large and healthy. So Michael just received his monthly IV antibiotic and the premeds that they had given him before the lab work had come back and that was it for today.

I was surprised that Michael's counts were so low since he was just coming off his 2 week break in treatments. And as it turns out, Dr. Kennedy was surprised also. She has a concern that Michael has developed a condition where the body produces antibodies that attack the healthy red blood cells. I guess only time will tell if that is the case or if he is just fighting an infection or such. I didn't ask a lot of questions since I won't worry about that specific condition unless Michael is diagnosed with it and then we will tackle it. I have enough "here and now" things to keep track of in my head without worrying about the "what ifs".

The staff of 5c couldn't believe that Michael was in the ER not once but twice this week. Michael told Dr. Kennedy that Daddy was thinking about putting him in a plastic bubble to protect him and Dr. Kennedy said that might not be a bad idea. She did tell me that we have to be watchful for any signs of internal bleeding (passing blood, severe stomach pains or headaches). Michael has quite a few dark bruises all over his body right now but that isn't anything new as he has been bruising very easily since he started chemo.

But the last couple of days he has also developed areas that look like rope burns and a whole bunch of pinpoint red dots. Dr. Kennedy said that these areas are capillaries under the skin bursting and are a side effect of the low blood count. He also had a slightly bloody nose the other day and today he had a hang nail that bled way more than a hang nail should bleed. Last night he fell asleep on the couch while we were getting dinner round 5 pm and slept until 7 am this morning. So I think it will be quiet activities (and NO running) until we can get those platelet counts back up. Please keep Michael in your thoughts and prayers, JoAnne