Disappointment!

So here's the short of it,
My platelet counts were too low for Chemo today.  I'm so disappointed.

And here's the long

Well today when my labs came back my platelet count was at  35. which is below the level I need to be able to tolerate the big drugs.  Dr. Schlabach said that my bone marrow is just saying "I just can't do any more."  Even with the weekly Procrit shots my bone marrow is just not able to step up the production of platelets.  Normal platelet counts are 150. - 450. If I get as low at 20. there is a possibility of spontaneous bleeding.  Right now, I have instructions not to handle any sharp implements.  Lori, my oncology nurse, told Alan that I couldn't vacuum or lift a skillet because you never knew if you might get a cut from these household implements!

My white counts are below normal as well, but they are just below normal levels  4.1  normal range 4.5 - 10.5.  Hemoglobin is also down. 9.4  normal range 11.0 - 18.0 - of course this helps explain the fatigue.  Another week will let everything get a little more normal. Here's a great link about low blood counts to explain all of these

So today I got another Procrit shot and my Herceptin.  Next week we will try again.  Even though Dr. Schlabach says I can't eat enough red meat toget my platelets up, Alan insisted that I eat some red meat, so we picked up Mom and went to Wendy's so I could get a chili.  I was more eager to get a salad, because I can have raw foods this week.  (I hope)

Pennie and Myra, Alan's sisters, will be here the end of this week.  Having my treatment postponed for a week makes it possible that I'll be able to visit with them.  Russ and Steve, my brothers, are coming up late the next week to do some more work on helping Mom close out Dad's accounts and help her with some transition kinds of things.  And having my treatment next week means I probably won't be able to have much time with them to be involved in those things.

So all in all, my blood counts have put me two weeks behind the originally proposed schedule for chemotherapy.  Of course, we knew going in that the proposed schedule could change.  I've done remarkably well so far.  I haven't had to be hospitalized, I haven't been in the pain that some people experience, and I have only one more Chemo treatment to go!