I'll start by stating what Dr. Khan told us this morning. "The turn around has begun." Kev's white cells are.... way up from the day before. They went from .54 to nearly normal, which is around 7. His blood pressure is great and sugar is good, all vital signsare normal. How great is that! The plan is no more chemo until after Thanksgiving. Kev will be able to enjoy Turkey day. Then round three starts with a break until after Christmas. This schedule was designed bu the Doctors so Kev would be well enough to enjoy the Holidays. They are unbelievable!

I must say Kev is fighting this harder than a Pitbull at Michael Vick's house. Once he gets stronger and starts eating more, he can go home. Perhaps ealy next week, but we're not going to rush anything.

All together, let's cross our fingers. Another day of good news... we can deal with that!

Thanks,
Dad

updates

Kev is still real down and out! He is now getting extremely restless, which is a terrible when combined with weakness. He lays in bed like a turtle on his back just waiting to fall asleep. Soon, real soon the counts should start climbing. Ma bagged work again to apply some TLC to the list of drugs. Dr. Khan is a bit surprised he is as low as he is at the moment, but it's not uncommon due to the amount and strength of chemo he took last week. To help speed things up they gave him some Magnesium (the fourth most abundant mineral in the body. Only 1% of magnesium is found in blood, but the body works very hard to keep blood levels of magnesium constant. It helps maintain normal muscle and nerve function, keeps heart rhythm steady, and supports a healthy immune system),Potassium (an element (and an electrolyte) that's essential for the body's growth and maintenance. It's necessary to keep a normal water balance between the cells and body fluids. A potassium deficiency is due to increased urinary loss.) and some platelets.

He has been too weak to eat so a nutritionist stop by and recommended some nutrition.. who would have thought. So before bed they strung up a bag of nutrition that looked like watered-down creamy mashed potatoes and Kev feasted. Tomorrow we will attempt to move Kev into a chair for a bit to get his equilibrium thinking more vertical. For the love of pete, keep'm crossed for the whites to rise up!!

still way down

Kev is still very very weak and tired. He has been in the bed now for 3 days straight. He hasn't had an opportunity to walk or even sit up for lengthy period of time. His fever last night caused some concern from Dr. Khan, who expressed it is too risky to send Kev home any time soon. His fever is not necessarily a bad thing...

consider:

currently Kev is neutropenic, meaning his white blood cells (among other things) are very low, we all know that white blood cells attack bacteria and other foreign agents in the body, as well as any infection. Without these whites, the only other line of defense the body has is to increase the temperature. In Kev's case fevers are common because the tumors he has remaining, be it large or small, are foreigners to the body. Doctors normally let it ride since the fever isn't accompanied by any pain and what not.

Tomorrow should be the beginning of an upswing in whites. Once he starts feeling better he will be back on the regimented walking and sitting. He was a bit battled today, not liking the fact he is bed ridden and wanting the legs to get back to normal. Even the best fighters take a few cracks to the chin and even get knocked down, but I assure you, Kev will be back up and ready the fight real soon!

Neutropenia

Kev was at rock bottom today with the white count and so was his energy level. He woke up groggy with no appetite. Kev's one and only Mamma again saved the day by blowing off work (jobs are highly overrated) to keep him going. She performed her now famous massage and layered the blankets on. Kev had pretty extensive shivers for a good half hour, but no fever? All was well after a bit.

He was able to finally chow down three cups of crushed ice, some chicken broth, and although he rarely requests food anymore the aroma gets him. He had some of Ma's cheesesteak and a bit of a meatball sub. Russo was here too, but he ate his too fast to share.

Kev has been very weak, but the forecast for weeks end should be good. He did spike a small fever before bed, but nothing to brag about. Tomorrow, with luck, we walk the halls. keep'm crossed!

deja vu

Today was supposed to be a good day! The first of a long 10 day stint home with family, BUT we woke up, made Kev scrambled eggs and toast and headed off to GMC for the neupogen shot... it was all down hill from there. From either the car ride or my delightful scrambled eggs (which I doubt) Kev became very ill for about 4 hours. A lot of (not so bright) people felt it would help the situation by looking at Kev (with a just smelled fart look) and tell him how awful he looked. Now Kev was reassured that he feels and looks terrible! It was a good opportunity to use the line, "he has cancer, whats your excuse" but we decided it was better to make friends than enemies.

Kev is also zeroing in on neutropenia, we left on Saturday with a count of 3500 and they measured today a count of 590. I'm not a doctor, but I know math... thats a big drop in a short amount of time. He should be neutropenic tomorrow and wednesday, then back up by Thursday or Friday.

Kev fought really, really, really hard today!! A normal person may have broken down or have wanted to give up, but Kev merely muttered an occasional, "this sucks" and continued to look ahead. He has now completed 50% of his treatment, but continues to give 100% in effort. Once he reaches his normal 110%, he'll be well on his way to Bora Bora, or (dad said it best) some other place we never heard of.

down and out!

Kev is home! He came home yesterday, just barely. Dr. Larry left it up to Kev if he was ready to go home. He woke up a little nauseous, so they poked him with an IV Adovan, which just knocks him out. His vitals are good, but there is a certain element of the blood that is low, along with his protein.

Fluids this trip home are very important! All the Chemo he has consumed is really taking a toll on his kidneys and the only way to negate damage is to flush the buggers with a whole lot of fluid. Along with the prescribed fluid a lot of meds came too, old ones and new ones. These Docs really have it all covered... If Kev mentions he has a pain in his little left toe, they have something for that. We, as a family, have become quite the pharmacists ourselves.

Kev woke up today still feeling nauseous, and everything he tried to put in just when down then came back out! We gave a quick call to the doctors who prescribed this with that and some of those. After a little nap and some hard work from Kev, Mom, and Dad, he was feeling pretty O.K. by days end. Tomorrow is back to GMC for a shot and some blood work, then back home. Should be a good day.