maintenance

All posts tagged maintenance

Getting Ready for England

Posted by tokenhippygirl on December 8, 2010
Posted in: Family & Friends, Leukemia, Travel. Tagged: , , , , . 5 comments

Just got a call from my doc’s office with the numbers from the blood draw yesterday.  All were really good, except my white count was 3.2.  That number isn’t bad at all in and of itself, but it puts it in the range where my maintenance dose is reduced to half.  This has happened a couple of times before, which is why my blood is monitored every week… if my white count falls into a certain range it’s an automatic reduction.  Anyway…. my doc has decided to leave me at the half dose during the time I’m in England, since this reduction in white count has happened before.  This makes it easier for us while we are there so we don’t have to worry about whether the counts are over that reduction edge.  The protocol calls for reduction to half anyway if this happens a few times.  My guess though is that when we return he will probably increase me to the full dose again.  I’ll also be on another 15 day round of ATRA starting the day after we get back.  But that’s then… for now we are getting it all ready.  We will go in today so I can get the shot and also will be picking up all the meds (the shot meds for the month, enough pills for the month, and then refills of other meds for me to take in case I need them… ambien, etc.).

I’m starting to get excited….. we are actually going to be able to go.  I’m actually going to be able to go!!!  Woo Hoo!!!  I’m crying right now… life is so beautiful!!

Maintenance

Posted by tokenhippygirl on October 20, 2010
Posted in: Eats, Family & Friends. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Hey all… been a few days.  Again.  We had a busy weekend, a lay low day on Monday (Karen had to work, but we didn’t go anywhere), went to get some new glasses ordered for Karen yesterday and stopped off at the park to take the dogs for a walk on the way home, and now today we are going in for my first shot and to pick up my meds and do my blood draw.

Last weekend… had a great weekend.  Went to a family dinner at Mom and Don’s place on Saturday.  It was great seeing everyone.  Really good.  Had some tasty vittles as well.  Then Sunday we went to Chris and Jessica’s wedding.  It was great seeing so many people from the Juvenile Department.  I miss them and it’s always so nice to spend time with them.  They rock.  The wedding was nice as well.  Casual, comfortable, and laid back.  Nice.  Congratulations Chris and Jessica!

Maintenance starts today.  Two years of it, but hey… I get to get back to more of a normal life.  That’s the best part.  I will have a shot every Wednesday that we have to go to the clinic for and a med I’ll be taking every day.  Then there’s the ATRA that I will take for 15 days every three months.  Not too bad really.  We can work around it.  We picked Wednesdays for the shot so that we could go away for a long weekend if we wanted to and it wouldn’t interfere.  We are now working with Nancy to try and get it squared away for our planned trip to England over Christmas.  We already had our tickets before this all started and now are trying to work it out so that I can get my shot from an oncology department either in Lancaster or close to it.  Go Nancy!

I have an appointment with an ear, nose, and throat doctor on Friday.  My oncologist referred me.  I have this itchy throat that won’t quite go away.  Some days are better than others, but it’s annoying.  It makes me cough… sometimes so hard I start gagging.  Though I have a really sensitive gag reflex so it doesn’t take much.  But anyway… Dr. Bigler didn’t see anything in my throat, but wanted me to see someone who could look a little bit more.  They may put a little camera down my throat… yuck.  We shall see on Friday.  I just hope they can do something about this itch.  Maybe it’s allergies… maybe it’s my throat, etc. healing after my GI track was beaten up all this time by chemo… we don’t know.  Like I said… we shall see what the doc says on Friday.

Otherwise…. the weather is good.  Supposed to start raining tomorrow evening, but for now it’s beautiful. Blue sky out there.  Really lovely.  I love fall weather actually… it’s sunny, yet crisp out there.  It’s supposed to get up to almost 70 today, which is wonderful, but it’s crisp out there right now.  The light is always so fantastic in the fall.  Did anyone see that moon the last few nights?  Wow.  So bright out there.  Hope everyone has been enjoying these lovely lovely days!