Fevers, Transfusions and a New Room

We managed to break the call button in my mom's room yet again.  We broke it last time my mom was in the hospital too.  It couldn't be easily fixed so my mom was moved to a new room.  Last time when my mom was moved to a new room her neutrophils started to go up.  This time although my mom's neutrophils didn't start to go up, we were moved to a much larger room that has a couch.  Yes, that's right I'm no longer sleeping on a chair!  While I slept pretty well on the chair, the couch is heaven.  Oh and the move was also nice for my mom because she has a lot more room to scooter around.

Saturday afternoon my mom started to feel really cold.  She didn't have a fever at the time but then spiked a 101.3 F fever yesterday.  Her platelets had also dropped to 17,000 and because she had been on a blood thinner they decided to give her a platelet transfusion.  Normally after a platelet transfusion my mom doesn't notice any difference but this time I'm happy to report that she felt better.  She was no longer cold and her fever was gone.  Nice work platelets!  Today my mom is feeling pretty good even though her hemoglobin is 7.1.  I predict a blood transfusion in her near future...       

Starting to bottom out

WBC 1,000
Neuts 200
Hct 25.6
Hgb 8.9
Platelets 28,000

My Mom continues to feel well despite all her blood cells dropping.  She's eating well, scootering around and sleeping great at night.  She had a platelet transfusion yesterday.  It was the first of this hospital stay.  She had three during her last hospitalization.  She handles the transfusions well, no reactions.     

We do however have some sad news...we finished the first season of Homeland and I don't know when we'll be able to watch the second season.  The hospital doesn't have Showtime.  It's not one of the 30 channels we have.  So if anyone has any connections please feel free to help us out :) 

Now we wait

Mom finished up chemo Saturday afternoon.  It's great to have that done.  Now we play the waiting game.  Her blood cells have started to decrease and she's already had 1 blood transfusion.  Overall, she's feeling pretty good.  She's been scootering around the hall a couple times a day.  She's able to do 3 laps at a time.  Maybe today we'll be able to push it to 4 laps. 

We finished season 1 of Homeland last night.  Unfortunately, we don't have Showtime so I'm not sure when we'll be able to watch season 2.  You would think that the hospital would have at least a 100 tv channels to choose from since my Mom has to be here so long but no we have 30 channels and no high definition.  Can someone please donate more channels?!       

Friday

It's Friday!  My Mom sleep well last night.  Usually nurses are in and out of my Mom's room all night long but last night we were only interrupted at midnight and 4am.  The 4am visit is always rough because that's when they draw blood and weigh my Mom.  Not that any of it is hard on my Mom - she has a PICC line so they don't have to poke her for the blood draw and because she has a fractured ankle they weigh her in bed.  It's just it's 4AM!  Fortunately, we are both able to fall back asleep pretty quickly.

Today will be a day of rest for my Mom.  Tonight at 10pm my Mom will start her final day of chemo, for this round at least.  It will finish tomorrow around 1pm.  Then we play the waiting game.  Typically, on Fridays and Saturdays my Dad spends the night at the hospital with my Mom but because she's receiving chemo tonight I'll spend the night.           

I missed the helicopter

I'm in my Mom's room approximately 20 hours a day.  This morning I left my Mom's room for 5 minutes and I missed the most exciting thing to happen since my Mom has checked back into the hospital, a helicopter landing on the helipad right outside our window.  My Mom said it was pretty cool.         

We are currently in the middle of chemo day 2.  Mom has been handling everything great and I'm very proud of her.  Her appetite has decreased but her energy level is good.  She's able to get around very well on her scooter and she has even been scootering outside her room around the 9th floor some.  Before she fractured her ankle we use to do laps around the 9th floor 3 times a day.  Once she fractured her ankle we had to stop because it was too hard for her to get around with the walker.  The scooter has been fantastic and I highly recommend it for anyone with a below the knee injury.  It's a thousand times better than crutches or a walker. 

My Mom's blood cell counts are still good so she hasn't needed any blood or platelet transfusions.  However, her potassium and magnesium are both low so she's being supplemented.  Our morning visit with her doctors went well and they are happy with the way things are going.

We have been passing our time by watching TV (Homeland, Boardwalk Empire, X factor, the Voice) playing words with friends and thanks to my niece we are both addicted to the my horse app.   

Chemo Day 1 Completed

My Mom has completed day 1 of chemo.  She became a little interesting last night when she developed some GI signs around 1 am but the doctors were able to get her signs under control pretty fast.  Well what I thought was fast my mom may disagree!  The good news is she's been feeling great and eating well since then.  Her chemo plan right now is Ara-C on day 1, 3 and 5 every 12 hours, so tomorrow she'll have a chemo break.  Right now things are boring which is good.

It begins again...

Better picture of the view from my Mom's room

 

Back in the hospital...

My Mom is back in the hospital to undergo her second round of chemo.  It's sucks but she has to do it.  This round is suppose to be less intense than the first, so lets hope our stay is nice and boring.  She's been feeling great so I'm sure (knock on wood) that she'll do great.  The plan is for her to start chemo tonight.  I'll spend the night with her, so she doesn't have go through this alone.  Sleeping in a chair with a gown, gloves and mask on is worth it to be with my Mom.   

We were given some good news upon admission, her sister's bone marrow is a perfect match.  Don't know if we are going to take the transplant route yet but it's a huge relief to know that one of her siblings is a match.

This will be her view for the next 4 weeks.  Hopefully, not too many helicopters!      

View from room 921 (yes, the windows could use a washing)

The Diagnosis

On July 16th my Mom went in for her annual physical exam. Yes, her annual physical exam. At the time she was experiencing mild flu like symptoms but she felt like she was getting better. Her physical exam was unremarkable and her blood work was great except her white blood cell count was low. Two days later her doctor repeated her blood work and her white blood cell count was still low. Her doctor suggested re-checking her white blood cell count again in two weeks. However, my Mom was still experiencing mild flu like symptoms.  Knowing her white blood count was low, I pushed her to call her doctor and tell her that she wasn't feeling. She did and blood work was repeated. Her white blood cell count was still low. My Mom’s internist then sent her to a hematologist/oncologist. I went with my mom to this appointment and warned her that the doctor will most likely recommend doing a bone marrow biopsy. My Mom was fine with that. A week later my Mom had a bone marrow aspirate and biopsy performed. Three days later her doctor's office called and asked her to come in on August 14. I never expected her bone marrow results to be abnormal. Her doctor didn't expect her bone marrow results to be abnormal but they were. Both my Mom’s bone marrow aspirate and biopsy revealed Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).  Two days later my Mom was admitted to the hospital and started on induction chemotherapy.  She was treated with two chemo drugs for seven days, one she continuously received for seven days and the other for three days.  She handled the chemo great.  No nausea or vomiting. My Mom remained in the hospital for another 4 weeks while we waited for her platelets, red blood cells and neutrophils to recover.  During this time my Mom received multiple blood and platelet transfusions and was monitored very closely for infections.  Thankfully she didn’t spike any fevers.  She did however have an adverse reaction to a medication that she was given to help control bleeding and passed out twice.  The first time she passed out she feel and fractured her ankle in three places.  The second time she didn’t hurt herself but she was bradycardic (slow heart rate) which scared me to death.  Her doctors stopped the drug and she’s been fine since then.  My Mom was finally released from the hospital on September 22 when her neutrophil count reached 500.  Prior to leaving the hospital a bone marrow biopsy was repeated and preliminary results revealed that she’s in remission!  Even though my Mom is in remission more treatment is needed because with the type of leukemia she has her doctors know that a few leukemia cells still remain in her body.  If these cells aren’t destroyed, they will cause a relapse.  The next phase of my Mom’s treatment starts tomorrow.  It is called consolidation chemotherapy.  The goal of this chemotherapy is to destroy any remaining leukemia cells.  She will be in the hospital for four weeks this time.  The first week she’ll receive one chemo drug and then she’ll spend the next three weeks recovering.