Zombie Doctor and Scream Face!

Trick or Treat!

That’s our Hot Dog!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!  We are not sure if it is a Trick or a Treat but Travis’ counts were too low yesterday to start Round 5 of chemo today.  It is kind of a bummer because once you get all geared up to start and plans in place to cover the weekend, it is a little disappointing to have to wave everything off and reset for next week.  Based on both Rounds 4 and 5 being delayed a week, we are now anticipating that Round 6 will be delayed also which will start running up close to Christmas time.  We were really hoping that all of the chemo would be done before then and that we could just enjoy coasting into the holidays.  But as with everything else, we just have to take things as they come!

We had to leave the house at 7am for our pre-check in appointment yesterday so we showed up wearing our Halloween costumes.  Travis was a Zombie Doctor and Lynne was a Cappuccino from Starbucks.  Everyone loved the costumes and they even had Travis be a distraction for a couple of the kids in the clinic!  After doing the blood work and meeting with the doctor, it was determined that Travis’ counts were too low to start chemo today.  What we have seen is that the week immediately after chemo, the counts are still good but they start to drop to the lowest point in the second week sometimes to where a blood transfusion is required for the hemoglobin.  We start giving the GCSF shots on the day after chemo ends to help boost his white blood counts and those shots last for about 10-14 days which bring his white blood counts back up usually higher than normal.   Once we stop the GCSF, then the white blood counts start to drop again before settling on the normal level.  Unfortunately, this drop and settling is happening right around the time we are supposed to start the next round which causes the delay.  Not that we have been able to predict a pattern but at least this has been what we have seen after these last two rounds.  So, we have lab work appointments set up for Monday and Thursday next week and as soon as his counts are good, we are going to get started versus waiting until next Friday.  At least this way we can keep moving forward instead of being in a holding pattern for a week.  Did we mention that we are ready to get things over with?

We left the hospital and went to Tony’s work for a Halloween party and potluck lunch.  They had the offices decorated and people signed up to give out candy for Trick or Treaters.  They had a Costume Contest for the employees with $200 for first place, $100 for second and $50 for third so it was fun to see all of the creativity.  Tony was dressed as a Visually Challenged Soccer Referee.  He said that as much as he questions the Referee calls in soccer, he should probably walk in their shoes for at least one day.  Since there are people from around the world who work with Tony, the potlucks are always interesting and we are able to experience different tastes from their culture.

We left after lunch and went home to rest a bit before the evening since we had been up since early morning.  We had our friends Shannon and Jonathon stop by for a little bit with their girls Spenser (4), Reed (2) and Collyn (7 months) so the boys went Trick or Treating with them in the neighborhood.  Since Tyler (14) and Travis (almost 11) are starting to move from the Trick or Treating phase into the Stay at Home and Scare People phase, it is fun to see the girls just starting to learn what Halloween is all about.  Well, our last visitors of the night were Sarah and Ellyse, along with Alden, Liz and their family and then it was time to close up shop.  Lights Out!

Thanks,

Lynne and Tony