Steven received a unit of A+ designated donor platelets this morning! Thank you!!! And his WBC's are up to 0.3. It will be interesting to see if the WBC count rises exponentially. If he increases 0.1 every day, he will get to break out of jail in a week and walk the halls. Hopefully they will increase faster than that.
He actually ate a little more than a cracker today: jello and a cracker. Yesterday he needed Compazine after eating the cracker because it made him nauseated. I'm always sorry when I go on the internet and look at the side effects of the medications he is taking. Even though it makes him extremely tired, he tolerates it well. Today, he wasn't nauseated after eating…every day is a little better. The doctors have been so spot on with all the symptoms including….hair loss.
The last couple of days Steven had a few hairs on his pillow, no biggie. He said his hair didn't feel like his and it felt like straw. Today there were many more on his pillow and the doctor said he should consider shaving it off. So yes you guessed it, a woman came in and shaved his head. We had been preparing for this, but he always had so much hair that he would have to get it thinned when he went to get it cut. We were thinking a few would just fall out and he would still have more hair than many men his age. But then I envisioned Lon Chaney in his role of Phantom of the Opera where he had this super thin hair where you could see his scalp. Not wanting to be the Phantom, Steven embraced this aspect of chemotherapy and took control over his hair loss. The loss was made more palatable since his WBC's are going up indicating engraftment. The hair loss is minor compared to other side effects of BMT.
Anticipating this event, I bought him a Bears baseball hat and a Bears knit cap. We will have a burning party when he is comfortable not wearing these anymore. When we checked into the room on 10/3, we asked what is now a funny question, is there a hair dryer in the room or do we need to bring one from home???
Bald is Beautiful as we continue the fight and prepare ourselves for the next challenge. We couldn't do this without everyone's love and support. Thank you!
Praying for WBC's climbing higher & higher each day! Bald is beautiful! If Steven likes another team, we'd love to get him a baseball cap & knit cap! If we pick you know it will be UCLA! HaHa!
ReplyDeleteLove you all. xoxo
Hahahahaha hi Mrs. Baltaxe- he would LOVE that...he might love a university of iowa hat slightly more though. Just slightly...hope you all are doing well!
DeleteHi Ashley,
ReplyDeletePray you're doing well.
I think both are in order! Consider it done! I know Nicholas would like him to have UCLA! You can never have too many!
All well here, Thank God. Take care & love..
So glad for good news. We are sending Lutheran prayers. Doogie has some Imuran, Prednisone, and cyclosporine left if you run out. It's expired, but it was so expensive I can't throw it out . Our best to you. Count on us for rides when you get out. You know we love a road trip.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about drug expense…we have 14 prescriptions to pick up when he gets discharged!
ReplyDeleteHi Mrs. Baltaxe,
ReplyDeleteHahaha he would love that :) thank you so much! I'm doing well over here, and so grateful for all of you back home taking care of my parents. Glad you all are doing well! Did Nicholas graduate already? Or is he finishing up soon?
Best wishes,
Ashley