We had a quick clinic visit yesterday to check counts and get an H1N1 flu shot. Those nurses (Pam & Kate) are the best. They got us in and out of there so quickly! Mollie said she didn't even feel the flu shot and has not complained about soreness at all. Her counts were great:
ANC: 6100
Hgb: 12.5
Plt: 400,000
So, she is now on 75% chemo and they will check/adjust again when she has her spinal tap in March.
Edited to add: Mollie has been on 50% chemo for the past 2 weeks because she had a low ANC (less than 750). The goal of LTM treatment is to keep the bone marrow suppressed to kill any remaining leukemic cells, but keep it active enough to prevent infection. Ideally, the ANC during LTM should be ~1500. If the patient becomes neutropenic, they will decrease the chemo until the counts come back up; if the ANC is consistently higher than 2000, they will increase the chemo to try to keep it around 1500.
Increasing the chemo dosage should lower Mollie's ANC; we haven't seen much change in Mollie's hemoglobin or platelets from the daily chemo, so those numbers shouldn't change much.
awesome. yuck on the spinal tap, though.
ReplyDeleteThose counts look great. But, are they likely to change with the 75% chemo?
ReplyDeleteThanks for putting this into laymen's terms. Glad she's doing alright with the shots-- hope the counts straighten out shortly :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sarah! We are looking forward to celebrating the end of this regimen this Fall.
ReplyDeleteMollie,
ReplyDeleteYou are a strong, tough, brave girl.
I love you.