Treatment #8

Today was a long day. We left after 7:30 AM and got home after 7:30 PM. They had a little mix up and got Curt started later than 9:30. They took his "vitals" before seeing the Nurse Practioner (he usually sees the doctor or NP first). He weighed about 157.6 lbs. (4 pounds less than last week), his BP was 121/77, and his temperature was 99.3 (slightly higher). Maybe that is why the NP asked us if we were visiting a big city with hospitals available in case of infection or something. She told Curt to wash his hands a lot and move away from anyone coughing or sneezing on the airplane. He could wear a mask if he wants (he doesn't want). We told the NP about Curt's tiredness (he has been sleeping A LOT) and doesn't have any energy. The blood test showed he is severely anemic (his "RBC" and "HGB" were half of what they should be), but the white count and other things were good enough for him to have the treatment. The good news is that Curt took an oxycodone at 7:00 am before we left (he had been alternating between oxycodone and Excedrin every 4-6 hours) and has not had to take another oxycodone or excedrin all day. Tomorrow we are returning at 10 AM for him to have a blood transfusion (2 units). Hopefully this transfusion will do as good a job of raising the red cell count (and restoring energy) as the treatment did for his pain. I guess the transfusion takes about 4 hours. After that he will get his followup shot for the white blood cell count there. We didn't get out of OHSU until 4 PM. We then stopped by the Bakers for about half an hour and ate supper in Albany. It was a nice drive up in the morning, but it was raining hard driving home in the dark. We are cancelling our trip to California at the end of January (for now). They have scheduled another treatment on January 4 and possibly another on January 25. Curt might have another MRI around this time depending on how he feels.