First post-chemo scans this week!

Well, the time has come for the first set of scans to be done this week. Tim goes in on Wednesday for both MRI and CAT scan series. He’ll be almost 5 weeks out when these scans are done. On Friday, we’ll review the results and although no one is expecting to find anything of interest, there is always that possibility. The MRI scans are also being done to look for any evidence of the syrinx.

Tim is working now at the local water park. He’s not working major long shifts yet but it does put some money in his pockets. His hair is starting to come back in and I noticed the other day that he has some eyebrows coming back in as well. There is no hair coming in the radiation field on the back of his neck. That might take a longer time but may also be permanent. With a long(er) hair style, it would likely not be noticed.

Even some improvement is felt in Tim’s toes. The vincristine did its thing and pretty much caused all the fingers and toes to go numb. Reflexes are gone as well. But now Tim’s toes are tingly, so perhaps that will continue to improve and his fingers will follow. Tim never really developed the vincristine “walk” which is caused by loss of fine muscle motor control. He doesn’t complain any more that walking hurts and has even visited the YMCA a few times to lift weights and run a little.

Weight is up a few pounds and so that’s also a good sign. With the weight lifting going on, perhaps he’ll add some bulk. He still looks thin.

Next week we’re off to our Make-A-Wish trip to the American Le Mans Series race at Lime Rock in Connecticut. The Audi R10 cars will be there and this is our favorite team. The #1 Audi car won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France last weekend, so they will be pumped up for the continuation of the ALMS in the United States. Too bad the other two Audi cars at Le Mans came into trouble early in the race. It would have been great to finish 1, 2, 3. Peugeot introduced their diesel cars but I don’t think they are coming to the ALMS series.

--bob

Two weeks out

It’s almost two weeks now since the last chemo treatment for Tim. We’ve been to the clinic twice since then. First was at one week out for counts which returned acceptable numbers. The clinic was ready to give Tim some platelets but his count was 48, low but not critical to do a transfusion. Both Tim and I thought he had already been through the low platelet trough so we were not expecting a transfusion. Surprising though was that his neutrophil count was 0.9, higher than we thought it would be. From past experience we had been expecting close to zero sometime around one week out from chemo. The clinic was convinced that counts were still going down and so they wanted another data point and we were back in on Monday to do that.

Again, the clinic thought he would need platelets, but we were pretty sure that would not be the case. So instead of taping his port, it was just a stick for counts. And things had improved. All his counts were up. Platelets still low but higher at 75 and neutrophil count of 1.1. Even red cells, hematocrit and hemoglobin were all up. Not quite to normal ranges but definitely recovering. Tim feels a lot better as well. So we were sent home. A good thing!

Graduation was held on Thursday and Tim was able to make it. Since we didn’t yet have data on counts, we didn’t let him “hang” with friends after the event. He still has the pins and needles feeling in his fingers and toes and walking was a little tough for him on Thursday. But on Friday, he was able to attend another friend’s graduation party.

On Sunday, it was autocross day. I subbed in for Tim’s work shift since it was really hot that day. He got in 5 runs in the GTI, placed first in his class and in the top 25% for adjusted times. Michael also drove and did well in the TT. They need to drive the same car some time and see how they compare head to head.

So now, its rest, recover, gain some weight and start to get back in shape. To that end, Tim and Michael made it to the Y and worked out some. It was a surprise to Tim (but not me) that he doesn’t have any endurance and strength is very low. It will take time to build back up. He’ll try to start up on his summer job shortly.

I think we are through the potential for a hospitalization due to fever. Just two weeks out and Tim is already making a lot of strides in recovery. Next up are scans at the end of June to take a look at that pesky syrinx and make sure that there are no cancer cell clusters in the lungs.

--bob