RSS

Friday, September 17, 2010

written on the 13th- it's almost funny

(Anne wrote this before I wrote the post below, but she posted it to our old family blog somehow where I found it)
Jay did get home safe and sound. With the usual Asia jetlag, he jumped right back into work and family, trying so hard to stay awake during the day. He made a valiant effort and after a little over a week of that, he was almost back to normal.
Jay also came back with a sinus infection, or maybe I gave it to him when he returned as I had been fighting one for about a week. So we both were on antibiotics over the weekend.
We were in semi-isolation mode for the week or so after Jay came home since Sarah's blood counts dropped so low. Her ANC was 290, and anything under 500 is neutropenic which means you have to be extra cautious about germs since she doesn't have many white blood cells to speak of.
The doctor also stopped her chemo for the week to get her blood counts to go up, which was a bit scary for me as the chemo is what is fighting against the Leukemia. For these next two years, Sarah takes chemo every night, a 9 pill dose of a different chemo on Wednesdays, antibiotics for 3 days out of the week, steroids for 5 days out of the month, nausea medicine as needed, IV chemo once a month and spinal tap chemo every three months. She gets her blood counts checked regularly. Her ANC is now up to 1390, and she will have IV chemo in the morning.
When Sarah's counts were so low, Rebekah started having a runny nose for a few days, but Sarah made it through that without an ER visit. Hannah has been complaining of a headache and stomach ache for a few days now. And tonight, Jay is in bed with a fever and nausea. Every one else's temperature is fine...I know that since I take everyone's in the house on a regular basis. But Sarah is complaining of a headache and stomach ache. So I just gave her a nausea medicine along with her nightly chemo, which can't be given until 2 hours after eating.
I am feeling terrible myself and do not look forward to my night on the sofa - with Hannah in here too for the moment since the girls couldn't settle down, and it's 9pm, so I had to separate them.
I need to go get my Bible and just read and pray through this one as I am in over my head.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like September has been an adventerous month for the Clarks! Very glad to hear Sarah is in the maintenance phase. The first few months are difficult, but once they get her meds leveled out and she gets acclimated to feeling well you'll have smooth sailing. Ben is also working through the elevated liver enzymes and it sounded scary to me at first -- being so terribly far from "normal." However, after six months in maintenance he's doing very well. May JC have the same plans for Sarah!
Peace,
Todd

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.