We went in today for our all-day visit to start the 2nd half of Delayed Intensification. Carter was supposed to get 4 different medicines today, one of which requires him to be on IV fluids for hours before and after. His ANC has to be at least 750 and platelets 75,000 to move forward. Well, he wasn't even close, really. The doctor and I were both shocked to see his counts so low. White blood cell count is 900 with ANC of 200. Hemoglobin is 6 and platelets 138,000. His red blood cell count is just below the cut-off of needing a transfusion. Since I'd told the doctor that his energy levels have been pretty good and he's been acting totally fine for almost a week now, we decided to skip the transfusion today in hopes that his marrow will recover quickly on it's own. Carter's been fighting a cold or something for a few weeks now and the Dr. said that can sometimes cause counts to be a little lower. He assured me that this is nothing to worry about and we just set up an appointment for next week. There's a few good things from this. First, he was scheduled for a sedation at 3:30 this afternoon which meant he couldn't eat anything after 9:30 this morning. His appetite is still gigantic so I'm glad he didn't have to suffer through those long hours without food. Hopefully next week's sedation will be earlier in the morning. Also, we now have another week of him feeling good and getting better instead of going the other way. The hardest thing for me is that they tell me to bring him back in if I think he needs a transfusion after all. What am I, a doctor? It's hard to have that responsibility be on me. But we've made it this far, so I must be doing something right. Anyways, he's sound asleep on the couch now, hopefully recovering as we speak :)
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