The Honeymoon is over

Went to the doctor's today to check his blood counts. We had an 8:45am appointment and we still had to wait almost an hour, AND I had to go fill out the authorization forms again. Apparently these forms (4 pages) need to be filled out and signed everytime he goes in for any reason. So if Dante has to get his counts checked 2 - 3 times per week for the next 6 months, well, you can see where I'm going with this.
What a freakin' scam. Somebody to fill out forms. Somebody to call in the authorization. Somebody to authorize the authorization. Somebody to approve the authorization. I'm wondering where the actual Health part of the Health Management organization comes in. And the organization part for that matter....

So Dante was looked a bit sleepy this morning, at the doctor's office, but generally okay. He knew what was coming though, and was none to happy when it was time to take his shirt off. But then, he's 2, so I guess he's just doing his job.

The nurse asked if we had any questions for the doctor, or if we wanted to actually see one, or a PA. Call me unconventional, but when I go to the doctor's office for a check -up on my cancer, yeah, I generally like to actually see a doctor..... Turns out the point was moot because when the nurse came back in with the counts, Dr. Barbosa was right behind her.

Dante's counts have bottomed out, or reached the "nadir", as they say, which means he is very susceptible to infection now. His ANC (absolute nutriphil count - his ability to fight infection), is at 0. It should be 1000 or above to be "healthy"; On the 1st day of chemo he was at 6300. His platelet count is also very low, along with White Blood Cell count and just about all the other categories. So, needless to say, we will be staying inside for the next couple of days.

Hopefully his counts will rebound in the next 4-7 days and he will be healthy enough to go in for round 2 on the 20th.

Ironically, Jen and I we're just talking about this last night. How we have been pretty lucky so far; that he's been responding really well to the treatment, and his counts are staying up there, but that we should keep in the back of our minds that he will get sick at some point and that we should be prepared for that. Hmmmm.

I suppose he IS responding well, and that his prognosis is still very good. It's just hard each time you have to experience something new for the first time. It tears away all the positive outlook you've built up, in an instant.

Of course, this news is still only 3 hours old, so we have yet to digest it fully. Hopefully we shall be in renewed spirits after naptime.

- chris