...ROUGH Week...

“Being on your toes” is an under-statement for the process of Chemo.

It’s a very day-to-day battle. Dustin was scheduled to have his 2^nd round of Chemo this week and unfortunately was unable to do so. Monday he went in for the treatment and the doctor/nurses said his white blood cell count was too low to start Chemo. Instead they gave him a shot (Neupogen).

Neupogen is a medication that is a man-made version of a substance that is naturally produced in our body which helps the bone marrow to make new white blood cells. The Neupogen shot has very painful and has very uncomfortable side-effects.

Monday was the first day of the shot and he didn’t feel too terrible for the rest of the day.

Tuesday he received the shot in the morning and felt ok for the rest of the day. He even went on a walk with Kai and Knox for Kai’s Birthday. He didn’t complain once!

Wednesday was the third day of the shot and the worse day so far. He got to the clinic and the doctor said the shot had been working and his white blood cells were climbing and up to “normal”. The doctor ordered the Bleomycin for his regular Wednesday dosage.

 After his appointment he went home and slept. After his nap it went down hill from there. Dustin got very sick and he didn’t get out of bed all night. Kai would check in on him and found him to have 100.6 fever. When we took the Chemo class they said if a patient has a fever of a 100.5 he needs to call the doctor for further instructions. Art and Cindy called the on-call doctor and while they were waiting for a return phone call Dustin’s fever was starting to subside. Dustin barely slept because his body was in severe achy pain. Dustin felt like his ankles were swollen and his legs and back were throbbing.

Thursday (today), he went in for another shot of Neupogen and then came home feeling very sick and run down. He’s been on the couch sleeping all day. Rest is very much needed during this process. Dustin has come down with a terrible cough and runny nose. He can’t take anything but Tylenol.

 The doctor has him continuing this shot for tomorrow and possibly the weekend as well. The next plan of attack will be starting Dustin on Chemo this next Monday the 7^th. The doctor will only allow Dustin to start his 2^nd round of Chemo if his white blood cell count is at a normal range. If it’s not a normal range they will postpone his Chemo further. It’s important to have his white blood cells at a normal range because they are what fight off infection. If he didn’t have anything fighting off infection and they gave him Chemo then his whole immune system would shut down and he’d be very vulnerable to disease and sickness.

We are praying that he will get through this week with NO more nights like last night! We are also praying that his white blood cell count will be normal enough for him to start his 2^nd round of Chemo so we can be closer to the END of this battle.

We love you all so much and appreciate all of you!! Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers!