The Ordinariness of One Pretty Good Day after Another

              The outpatient clinic on Cox 1 was closed for MLK Day, so we went to Lunder 10 for the requisite semi-weekly labs. The counts continue to look good; no need for a transfusion today. David stopped taking hydroxyurea several days ago, so it appears that the decitabine is effectively lowering the white blood cell count.

            Here are the numbers:

Date of Blood Draw (CBC)	White Blood Cell Count	Percentage Blasts in circulation	Absolute Neutrophils	Hematocrit (red blood cells	Platelets
5-Jan-15	2.16	6.0%	0.17	25.60	39.00
8-Jan-15	1.58	4.0%	0.16	22.10	39.00
12-Jan-15	1.04	4.7%	0.12	22.40	40.00
15-Jan-15	1.40	16.0%	0.03	22.40	38.00
19-Jan-15	2.29	pending	pending	23.70	29.00

            So, we continue trying to remember to appreciate each uneventful day. As Jim wrote in his summary of the past year: “Except for a few days of severe intestinal pain just before Christmas, the past five weeks have been the best since March. Mary, David, and I each seek in our own way to deal with the prospect of imminent death mixed with the ordinariness of one pretty good day after another.”

Happy Little Christmas

            6 January 2015: Epiphany, the day to celebrate the wise men from the east finding the young child, Jesus, and presenting him with gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

            December was rough. After watching David’s white blood counts rise, to 90, 91, and 95 (very bad news) in the first week of December, he was admitted to Lunder 10, inpatient, on December 19^th, with severe abdominal pain: enteritis, or inflammation of the intestine. He was discharged on Wednesday, 24 December, in time for Christmas. And for 27 hours on December 27-28, all of our progeny were together in Lexington.

            New Year’s Eve, Matt drove David down to Manhattan to spend the holiday with all their siblings at R’els Manhattan apartment. Some went to Central Park for the midnight 4-mile run.

            On Friday, 2 January, David began the second round of decitabine chemotherapy. It’s caused some nausea and fatigue. His hematocrit (red blood cells) and platelet counts are relatively stable; the white blood cell count is low, which is great news. He finished his fifth and final infusion today and will take 3 weeks off while his blood counts recover.

            Here are the blood counts. For now, the goal is very low WBC.

Date of Blood Draw (CBC)	White Blood Cell Count	Percentage Blasts in circulation	Absolute Neutrophils
19-Dec-14	35.24	68.0%	1.40
20-Dec-14	27.57	55.8%	0.96
23-Dec-14	12.83	55.0%	0.38
24-Dec-14	7.99	23.4%	0.36
28-Dec-14	2.91	32.4%	0.10
31-Dec-14	2.56	7.6%	0.00
2-Jan-15	2.56	18.0%	0.13
5-Jan-15	2.16	6.0%	0.17