Induction I

Carla's chemo ended on Tuesday.  She received her first growth hormone shot on Wednesday.  She will continue to receive a shot morning and evening until her white blood cell count (WBC) starts to increase.  Once the WBC gets above 2.0 they will collect a blood sample each day to test to see if it contains sufficient stem cells for harvesting.

Since her WBC increased slightly (0.79), we mistakenly thought she was approaching stem cell harvesting.  Today her WBC was down to 0.11.  Her blood platelets were below 30 so she had to get an infusion of platelets besides some antibacterial IV's.  So instead of going in the clinic at 8 and out by 10 it was out by 1:00.  She will get her second shot of the day at 5:00.

We are very careful about limiting the contact she has outside our apartment (mask) and what food we allow in the apartment while she is neutropenic.  Neutropenic is when the WBC count is < 2.0.  For a good list of precautions for neutropenic patients see http://www.oncolink.org/treatment/article.cfm?c=2&s=13&id=68

Oh well... Maybe tomorrow.