Finally Brian's neutrophils are back! He had to have two shots (in the belly) of Neupogen and that seemed to do the trick. As of Friday, his white cells and neutrophils have slowly been rising and they said it was okay for him to recover at home on the oral antibiotics. So yet, more medications to add to our list! Thankfully though, we didn't have to do the chemo oral meds this past week as chemo is on hold until we see our oncologist on Monday. So at this point, Brian is on antivirals and antibiotics to keep infections and viruses at bay. The doctor at the hospital told us that this may happen at every chemo round and they have to add Neupogen to his regimen a day or so after chemotherapy to help bring up his immune system back up again. Our oncologist has asked us to check with our insurance company to see if they cover Neupogen as it is very very expensive. I called on Friday and they do cover it - so that we a huge relief!
We plan to just spend a quiet weekend at home watching the Olympics, sitting in the garden, and taking some short walks. Brian feels like he is being put through the ringer, understandably so. I actually think that Breanne has come up with the diagnosis he had - shingles! When Brian started to go down hill on Monday, he was complaining of a pounding headache on the right side of his face towards his ear and I noticed (all week) that his eye was bloodshot and glassy-appearing. Now that he is home, it is really quite noticeable and his eye is half closed as if it is swollen. Of course, this happens on a weekend when it is harder to call a doctor about it! So I was telling Breanne this morning and she said I bet he has shingles and when I googled shingles of the eye, that is exactly his symptoms. They did warn us about shingles and that was one of the reasons he is on prophylactic acyclovir. I am going to call our ophthalmologist on Monday as I think Brian should have his eye looked at as he just had an operation on his eye a few months ago and maybe they should be checking his pressures. I just wish we had noticed this while he was in hospital and they could have got him looked at there. I am positive though that this was the cause of his problem on Monday and since he had no immune system to fight it, that is why he started to go downhill. They couldn't come up with an infection anywhere, so that was probably it. Again, we have to be more diligent on letting doctors know even minor symptoms as they possibly would have picked up on this right away, just as "Dr. Breanne" did!
We have an appointment on Monday to get more blood work and to see our oncologist. We also got called from Hamilton on Friday and we have an appointment for a consultation with the stem cell doctor on Thursday. I'm not sure if they will start chemo again this week but we shall see what Dr. McCarron has in store for us.
I will update again on Monday when we know more. Thank you so much to all that have visited Brian in hospital, sending e.mails and texts; we feel loved and know that people care and that really does go a long way. I will try to respond as much as I can but some responses may be delayed depending on where we are with Brian's care. We are feeling the love though!
No comments:
Post a Comment