Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Update

Kate is feeling better but is tired. She is on her second nap today and her pain is controlled with Tylenol alone. I just spoke with Kate's NP at the clinic and she said that Kate's blood counts show her to be neutropenic - translation her 3,000 ANC last week is 120 today. It is, of course, expected but it means she's at risk for infections. (Side note - the ER doctors told me that her blood counts were "normal". Ummm...not so much. I should have asked to see a copy of them.)

The NP also said that Kate's "achiness" (I guess we all have different definitions for ache) can happen with these high doses of steroids and chemo. Wish I'd known that yesterday. Because she's neutropenic though and may not mount a good fever response, they want to be conservative and see her if the aching is severe or anything seems unusual for Kate. We go to the clinic tomorrow for chemo and they'll check her out then. That is comforting to me.
Thanks for your calls, visits and emails, we are doing better today.

12 comments:

Lily said...

I am thinking of you guys all the time...

Moss & Fern Cottage said...

Stay strong... you guys are in my thoughts.

Love
Deb

Anonymous said...

Feel better Kate and the rest of the Hansen Gang.
Love Wendy

Cory said...

I just caught up on your blog and I'll have to agree, the ER is he@*. We were in there for 9 hours when Izzy had her seizure...ugh! I'll keep a look-out for the bone pain. So far (only 2 days into Delayed Intensification/Steroids) and Izzy has been sleeping non-stop, cranky as me, and eating me out of house and home. Oh to have August back again :0 I hope Kate and you can focus on that light at the end of the tunnel. It's getting closer...hang in there. We'll be hangin' with ya :)

Allison said...

So sorry for the horrible night you had. Yuck! I'm glad today was a better day and hope you don't have too many visits to the ER anywhere in the future!!!

Anonymous said...

I love you and miss you! I sure wish I could be there to help in some way...

Love,
Anne

Tanya said...

You are amazing for being so strong through all of this. Sorry you've had to deal with the the past couple of days. Little Kate (well, all of you) are in our prayers.

Kari said...

So glad to hear that today was a better day :)

Anonymous said...

Sounds like Tinkerbell needs to get you a new magic wand. Hang in there. Hope today goes well for Kate..prayers and thoughts are with you all.

Barb

angela said...

love you. thinking of you. let me know if you need a break.
ANGELA

Anonymous said...

i'm so sorry to hear about the pains/pangs of late. i'm thinking about you guys today and hoping kate's treatment goes more smoothly. love and prayers!
~ anne-ross

Kasey said...

I'm so glad to hear that Kate is feeling better today. Hang in there, Carolyn! You're in our prayers always.

I don't think I told you that I lobbied pretty hard for us to drive through Atlanta on our way back from FL last weekend. I'll have to make a dedicated trip to visit the Hansen clan soon. Maybe when Jimmie's away for his 6-week training. :)