Even Better News

Now that it's over, I can admit that Dr. Rixe had us a little worried with his phone call and insistence on meeting after the low white blood cell count.  But we needn't have worried!  He was reassuring on all counts.

First we saw Dr. Salkeni, a fellow in Dr. Rixe's office, who explained that mom's white blood cell count had gone up to an acceptable level and her neutrophils, a subtype of the white blood cells that does most of the infection fighting, was actually very high, at 2800 (where 1500 is acceptable).  Platelets were still a little low (79-- they like to see them at 100), so they asked her to have blood work done on Friday to make sure she was in good shape for chemo today, and everything turned out fine, so she is off to Cincinnati today!

So the plan is: chemo today, tomorrow, Wednesday, then MRI two weeks from Wednesday, which will be March 16th.  She will also meet with Dr. Rixe that day to go over the results.  One surprising thing I learned from Dr. Salkeni last week was that, since the amount of tumor left is so minute, the anecdotal accounts of how mom is doing and feeling actually tell them more about how the chemo is working than the MRI.  And by those accounts, she is doing amazingly well.

She even SMELLED something, for the first time in a year!  She was able to smell a particular hand soap, and when she told Dr. Rixe this, his whole face lit up, and he said, in his wonderful French accent, "This is new!  This is a very good sign."  He was just so pleased with how she was doing.  He even told her that the low counts weren't too much to worry about and that if she felt like socializing, she could socialize, and if not, "Stay home.  Stay calm."  Apparently, the former has been the case because Friday she hosted a slumber party for her sisters, Saturday morning they went out for breakfast at the Farmer's Market and then shopped downtown, then Saturday evening she attended the Pope John/Shawe Auction Dinner and had a wonderful time (according to my sources).

We went up last night for a quick visit, and she was working away on the laptop, getting Harlan's FAFSA done online.  She is amazing!  I know I keep saying that, but it is true.  :)  And, as Dr. Rixe said at the close of our meeting, "She is strong.  She is very strong."  Indeed!

Love to all,
jk