Toward Springtime
May seems an awful long ways away right now, as I look out at this winter wonderland, layer upon layer of snow and ice covering every visible surface. But May is the next time we’re scheduled to go to the hospital. Three months away!
Everything yesterday was fine. His chest CT was clear and the abdominal ultrasound showed no changes from the last time. His creatinine held steady at its new December low and his hemoglobin jumped up in a big way. The hemoglobin thing is pretty significant, here’s the medical scoop: Chemo obviously destroys blood cells and the body’s ability to produce new ones is often slower than a scheduled chemo regimen, leading to inevitable blood and platelet transfusions during treatment. Once chemo is stopped, the patient’s bone marrow should slowly but steadily produce new blood cells and “refill the coffers,” until they reach a normal level. This has happened for Austin in terms of white blood cells and platelets and neutrophils but not for red blood cells, as measured by his hemoglobin. We believed the reason for this was twofold: 1) the kidney produces something called erythropoetin which makes red blood cells, so we assumed his wasn’t doing that (or wasn’t doing it quickly enough) and 2) he was spilling red blood cells into his urine, again a sign of weakened kidney function.
So we’d been planning on blood transfusions well into the future, as often as he needed them, which last summer was every four to six weeks. Well, his last transfusion was in the end of August! In November and December, his hemoglobin was low but not quite low enough to necessitate a transfusion. And yesterday, it had risen by an entire point to a number that is two-tenths of a point away from normal!
That kidney is indeed recovering.
Even his blood pressure was down, always a huge relief. So we carry on, three more months with no hospital visits, three more months of health and growth and recovery. Working kidney, cancer-free … what more could we ask for?
Springtime would be nice!
so glad to hear.
awesome news!
the warmth of good feelings pouring over Austin will surely help to melt the snowdrifts…
WOW! This is the GREATEST NEWS! Yes, that kidney is recovering – that’s exactly what’s going on – boosting up his red blood cells, bringing down his blood pressure, and just doing all those things it’s supposed to be doing. Isn’t that a great feeling! Spring will be here before you know it. Krissy – this is extraordinarily wonderful news – three more months of being cancer-free, and the kidney continues to recover, and time marches on …. WONDERFUL NEWS!!!!! Barb
That is great news!!!
Hope to see you soon.
xox