Update Saturday PM

Well, last night and today were a bit rough for Dad. It was as a result of the Neulasta shot that he got last Saturday...the day after chemo. What it does is stimulate the production of white blood cells in the bone marrow to compensate for the destruction of the white cells due to the chemo. So it spiked the white cell count until the last blood draw on Friday...where the white cells were down (and to be expected) and then it gradually builds up the white blood cells before the next chemo. Because of the unusually rapid production of the cells in the marrow, it causes pain in the lower back, hips, legs...where the cells are increasing. He was pretty uncomfortable during the night and most of today, but he's sure that it will be improving tomorrow. All he could take was Tylenol and that didn't help much. The highlight of his day was a webcam with Delia where her "I love you Grandpa" warmed him for the rest of the day!
The office visit and blood draw on Friday went well. The doctor was pleased with the reduction in size of the tumor mass in his abdomen and was also pleased with his blood work. All was fine,except for the white blood cell count and that was to be expected at this point in the chemo cycle. They did find out that the lymph node that was removed and biopsied was a more agressive kind of lymphoma, but the lymph node was small and that's good. The doctor thinks the main mass was still the slow growing kind...so all of this doesn't change the formula of the chemo since it's a very potent one. The doctor was going to check with another doctor at the med center in Omaha to see what he thought of changing the chemo to every 2 weeks (instead of 3) since Dad weathered the first chemo so well. With a shorter time in between the chemotherapies, that gives the remaining cancerous cells less time to recover...so Dad was all for that if it turns out that that will be the plan. So we're keeping next Friday open in case that works. We won't find out until the office visit on next Thursday whether the decision is to go with next Friday.
Other than that, Dad's appetite is good. He's been dining on favorites like chicken stew and dumplings and stroganoff...so he's doing fine on that accord. Last evening we took quite a hike...about 1 1/2 miles and he was just starting to feel the bone pain during the last half of the walk. He just layed low today and will do the same tomorrow. He passed on going to the farmer's market today, so Sara & I went to get some great fresh produce...the asparagus here is fantastic right now. We're just waiting for the strawberries to come on and we (Sara & I) will do the U-pick strawberries...hopefully withing a week or 2.
We decided to cancel our usual anniversary trip to the island this year. We just can't be away for a week...with the chemo, blood work, dressing changes, and office visits. Also, it won't be good for him to be around crowds (such as on the airplane) because of his compromised immune system. Nurse Ratchet is pretty picky about everyone washing hands every time one of us goes out and comes back in the house. Dad just can't be around any sick people right now. So as far as the trip....we'll have to just plan on next year...and I'm sure we'll enjoy it more then.
Guess that's it for now. I'll post more tomorrow as to how he's doing and we'll probably be talking to all of you tomorrow, too.