May 15, 2000 -- Day 67 --Another trip to Boston
Hi All!
Went to Boston for another clinic visit today. It was pretty uneventful. Dave had blood drawn, and his counts are: Whites 3.3 (these have been going down, which we questioned the doctor about. He didn't have a good answer, but also said he wasn't concerned. His other counts are going up, and the ANC percentage is very good.); Hematocrits (Red Blood Cells) are 36; and platelets are 168. He commented on a few red spots Dave has, but again, said he wasn't concerned about them -- we should just keep an eye on them. Other than that, he said Dave is doing fine. We'll be going back in 3 weeks for our next visit.
While we were there we met with a nutritionist who reviewed Dave's diet and eating habits, and offered some pretty good suggestions for increasing his calorie intake (wait, the rest of us are always trying to decrease ours!!). Because his body is working so hard to get better, he needs to eat a lot of calories, so she suggested snacks, gave him some Boost to try (she said to mix it with ice cream or sherbet and make a shake, then it's more palatable), and brushing his food with olive oil to add fat. Hopefully, these things will work. We need to get some fat on his bones!
It was a long trip, as it always is, so we're both pretty tired out. Our appointment was an hour earlier than our past ones have been (12:30 instead of 1:30), so we got home by about 5:30, instead of 7:30 (the Boston traffic usually ties us up for quite a while). We skipped out of town before rush hour! Our next appointment is at 10:00. We'll really beat the traffic then! (simple pleasures, I know. Hey, we have to take them where we can find them!)
Dave's sinuses are feeling better, and his stomach is settling down some. Now if he could just get some energy!
So there you have it.
Hope all is well with all of you. We'll talk to you soon.
Allison