karenulijohn

Harvey has officially graduated from Chemotherapy after his seventh and final treatment yesterday.  As an added bonus, the PICC line was also removed.  These milestones came on the heels of a very difficult week when Harvey experienced a lot of bone pain, overwhelming fatigue, and general weakness.  Despite the hydration scare of the previous week, and despite being told by doctors, nurses, technicians, and his wife that he needed to drink more water, he continued to under imbibe.  At one visit, the technician was unable to get a blood pressure reading because it was so low.  I finally reached the breaking point, becoming impatient with him over having to continually remind him to drink something.  After an expletive laden tirade on the subject, I ended my performance with a quick curtsy.  I don’t know where that came from, but it served to relieve the tension, and we had a good laugh.  Now, when I curtsy, Harvey knows I am not mad at him anymore.

Before the infusion yesterday, Dr. Suhag told Harvey that his white blood cell count was still very low, and that he was prescribing Neulastin.  Neulastin, similar to Neupogen, is a long lasting white blood cell booster that will work in his system for about two weeks.  This drug is likely to cause bone pain and fatigue.  Interestingly, the nurse who gave him the injection today told him to take a Claritin and a Tylenol to help minimize the pain.  We will see how that works.  Even though he is finished  with chemotherapy, Dr. Suhag is prescribing Neulastin prophylactically to boost his immunity, so that he does not succumb to an infection such as pneumonia or UTI.  He explained that a serious infection would necessitate a cessation of radiation therapy.  Starting radiation again would mean another round of chemotherapy.  Nobody wants that!

Late last week we met with Dr. Jones after Harvey’s radiation treatment.  Harvey asked him if he thought that the tumor had shrunk at all yet.  Dr. Jones explained that the radiation sterilizes the cancer cells and chemotherapy disrupts the cells’ ability to split.  The combination of two chemotherapy drugs works to damage cells at different stages of replication.  Over time, the cells can no longer reproduce and they die. The body disposes of the dead cells and the tumor shrinks.  This shrinking occurs weeks and even months after the treatment has ended.  So, we will have to wait to measure the success of the therapy.

We have weathered many storms in our lives together, and with God’s help and the good wishes and prayers of our friends and family, we will weather this storm as well.