Good news from Bill's latest MRI! The MRI was at the very least stable, and might even indicate some decrease in the size of the remainder of Bill's tumor! The neuro-oncologist said that 4 months into chemo is the very earliest we might see any changes in a positive direction, so this is really excellent news. Time to celebrate!
The other news (I refuse to say 'bad news', because it's not really bad nor good) is that Bill's platelet count was a little down (to 65) last Wednesday, which was supposed to be the kickoff day of round 5. This is a pretty common side effect from the chemo drug that he's on, so we've delayed round 5 until his platelets have recovered enough that he can safely do another round. We went in for more blood work Friday morning and his count had gone up to 115, which is above the safety line of 100 for starting the next round of chemo. Hooray! Bill doesn't need a transfusion and I don't need to shield him from sharp objects!
For some patients, platelets are only a problem once or twice in all their chemo cycles, but if it becomes a recurring issue, we'll discuss changing the chemo dosing or the chemo schedule to ensure that Bill's bone marrow can keep making platelets.
We rescheduled chemo round 5 to start this Tuesday (tomorrow). We opted to start this round and rounds moving forward on a Tuesday instead of Wednesday so that we both have a better shot at working a little bit on the following Monday. This means that Bill will probably feel the worst on chemo Sundays instead of Mondays.
On the nice side of this, since chemo has been delayed for a bit, we're enjoying more time of Bill feeling good, eating lots of food, getting some exercise, and going on long walks when the weather cooperates. Sunday brunch tastes a lot better when you walk a couple miles to get there!
