Yesterday was another trip back to Duke, hopeful that my white blood cell count was back close to normal so I could get another treatment. The blood test results indicated that the Neupogen shot I got last week to help boost my count was very succesful and my count was well into the normal range. That was good news so the next chemo treament could proceed as scheduled (obviously I have a very distorted view of what constitutes "good news"). This is my first time for this new drug called Pralatrexate, which is fairly new, and targeted primarliy at T-Cell Lymphoma. My normal treatment with this drug is once per week for 3 weeks, although I missed last week because of my low white cell count. As I have mentioned before, the primary side effect is mouth sores, which normally appear in about 7 to 10 days after treatment, so good oral care and lots of prayers between now and then are definitely in order. Everything went smoothly with the treatement except that they "lost" my drugs for about an hour, but the search party finally arrived with IV bag in hand.
After leaving Duke we headed 4 hours west to visit our daughter and her family for a few days. As I have said in an earlier post, my cancer will not be allowed to rule my life. So even though yeterday was my first time for that drug, and I am not totally sure that I won't have a bad reaction, we are planning 3 or 4 days with family. The safe bet would have been to return home, but then we would miss the excitement and wonder seen in the eyes of a 5 year old and 2 year old, and the joy of holding a 3 month old. Now that is what life is all about. And we will grab every opportunity to take advantage of the beauty and joy the Lord has given us. Besides that, our son-in-law has promised to slow cook several racks of ribs on the grill, and the boy knows how to cook ribs.
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