Well we are still waiting, Sal’s counts are going up really slow.  There isn’t much exciting news to say, we are just patiently waiting to see what is going to happen.  We still haven’t received the final results for the bone marrow test.  The doctor said that once Sal’s white blood count goes up, he will do another test.

Sal has been off of the IV fluids for several days and has enjoyed his freedom.  He still isn’t able to go past the 4th floor but he has enjoyed not having to tote around wall-e.

The doctor is almost done taking Sal off of the antibiotics.  He is still take an antiviral, but he will probably be taken off of it in the next couple of days.

We will keep you posted with any new updates

Sal’s counts today

White Blood Count   1.9  (yesterday 1.8)

Hemoglobin   8.6  (yesterday 8.5)

Platelets   55  (yesterday 43)

We haven’t had a lot of changes the past few days.  We are still waiting for the results of the bone marrow test. Sal’s white blood count has been between 1.0 to 1.6 for the past 3 or 4 days.  His platelets went up today which is the first time since the last chemo treatment.

The doctor took him off of his antibiotic on Tuesday.  The doctor said this was the longest he has ever had a patient on antibiotic.

Sal was also moved to a different room.  The nurses felt sorry for him and wanted to give him a better view.  I guess being there over 7 weeks does have its advantages.

Sal’s blood work

White Blood count     1.6

Platelets   38

Hemoglobin   8.9

I apologize, Sal and I usually do the updates but I have been going to our oldest daughter’s volleyball tournament in Anaheim.  Just a quick update, Sal’s spirits are good and he is continuing his battle to fight this!  His numbers are about the same and we are still waiting for the test results.  As soon as we hear something we will let everyone know.

We appreciate everyone’s support and help.  I really appreciate our friend’s Jaime and Dawn watching the two younger kids so that I can go to the tournament and come home and rest. We also appreciate our friend Heidi’s mom for letting Kiera stay with her and taking her to the tournament since they have to be there so early.  I was able to make most of her games and enjoyed seeing her play.

Thank you again!

Sal’s blood work for today

White Blood Count 1.0

Hemoglobin 8.7

Platelets 14

A message from Sal, “I know everyone is waiting for some kind of word, but the word is basically we still don’t know.”  The doctor came by today and said that he spoke to the pathologist and he said that there is 10% cellularity.  This basically means that the bone marrow is empty.  The pathologist is still testing to see if there is any leukemia left, we will possibly know the results the end of next week.

We are still waiting and hoping for remission.  We will keep you updated on how he is doing and let you know as soon as possible.

Sal’s blood work results for today

White Blood Count   0.9

Hemoglobin   8.7

Platelets   18

Day 42

We are still waiting for the results of Monday’s bone marrow test.  It could be a while before we get the results.  The doctor said he could call and get a preliminary result tomorrow, but it won’t be all of the results from the test.

Nothing too eventful happening today.  Everything is pretty quiet.  Sal is a little concerned that the white blood count didn’t drop more.  Last chemo treatment his white blood count dropped to 0.4 and 0.5 before they went up, but the doctor said we just need to make sure there aren’t any blasts in the blood tests that they take each day once the count starts going up.  So, we just have to be patient and wait to see what the results will be.

Test results for June 19^th

White Blood Count   0.9

Hemoglobin   9.7

Platelets  45

Test Results for June 20^th

White Blood Count    1.0

Hemoglobin   9.7

Platelets   33

The last few days have been about the same.  The counts have gone down, but unfortunately his platelets and hemoglobin dropped drastically in the past two days.  Over the past few days Sal’s platelet count has gone from 38 to 18 to 5 today.  Because his platelets are SO low they have to do a platelet transfusion.  They may not be able to do the bone marrow test today, because his blood can not clot right now.  But after the transfusion they will do another test to see if the platelets went up enough to see if he can have the bone marrow test done.

His hemoglobin is also down to 7.5 which went down from 8.2.  So he will also have to have a blood transfusion today.

While working on this blog, they started the platelet transfusion which will last about an hour.  I am not sure how long after it is complete that they will recheck his platelet count.

The doctor also said we will need to limit his visitors this week due to the low counts that he has now.  If you would like to visit, please contact me prior to coming up at 951-259-7615.  He still can NOT have any fresh fruit, vegetables, flowers, or plants in his room and when you come to visit you CAN NOT be sick at all and must wash your hands and wear a mask before you enter the room.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and generosity during this battle.  We appreciate everyone’s help and couldn’t do it without you guys!  Thank you!!!!!

Sal’s counts for today

White Blood count   0.8  ( Normal is between 4-11, however his count needs to get as close to zero as possible before his numbers start going back up, once his numbers start going up hopefully the leukemia will not reproduce again)

Hemoglobin   7.5 (Normal is between 14-18, this has gone down because of the chemo)

Platelets   5 (Normal is between 130-400, this has also gone down because of the chemo, but this needs to stay above 10 or he has to have a platelet transfusion.  The platelets are what help your blood clot when you get cut)

Good morning,

Sorry we didn’t do an update the past two days.  The internet has been real slow for some reason.  Sal saw a different doctor Wednesday because his doctor is off for the next few days.

The doctor said that not having the same signs and reactions to the chemo as last time is good,  we don’t want those reactions because they complicate things.  The symptoms that he had last time were headaches, shivering, temperatures, etc.

The doctor said that the white blood count needs to go down to as close to zero as possible.  They want the bone marrow to be completely stripped.  Sal’s normal doctor will be back on Monday and will be doing the bone marrow test again.   Due to the pain that he will have during this procedure he will not want any visitors that day.

Last night he slept pretty good, except Walle kept beeping because of air in the line.  He did have a little bit of low blood pressure but they said it could also be due to sleeping and it wasn’t as low as it was before he got the blood transfusion.  He didn’t have any micro sweats last night like he did the night before.  So overall he didn’t have too bad of a night.

Please make sure you call prior to coming up to visit.  He cannot have any visitors that are even slightly sick, or any fresh flowers, plants, fruits, or vegetables.  While his counts are low, we cannot take a chance.

Here are his counts for the past two days

White blood count   2.0 yesterday    1.1 today (The white blood count still has to go down lower)

Hemoglobin   9.4 yesterday      8.4 today (The reason it is higher yesterday is because he had a blood transfusion the night before.  He will have to have another blood transfusion if it goes below 8.0 or if he has symptoms such as low blood pressure)

Platelets   158 yesterday    107 today

Today was a pretty uneventful day.  Sal’s counts are still dropping which is what we expected.  He had to have two pints of blood today due to low hemoglobin.  The Benedryl and Tylenol that they gave him prior to the blood transfusion made him pretty tired.

The doctor said that everything is moving along like it is suppose to.  We will keep you updated on any changes.

Blood test results from yesterday and today

White Blood Count yesterday 1.9  today 1.4

Hemoglobin yesterday 8.3 and today 7.8

Platelets yesterday 334 today 244

The nurse tonight said we also need to keep track of his kidney functions, because the chemo can cause damage to his kidneys

BUN   11  (Normal under 19 is good)

Creatinine .6 (Normal .7-1.3 is good)

Electrolytes 135 (Normal 135-145)

Potassium 3.8   (Normal 3.5-5)