We were very anxious Friday morning heading to the hospital. Everything would depend on Bridget’s blood counts- particularly the platelets.   We had decided as a family that if her counts were not good and treatment had to be postponed until after Labor Day, that we would head to Ocean City- a last ditch effort for some time at the beach. However, while we desperately wanted a chance to relax as a family, we were not wishing for it either. To us, the more important thing was to get Bridget’s last chemotherapy cycle started. To finish treatments. To get her to school as soon as possible. If she couldn’t get treated, going to the beach was one heck of a good back up plan. 75 was the magic number. They told us her platelets had to be 75.

Her platelets came back at 59. I’ll admit it. When I heard that they weren’t 75 I immediately started dreaming of my feet in the sand. But the doctors decided they would have a meeting of the minds and discuss it. They were considering plowing forth with treatment despite her not making count versus giving her a little break. Those minutes of waiting seemed to last forever. In the end, they decided to go ahead with treatment.

So, Bridget started with a lumbar puncture. She was happy to have it under anesthesia this time. Her poor lower back is all beat up. She says it hurts for her to bend at the waist to pick something up off the ground. Eight lumbar punctures in eight weeks. But only one more to go!

Her back isn’t the only thing that looks beat up. She has bruises everywhere.   She doesn’t recall bumping into anything or hurting herself. It’s just the low platelet count- she bleeds easily under the skin causing the bruises. We joke about the new ones we discover and how she is clueless to their origin. The nose bleeds have stopped though, thank goodness!

After the lumbar puncture we were able to move into our room for the week on 11 South. We are in Room 15 this time. Always fun to get a new room as they are all slightly different.

Bridget got her Rituxan and then they decided to give her a blood transfusion. Her Hgb wasn’t bad- 8.7, but cardiology doesn’t want it falling below 8 and causing tachycardia (fast heart rate). Knowing she would be getting 5 days of chemo in a row, which would drop her counts, they decided to bump her up in advance. Another thing leading to this decision is that Bridget will be hooked up to continuous chemo from days 2-6 and also to continuous fluids that contain bicarbonate to keep her blood pH on the basic side, which is needed due to the methotrexate- to keep her kidneys healthy while it clears her body. You can’t stop either of these to give the blood and the blood can’t go in the same tubing because they are not compatible. So, if she does need it later this week, they would have to put in another IV, something that Bridget does not want (and they don’t want to put her through). So, again, they decided to just bump up the red blood cells before starting the methotrexate.

Fun fact about Bridget’s blood transfusions- each time she gets a transfusion, she gets it from a single donor. This is a request from cardiology. I think I wrote previously about how getting blood transfusions puts her at risk in terms of her heart transplant because it exposes her to other peoples’ antibiotics (that can build up and lead to rejection).   So, rather than giving her multiple units of blood at a time, which is what the oncologists normally do to boost the blood counts, Bridget only gets one unit at a time. The unit of blood comes from a single donor, and is leukodepleted (meaning as many white blood cells as possible are removed). This limits her exposure to antibodies from other people.

I know some of you aren’t interested in all this medical stuff, but I also know I have many friends and co-workers in oncology and the medical field in general who appreciate it. Thanks in advance for everyone’s patience with my long detailed updates, as I also want to capture as much as possible for memory’s sake!

So, after the Rituxan, and the red blood cell transfusion, Bridget had to get IV fluids to help her urine meet the parameters for the Methotrexate (you may recall how it has to be a certain pH and specific gravity). So, it was a waiting game. Bridget spent the time waiting asleep.   She was exhausted from the morning in the clinic and the lumbar puncture and she took a six hour nap. I finally got her to wake at 7 and eat something- as she hadn’t eaten since midnight due to the anesthesia. Well, she ate a small bag of Ranch Doritoes after the procedure, but nothing of substance. Of course when it got to be around 10 p.m., Bridget got a second wind and we played some games. We played games until 2 a.m. when she finally, with the help of melatonin, fell asleep.   She was up almost hourly to use the bathroom (all those fluids) and at 4:15 a.m. her urine passed the test to get the methotrexate started.

Bridget woke up feeling very nauseous this morning. It was probably the most nauseous she’s been through all the treatments. She barely touched her breakfast . They gave her some Benadryl, which, you guessed it, put her right back to sleep. She refused lunch when she woke again after noon. Around 1 p.m. the doctors ordered her the scopolamine patch. Most of you know this as the patch you wear behind your ear for motion sickness for cruises. Scott texted me a few hours ago to tell me Bridget is feeling better, she can tell the patch is making a difference. She even ate almost a whole salad from Chick-Fil-A for dinner.

So, nausea averted for now (and hopefully stays averted as the patch is supposed to work for 72 hours and she’ll also continue the normal anti-nausea meds through her IV twice a day and the Benadryl as needed). No other complaints from her. Hoping this cycle goes as smoothly as the last one. We are counting down the days. We will either be discharged on Thursday evening or Friday afternoon.