Treatment #2 9-22-08

Rachel spent last weekend hanging out... went to St. Joe on Saturday with girlfriends to watch Pitt State play.... Her attitude is really great... expecting complete recovery and acts like nothing has changed in her life!

Rachel had her 2nd treatment yesterday...  Took an entire entourage with her... I think she actually would like to go with her friends and sister... Jan and I ask too many questions??!

On to the treatment....the part of her blood count (Neutrophil) that fights infection was pretty low yesterday.  Last week they told us if her Neutrophil count was 1.5 or lower they probably wouldn't give her chemo.  Last week  (her off week) it was at 1.6 and this week  it was   0.2 !!!  Very low-----they surprised us and went ahead with her treatment  - because they really don't want get behind.  Her other blood counts were pretty good, so that is probably why they went ahead with chemo.   She will get a shot today to boost her white blood cell count.    She feels fine, but is staying in for a couple days since she is so susceptible to infection right now.

Typically... the chemo wipes out your white cells... your body replaces them...The nurses told us that Rachel will probably be one that her cell count drops later in the 2-week treatment cycle rather that earlier.   

2 down..... 6 to go!!