Outstanding Doctor Report!

Although he doesn't feel great, sleeps a lot during the day so can't sleep at night, still has some nausea, very tired/fatigued, and dealing with some other side effects, he had an outstanding doctor report today!  They said he looked great and was doing better than expected.  

His numbers are good - WBC at 4.2, HCT at 29.3 and Platelets at 52.  All his vitals were good.  He's officially lost 16lbs from when he went in the hospital (as expected) As a result of the good platelet number, he was able to have his port removed today (picture above).  This means no more transfusions.  We won't have to be seeing the Center for Advanced Medicine for another two weeks.  

The doctor explained that all the symptoms he's dealing with are extremely normal.  Typically at Day 30 (remember, he's at Day 17), he'll start to feel much better.  They encouraged him to eat small frequent meals vs. three big meals a day -  Lots of protein.  LOTS of exercise - as much as he can do.  

His immune system is basically that of a 17 day old baby and he needs to treat it as such.  Wash hands a lot, avoid big crowds, don't be around people that are sick, etc.  But he can have vistors at home (as long as everyone doesn't show at the same time and he feels up to it).  

So what's next and how do we know if this worked?  Day 100 is Graduation Day.  They will do a bone marrow biopsy and determine if the cancer is reduced by 90%.  That is the goal.  If so, they will start him on a low dose of chemo that he'll take for two years.   

Thanks for all your continued prayers and support.  He can definitely feel them.

God is Faithful!