Grade 3 Neutropenia....and other mysteries of life

So, I had chemo yesterday - we were only at Stanford for 6 hours this time, which is still enough to make valet parking cheaper than the garage - yea for the little things in life. Stanford has a completely different philosophy on chemo treatment than Travis, which we are still getting used to. At Travis, I was automatically given Neulasta to keep my white blood cells up and even during my nadir period (7-10 days after treatment, when the counts reach their lowest), my counts were always normal. At Stanford, they don't believe in giving Neulasta unless you REALLY need it. Yesterday, when I had labs before my chemo, my total white blood cell count was 1900 (the normal range starts at 4000) and my neutrophils (the major infection fighting cells) were 800 (normal starts at 1500). This is considered Grade 3 neutropenia, which means I am much more susceptible to infection than the normal population. The crazy thing is...my counts were probably even lower at some point last week (in the 7-10 day period) and I had no idea because Stanford does not do an off-week lab check like Travis did. So, they still gave me chemo, with no Neulasta, and added a antibiotic and anti-fungal medicine to my drug regimen as preventative measures. They handed us a study that showed that this method had a higher survival rate. The thing I am wondering about though, I mean, I realize I'm not the MD here, but the one study they seem to be going off only contained 84 patients. How do you get accurate statistical data with only 84 patients??? 61 on the treatment plan I am now, and the other 23 were the control group who received a growth factor. I'm having a hard time understanding how the results of such a study could be statistically significant, but then again I'm not the genius at Stanford getting paid the big bucks???

So, I am actully feeling relatively good today, but still pretty tired. Ryan is busy planning his big trip to climb Mt. Whitney with one of his best buds this weekend, so we have backpacking equipment all over the living room - it makes me excited for when I can go again!!!

I want to start working out more, even during my chemo weeks - I think it will help me feel better sooner. I am going to try to have Ryan take me to the pool tomorrow after I get up to do some aquajogging - movement and a resistance workout without the impact will be good.

Not much else to say - I have a biochem quiz this week that I need to study for and I am preparing to take the GRE on December 22. Did I mention we are moving the first week of December?? We will seriously take all the help we can get - pizza and beer on us!!We are really excited about our new place - we have a nice patio, backyard, and sunroom, and we wanna start a Thursday night cook-out tradition (if you are reading this and you live in the Bay Area, you are definitely invited).

Thank you for all the cards, meals, prayers, comments, and kind thoughts. It really makes all this so much more bearable. It has been so nice to get home from Stanford or feel exhausted on Tuesday and not have to worry about what's for dinner. We love all of you!!