White Blood Cells

A slightly more interesting week than normal.

Let's start with the hand/foot syndrome. While my feet seem to be surviving, my hands are becoming more of a challenge. After two weeks with no Xeloda, they are still fairly red and sore in spots. I am using cream frequently to try to bring things back. Dr. Patel said that the area between the thumb and the forefinger will blister and crack if we move to stage three and that will encourage infection. I was/am on the edge of stage two. As mentioned previously, if I get to stage three, I will have to stop doing Xeloda and in the absence of an alternative, will have to revert to regular chemo infusions. My feet are helped in part by some new Skechers shoes that are very comfortable. Hmmm, does Skechers make gloves?

That, of course, turns the focus, in part, on white blood cells. Surprisingly, my count was down this week when I expected it to improve. Most of my other numbers were decent with one exception. The protein in my urine was high. This may be caused by the Avastin which I have infused every three weeks.. We have to keep an eye on this.

My platelets are holding up significantly from three or four weeks ago. The research manager is still crowing about her finding papaya and papaya leaf extract and beet root juice. She is constantly putting reminders in my way to remind me about the beet juice.

Yesterday, I had two teeth extracted. This was an interesting process. The whole thing took only twenty minutes. They took some of my blood before starting and put it in a centrifuge to isolate the white blood cells. These were then put in the gap caused by the extraction. I have had no pain to speak of. I have to eat soft food (the research manager read me the list of foods and slyly omitted mentioning the ice cream!) I am getting a little tired of soup.

I felt well enough to go and play bridge this afternoon and did alright with a new partner. However, tennis is out of the question until at least Saturday. I feel that I could start tomorrow, but.......

The schedule this week and some caution about the heat and the teeth has ruled out the far infrared sauna this week, but last week was sure interesting. I got to the sauna and the receptionist Helen was busy running around and said that she wished she could join me. Now, let me tell you that the research manager had suggested that she and I could share the sauna, but since I had resisted the suggestion, it would have been hard to explain why I was willing to do it with Helen. So, I was in my own little private peaceful world. for the session.

When I got out, there was a younger woman sitting waiting and Helen said that she wanted to ask me some questions. I said to myself "Oh Boy, here comes another offer to share the sauna." But it turned out the questions related primarily to how tired I got from the session since she had gotten really tired the first few times. We got into an interesting conversation about auto-immune diseases and then eventually the research manager and my blog and the rm's appendix in my book.

Life continues to be good. Thanks for all your interest, care and prayers. They all give me energy.

Next stop. Petscan on this coming Monday. Always a nervous moment.