A Break From Chemo

This past week Michael has been able to take a much-needed break from chemo. We are currently at the halfway point of his second course of chemo. Because this particular course is so brutal, Michael’s blood counts all had to be at certain minimum levels before we could begin. The first half of the course included spinal taps on four consecutive weeks, home injections for two weeks that I had to administer, the infamous CALPEG that brought about three visits to Mott in one week, and then one week with a milder chemo that I think is designed to allow the patient to recover from the CALPEG.

The second half of the course will be a mirror of the first minus the spinal taps. However, before we could begin the second half, Michael’s blood counts had to be back up to the same minimums required to start the course. Two Sundays ago, I asked our church to pray that it would be abundantly clear whether we should move forward with chemo or take a one-week break to allow Michaels levels to come back up. One the one hand, I am the type that wants to push forward and get this over with. On the other hand, I could sense that a break from chemo might not be a bad idea.

Last Monday when we got the blood work results back two out of the three counts were well above the threshold for moving forward with the chemo. However, Michael’s ANC needed to be above 750, and that day it was at 100. I praise the Lord for making it abundantly clear that Michael needed a break. Michael has spent this last week resting, and he perked up significantly toward the end of the week.

On Tuesday, we got a phone call from the nurse practitioner with Michael’s x-ray results. The huge praise is that there is no sign of bone degeneration. The x-ray did, however, show signs of bone demineralization. So, Michael has been prescribed a Vitamin D supplement to address this. Our doctors believe his knee pain may be a result of muscle atrophy. Michael hasn’t been very active the last few months, and it is likely that the muscles in his legs have weakened somewhat causing his knees to be less stable. The instability in his knees is putting more stress on his tendons and ligaments which is likely the cause of his pain. Michael will be going to physical therapy starting in the near future to try to remedy this issue. He has also just recently begun complaining about pain in one of his Achilles tendons. We are hoping physical therapy will address this as well.

Another praise is that several of Michael’s appointments have been moved to a more reasonable time in the morning. Today we didn’t have to be down to Mott until 10:45 AM which allowed for a somewhat leisurely morning complete with Chick-fil-A for breakfast.

After getting Michael’s blood work done, we met with a nurse practitioner. While Michael’s ANC has come up substantially to 621, it still does not meet the threshold to continue with chemo. So, Michael will get another week to let his body rest. I fully anticipate that we will be moving forward with chemo next week.

Once again, this week God’s people have been a blessing to us. Yesterday afternoon Sarah and I went to the viewing of gentleman who was Sarah’s pastor in her high school and college years. Her pastor’s son is Michael’s history and geography teacher and has really connected with him. Her pastor’s daughter-in-law taught three of our kids in first grade. So, we went with the hopes of being an encouragement to them. We left having been incredibly encouraged ourselves.

Almost the moment we stepped out of our vehicle in the parking lot, people came up to us asking about Michael. Our brothers in sisters in Christ told us repeatedly how much they were praying for us. One of the pastors shared some scripture with us that was incredibly encouraging. He told us that he had shared this blog and Sarah’s Caring Bridge posts with others and that they had encouraged folks going through situations that are worse than ours. We were also connected with a couple whose son has survived the same cancer that Michael is fighting. And we headed home encouraged by God’s people feeling like our load was a little lighter.

We will enjoy another week of no chemo, and get back at it again, Lord willing, next week.