Just Another Day in Paradise

You know, there are actually towns named Paradise. One of them is in Montana. I think it would be fun to live in a place named Paradise, but I can't live in a town named Paradise, I might as well make my life Paradise. :) I know, I am cheesy, but you gotta love it!

Enough of my silliness, on to another episode of "As the Hospital Turns". ;) In this weeks episode, Jordon had another doctor's appointment on Friday. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but his oncologist took a medical/personal leave of absence, so now Jordon has a new oncologist: Dr. Ward. He is a really great doctor.

The thing we both love about him is that he doesn't sugar-coat anything. He tells us like it is. For example, at Jordon's last MRI, Dr. Glantz said that Jordon's tumor was doing okay, that not a lot had changed. Dr. Ward however told us the cold hard truth that his tumor had actually grown (because he had missed so many chemotherapy appointments because of low blood counts). He also sat down with us and asked what Jordon missed doing because of chemotherapy/ recuperating from major brain surgery. He said that together, we would work on getting Jordon back to doing things he wanted to.

Dr. Ward also said that Jordon HAS to have his Avastin (because he feels that it is the most important treatment) so he has removed Jordon from all poison chemotherapies. Jordon will continue with his Avastin infusion every other week. He shouldn't have anything that causes the severely low counts anymore. We will see how this affects the tumor on the 31st of March.

Jordon almost had to miss his treatment again because of low counts. His platelets had gone up to 86 (still extremely low, but not life-threatening). This time his white blood counts was what was causing the potential problem. His white count was very low, but it was the ANC count (the cells that become white blood cells) that was causing a problem. The life cycle of red/white blood cells and platelets is about 2 weeks. The chemotherapy's job is to kill anything that is growning (tumor, hair, and white/blood red cells and platelets). With his white blood cell count low, and the ANC count so low, Jordon pretty much does not have an immune system right now, and until his bone marrow produces more, he won't have one for the next two weeks or so. No worries. Jordon will continue to be the masked-man, and he will continue to be a forced germaphobe.

On to happier thoughts. Jordon and I got to ride on Saturday. Since it was a fairly nice day we rode in the outdoor arena. Michelle (our instructor) is great. She was very patient with me (since I am fairly new to horseback riding). We focused on riding without using our reins. Everything we did was with our bodies, the stopping, starting, turning and trotting. Can I just tell you: great ab and lower body workout!!! :) I will have to try and get picutres of us both riding. Well, it is late, and much of this post probably doesn't make sense, so I will end it and get some sleep! Have a great week everyone!!!