ANC: Absolute Neutrophil Count

Today I read up on neutrophils and what an "ANC" is when the clinic called to report that Brendan's neutrophil counts were low this morning.  His numbers went from 1600 on Thursday to 900 on Monday.   Here is what I read from our book:

"The neutrophils help fight bacterial and fungal infections.  They are the first to arrive at the site of infection.  They are made in a healthy body at the rate of 80 million per minute, but they are short-lived, usually only lasting 2 to 3 days.  They make up about 60% of the body's white blood cells.  When your child does not have enough neutrophils, he has a condition called neutropenia."

All of the rest of his counts, including sodium, are still in the "normal" range.

So there has been a lot of hand washing going on here today. . . and anyone with a cough wore a mask.

Except Aaron couldn't seem to remember to keep his mask on. . .

On Monday the nurse came to draw blood early and I had forgotten to put the EMLA (numbing) cream on Brendan's port 30 minutes earlier.  Brendan was concerned that the needle would hurt, but we told him it would only be for a second, if at all.  He bravely waited for them to push the needle into his port, while the tears quietly slid down his cheeks.  He didn't flinch a bit and even said afterwards that it didn't hurt much, and that he could do it again if he had to.  The anticipation was the worst part.


This week, Brendan is noticing a lot more problems with his hearing.  He has a constant high-pitched ringing in his ears, and he commented that he only caught about half of the words in the movie the other night.  The next audiogram will be on Monday -- just before they start the next round of chemo.  We know he is already in the range for needing hearing aids, but I suspect they will wait until treatment is finished before making any steps in that direction.  In discussing the problem with one of the oncologists, they reminded me that treating a tumor like Brendan's without Cisplatin (chemo drug that causes hearing loss) is unthinkable.  The audiologist also reminded me that hearing loss can be treated with hearing aids, but that is a manageable side effect in getting rid of any microscopic tumor cells.  If Brendan's hearing does drop into the 2000 hertz range, they will discontinue the Cisplatin and use a different chemo treatment.