Moved to Monday

This morning it was time to get a move on.  Blood draws had to be done, bags packed, and everything put in order for an early drive to Salt Lake on Friday.  But half way through blood draws, the nurse and I both got the message that the blood draws were to be cancelled.  Oops!  Too late.

 Which was too bad, because they had had a difficult time getting blood today.  Brendan had tried every position he could think of to get blood flowing.  Finally, they got enough blood for the tests.  But then we ended up just throwing it away.

The message came that chemo was being rescheduled for next Monday,  Feb 22nd.  With the new chemo they are giving Brendan (it's called Carboplatin) they want to be fully staffed and not just have weekend "on call" doctors available.  So Monday it is.  I didn't complain.  And neither did Brendan.

The nurse stuck around for awhile getting to know Brendan a little better.  He had told her he had a problem with new (meaning unfamiliar) nurses -- "they often don't know what they are doing"--(by which he means-- they don't do it the way he's used to).  So he had been a little anxious, and had that "tight chest" feeling.  She took her time and let him take her blood pressure and told him how the oxygen monitor (on his finger) got the readings it does.  Brendan was impressed.  And felt much better by the time she left.

 Going from lots to do, to nothing to do fit right into our schedule.  Brendan even took time to eat lunch! (Yes!)

The new chemotherapy protocol will include one day of carboplatin and three days of etopocide.  Daily neupogen shots (they increase the rate the bone marrow puts out new blood cells) will be given after chemo until Brendan's ANC reaches nadir (low point) and comes back to 1500.  Brendan will still receive an audiogram before chemo starts each round.

So, now we have the weekend at home!  That's good news.  And it's nice to know they have a new plan in place.