Here Are Some Details

I have updated information from Terry on how Steve's medical status has been these last two weeks. He had several lab tests done to monitor his chemotherapy's effects on his body.  They were taken during his third and fourth weeks after his latest round of Temodar. Typically, chemo's effects are worse around week three.
               July 14th test             July 19th test
Creatinine         1.4                    1.3
Red blood cells   2.9                   3.83
White blood cells  2.7                4.3
Platelets          91,000                147,000

I learned from Terry that the creatinine level has to be below 1.3 in order for contrast dye to be given for MRIs. Apparently, two months ago, Steve's MRI was without contrast dye due to his high levels back then (when his kidney problem was newer). This time, since he hit the 1.3 mark, his Friday MRI was done with the contrast dye. I'm happy he had another negative scan result with the more detailed contrast procedure. Whoohoo!

By the way, Steve had a brief fainting spell before the MRI on July 20th when they were drawing blood AGAIN. He already had a hematoma in his arm from the day before and they were having trouble getting a vein. They poked and prodded him too many times. Combined with his general higher anxiety level wondering if the MRI was going to show new cancer or not, he did a quick fall over for a few seconds. They delayed his MRI for five minutes until he was back to normal and he's stayed upright since then.

Lucky Steve got to have blood drawn again on Monday to determine if he could start his next round of chemotherapy. It was scheduled to start on Tuesday. Terry just got a brief report from Dr. Hu's office which said his creatinine went up to 1.5 but that was expected as a side effect of the contrast dye from the MRI. He was given the go-ahead to start chemo on schedule last night. He is being kept at the lower 200 mg dose for another month because of his not-quite-normal lab values. The goal is 250 mg when his body can tolerate it.

Steve felt fine most of this month.  The worst he felt was during his third week when he was having his worst lab values. He had an upset stomach from eating dinner out one night which lasted until the next morning. His stomach seems to be more sensitive than it used to be. In general, he was managing on only one Zofran pill a day most of the time. During the five days of chemo, however, Steve is going back to three Zofran a day to help keep nausea under control.

He has been busy at work and is getting caught up in the stress of it. He hasn't missed any work and tries to do all his medical appointments in the evenings or during his alternating Friday's off. His next appointment is a check up with the nephrologist on August 8, then lab work the 13th and 20th, and an appointment with Dr. Hu on the seventeenth.