Holding Temodar Treatments

Steve's blood platelet levels have been too low to take his Temodar. His first round of labs had platelets even lower at 81,000. Terry sent me the following:

Here you go 9/4/14 Blood work for Steve WBC 4.9 RBC 4.75 Hemoglobin 15.7 Hematocrit 45 Platelets 88,000 Creatinine 1.1 BUN 16 Next Appointment, Avastin and blood work 9/12

He had his Avastin treatment about a week ago. It went well without any side effects, just taking up the morning. They saw a substitute doctor instead of Dr. Hu who was very optimistic about how much longer folks are living with glioblastoma and how many new treatments and options are available.

I got to spend last weekend with them. It's always great to see them and enjoy their home and hospitality. We had planned a quiet day since we didn't know how well Steve would feel right after his second Avastin treatment. We talked and relaxed and barbecued. I noticed more word-finding problems than when I had last seen him. I wonder if that was left over from when he had the flu. Terry was going to mention it to Dr. Hu when he came back from his vacation and will see them on the twelfth.

Terry and our sister Lesley spent yesterday at a seminar on Outsmarting Brain Tumors at Cedars-Sinai. They found some of it basic but they also learned some new information, especially about immuno-therapies and vaccines. Cedars has made the information available to all of us via the magic of the internet, for those of you who may want more information :)

http://www.cedars-sinai.edu/Patients/Programs-and-Services/Neurosurgery/Conferences/2015-Outsmarting-Brain-Tumors-Presentations.aspx

A talk about nutrition:

http://maryhardy.com/

And another link they liked about someone named Chad at Chad's Blog is http://thebrainchancery.com

Platelets Rising

Steve has the results from his latest lab work with good news on his platelet count and not on his creatinine count: platelets rose to 59,000, closer to normal and showing signs that his bone marrow is recovering from the chemotherapy; creatinine also rose to 2.7 indicating his kidneys are still not functioning fully, despite Steve's continuously drinking fluids. They wanted to discuss the kidney numbers with their nephrologist but he is out of the office until Wednesday, so we don't know what to make of the numbers yet.

Steve finished his first week of work in better shape than Terry or I thought he might. His level of fatigue was quite manageable as long as he rested after work. His upset stomach increased by the end of the week but was mostly controlled with his medications. Overall, he had a great starting week.

I was concerned about any damage to Steve's brain, particularly near the language center, which likely resulted from the tumor, the surgery or the radiation treatment. When he was home, his brain didn't have to work as hard or try to make as many connections as it does at work. I thought he might discover some limitations in his language abilities when working with complex problems at work. Steve acknowledged that he had forgotten some things and has had some small language issues but all he had to do was ask questions and his colleagues helped him out. I'm glad it has not been a problem for him. The brain is good at building new neural pathways and will make new connections to process and retrieve language with exercise. He just has to keep stimulating his brain and I doubt any of us will notice a problem in the future.

Hopefully, Steve will have a quiet couple of weeks leading up to his April 20th MRI and subsequent round of maintenance chemotherapy. Easter is tomorrow and they will have family over for a nice dinner.

Happy Easter and Passover, everyone.