Meeting the Oncologist 9/26/2009

I woke up bright and early Saturday morning so that I could get myself and a few things for Rassie ready.  Then I headed up to Scott & White to see Rassie and catch the oncologist.  I did not want to miss meeting the doctor when he did his rounds.  We waited and waitied.  They started their rounds on the other side of the floor and Rassie's room was on the tail end and one of the last to be seen.  While we were waiting, Rassie's brother Jerry and his wife Hayley came to visit and keep us company for a while.

Finally, about 12:30 Dr. H (the staff doctor), Dr. R (the resident) and a Fellow (some type of doctor) came in.  Dr. H was wonderful.  He explained everything in great detail in a language that we could actually understand.  He was not just an in and out doctor and that really meant alot.  Dr. H told us that Rassie's white blood cell had started out at 358,000 on Friday when they had done his labs.  The normal range for white count is 4,000 to about 10,000.  Dr. H explained that the hydroxyurea and allopurinol that Rassie had been put on was to help lower his white count and to get rid of the dead cells. So far they were doing their job.  Rassie's white count had come down to 238,000. 

Then Dr. H went over treatment options.  There are two different ones they are considering for Rassie. 
1) Gleevec - A pill that Rassie would take on a daily basis. 
2) Bone Marrow Transplant

Although, with a bone marrow transplant, the leukemia could be cured and gone for good, it is a risky option.  Gleevec would not be so risky.

A bone marrow transplant would mean extensive chemotherapy to kill off and destroy all the white counts, finding a donor that matched, the transplant itself and then immunosuppression if the bone marrow started attacking the new body it's in.  I would be a long, hard process.  The pill, Gleevec, which a chemical will replace chemotherapy treatments.  You take it on a daily basis and are able to live your life as usual with no restrictions.  I specifically asked Dr. H to make sure of the side effects Gleevec would have on Rassie and would it affect what he would be able to do.  Dr. H responded with "why shouldd it?" .  This pill only has minor side effects reported. Headaches, nausea, rash, little things like this.  Other than that Rassie should feel no different than he ever has and will be able to continue with his activities and job regardless of how strenuous. 

Dr. H had said they would probably keep him 2 to 3 more days until they could get his white count down a little more and then they would see him on an out patient basis at the clinic.

Once Dr. H left, a lady from admissions came in to go over paperwork with us.  Then she told us how she prayed over the patient files for all of the patients that she sees.  It was words from her prayer that gave us the inspiration to share our story.   "Share your story to spread His Glory".  And with that we agreed we would start a blog.

After that news, I went to pick up Scarlett at mom's and came back to the hospital.  Scarlett was happy to see her daddy and daddy was happy to see both of his babies.  Rassie's parents came into town and met us at the hospital about 4:30.  We talked Rassie into getting out of the room and getting his mind off of things.  We went down to the Healing Garden outside. It was nice but the mosquitos were awful so we moved things inside to the huge lobby.  Rassie took Scarlett walking all around.  She met some old men and gave them high fives.  Rassie was having a good time too.  Then we went back to his room and visited until about 7ish.  I had to go home and get the kids fed and in bed.  Scarlett was out before we made it home.  She was exhausted from everything.  Lane took a little longer to get to sleep but I finally headed back to the hospital with a grilled cheese in hand for Rassie.   Rassie got hooked up for a blood transfusion before I made it back.  His hemoglobin was pretty low, only at a 7.  Dr. R felt it was safer to go ahead and get a transfusion then wait it out at that number.  They ended up giving him 2 units of blood and it only brought his count up to an 8.8.  I stayed with Rassie until about 11 p.m. and then I went home to get some rest.