Just to Clarify

First of all, an important clarification: The graph I included in my last blog shows that her white blood cell count is decreasing dramatically, which is a very good thing.

The whole goal of this first phase of treatment is to kill off Pam's white blood cells. At that point, her leukemia will be in remission. When we first started chemo, the goal was to get her count "under 5".  We are well below that now, but in spite of Pam being so sick, they will continue the chemo a couple of more days, because getting the count even lower is better. 

In the second phase of treatment, she will more than likely need a bone marrow transplant so she can start producing healthy blood again.

I asked her oncologist today "how low can it go"?  In other words, will her count ever get to zero?  Is that really the ideal goal?  He said "well, there might be a few very scared white blood cells running around, the count never gets to zero, they will always find a few, but we want to get as close to zero as we can". 

We also discussed other important matters like the wisdom of the Ichiro trade in light of his crappy on base percentage. Dr. Weinstein happens to agree with me on the trade, which confirms my suspicion that he is a man of great wisdom and impeccable judgment.

When I left the hospital, Pam was pretty comfortable and her respiratory distress seems to be improving.  They are beginning to wean her from the oxygen, and it seems to be slowly improving. 

Her nurse got her cleaned up this evening and put her hair in braids to keep it out of her face.  I told her that she looked kind of cute that way, and she said "Right, I am just glad there isn't a mirror, I look like a mess."  I said, "yea, I guess you do, but you're my mess", at which point she made a goofy face in lieu of an obscene gesture of some sort.

We are both very thankful for the support of our friends and family. PLEASE... feel free to call me if you have any questions or want to talk.