Dad couldn't have his 3rd dose of chemotherapy yesterday because his blood test showed that his white blood cell count is low. I vaguely remember that when our white blood cell(wbc) number is high, it means we're having some form of infection and the body is producing more wbc to fight the infection. But what happens when it's low?
As far as I understand fm what I've read, the chemo drug targets all fast-growing cells in our body, which includes our skin cells, blood cells and hair cells. That is why patients going thru chemo experience hairloss, skin irritation and drop in their blood cell counts. So I guess this must be the reason why doc cancelled Dad's chemo ytd to prevent the drug fm reducing the wbc further. But how to help the body increase the no of wbc to its optimum level?
Anyway, Dad's been quite 'healthy' otherwise. His appetite is soooooooooo good that he's eating 4-5 meals a day. He's been eating so much till he start asking me, "Is this normal? Why do I keep getting hungry so easily?" haha... Told him that I'm happier seeing him eat than when he cant eat. He cant eat, I cant sleep! Now he's gone out to town with Mum, on their own! First time that they've gone out on their own without me (or any of my siblings) accompanying, since his hospitalisation in May. I'm confident he knows his body well, and he knows he can go about independently. Dad, jia you!
Now we'll just wait for next Tue for his CT scan. Then the doc will review it with us on 21 Oct. Hopefully this CT scan will show further improvement and he can be off chemo or be switched to a reduced frequency. Pray.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment