So there is not a lot going on with Mia these days.  We went in for lab work on Tuesday and her numbers looked really good.  Then we were back on Thursday for more lab work.  Chemo was doing its job and her numbers had dropped as expected.  So now we are waiting for her white blood cell counts to come back up, specifically her neutrophils.  Neutrophils only last for a day or two.  They are very important for fighting infections.  Her count has to be above 750 to start another round of Chemotherapy.    The labs also watch her Hemoglobin levels and her platelet counts.  The medicine we give her everyday at home, neuprogen, is to help her produce white blood cells faster.

Here is what it takes to give her the neuprogen.  The little syringe with the red cap is the medicine, the rest are flushes.  The nurses wanted to know if I would rather give her the medicine in her existing PICC line or give her a shot everyday.  Obviously I chose the no pain route!

We head back to the clinic tomorrow to check her numbers again.  With the neuprogen we have to check her blood counts more often.

Mia had a hard night last night.  She was in quite a bit of pain from her throat sores.  Also she regularly complains that her side hurts.  We think it is because of her spleen shrinking.  When we started all this her spleen went down into her pelvic area and crossed the middle of her body.   A spleen is normally the size of your fist and sits on your left side under your rib cage and towards the back.  Because hers was so huge they didn't even measure it.   Three weeks after her first round of chemo its length was measured at 14 cm and it barely crossed the midline.   Thursday it was measured at 8 1/2 cm and several centimeters left of the midline.  It has shrunk a lot.

As Mia's neutrophils return her mouth /throat sores will go away.  I think they may be coming back because she seems somewhat improved tonight and has not been complaining about her throat.