Continuing Campath Treatment

The doctors said that Jack's white blood cell count is in the 300s today. The attending oncologist thinks the reading from yesterday (150s) must have been incorrect. He was actually in the 300s for a few days before. They did three days of the Campath in a row and they are now going to start doing 30 milligrams every other day going forward. The doctor mentioned that all of the current white blood cells that they are detecting are actually cancer based PLL cells. This means that they are non-functioning white blood cells. They have him on preventive antibiotics since his immune system is so depressed. His swelling is still concerning the doctors and they have him on Lasix to try and control it. They have to be careful to do it on a limited basis because doing it too fast can hurt his kidneys. Apparently, it can take a long time for the body to recover from being provided so much hydration (like he was in the ICU).

Overall, the doctors think that he is progressing but it is still to early to tell how the cancer medicine is really working.

His blood sugar was slightly elevated (in the 210 range) and he seemed pretty lethargic while we were here. He was actually sleeping most of the time. Fran said he was much more awake yesterday. His dinner was delivered today so we are going to try and make sure he eats... nobody was here with him at lunch time so we are not sure how much he actually ate. He pulled his feeding tube out again but the nurses said that as long as he is eating they won't put it back in.

The department was a little short staffed today so they weren't able to get him in the physical therapy (PT) chair today but they said they will probably continue with full PT on Tuesday.

Also, Fran ordered Jack a new pair of glasses so hopefully he will be able to start reading all of the posts people are putting on here. We are also going to bring Josh (his grandson) over for a quick visit tomorrow. He hasn't seen him in weeks so that should lift his spirits.