We started our clinic visit today with……a blown vein in his hand.  Kelly knew it the instant it blew.  She put her stuff down and asked Jake if he wanted someone else to try the other hand.

He said no.  He trusts Kelly.

She didn’t let him down either.  She accessed the left hand with no problems and drew his blood for labs.  His ANC was up today to 690, but his platelets were down again.

It was explained to me that his bone marrow took a big hit this last time he was hospitalized and it is still recovering.  Ann and Dr. Hill were both more concerned with getting him back on chemo than with his blood counts, so he was started back on the Vincristine today.  He will also start back on his prednisone tonight – which should help his ANC get back up to a normal level.

They also told me last week that another test had come back showing that Jake does not metabolize the oral chemo 6MP.  This is a drug he has been on a lot over the last year and is a big part of maintenance.  He has to have it.  The plan is to start him very slowly back onto it and see what he can tolerate.  Thankfully they are not starting it up yet.  Let’s just keep it simple and stay with 2 drugs this week, please.

Other than that he is feeling good and looking good.  Maybe we can find an easy routine for this maintenance phase in the near future…Jake likes to be difficult though.  :)