Butch Lerum

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Butch went in for a fairly routine angioplasty on 4/2 because a prior stress test indicated that he had some blockage.  



Upon arriving at the hospital the Dr's seemed concerned about some his preoperative blood work.  His cardiologist completed the angioplasty.  His cardio Dr was pleased to report that the stress test was a false positive and his heart was in perfect working order.  But, there was the issue with his white blood cell count.




The initial numbers were around 45,000, normal readings should be between 5,000 - 10,000.  Butch was admitted to Mountain Vista hospital while they ran more tests to see what the cause was for his elevated white cell count. 




April 3, 2018 

More blood work was done but no official results were back but we were told that they were now consulting with a hematologist and an oncologist.  Butch spent another night at Mountain Vista hospital.




April 4, 2018

All signs were now pointing to some kind of a blood cancer and Butch had his first bone marrow biopsy.  Butch spent another night at Mountain Vista hospital.




April 5, 2018

The initial report came back from the bone marrow biopsy and that did confirm that Butch had Leukemia.  Dr Gopal wasn't sure if the leukemia was chronic or acute so Butch was referred to Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center.  Butch was discharged from Mountain Vista hospital early in the afternoon and was able to home for the evening.




April 6, 2018

Butch had his consolation with Dr Nath early in the day.  Enough tests results had come back for Dr Nath to confirm that Butch had Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).  If the AML was left untreated the prognosis was bleak. Butch and family that were in town felt it best to not wait until he returned back to MN for treatment.  Dr Nath was able to get Butch admitted into the Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center.  Dr Nath had predicted that Butch would need to be in the hospital for roughly 30 days during the first round of chemo.




April 7, 2018

Butch had his first chemo treatment.  His white cell count had risen to 88,000.




April, 8 2018

Butch had his second and third chemo treatments.  The third chemo treatment was affectionately referred to as Smurf juice, because it went in and came out bright blue.  After the first round of chemo the cell count had dropped to 45,000 and Butch actually felt a little better.




April 9, 2018

Butch had his fourth chemo treatment.  His white cell count had dropped to 23,000.




April 10, 2018

Butch had fifth and final chemo treatment for this round.  His white count had dropped to 11,000.




April 11, 2018

Butch's white count was now down to 7,000.  He still didn't have much energy and really now appetite.