Bottomed out

Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell that indicates a person's level of immunity. An average person's neutrophil levels are between 3.0 and 8.0. With chemo, Luis' neutrophils are generally less than 1.0. When they are at 0.5 or less, he is considered neutropenic meaning his body can't fight infections well.  I thought Luis' neutrophils were low this week when the were at 0.1. It turns out that they can get even lower.

One week after the onset of fever, Luis awoke again with a temperature of 39.1C. Knowing that his neutrophils were at 0.1 on Wednesday, I was sure that he was still neutropenic. A trip to the hospital confirmed that his neutrophils completely bottomed out for the first time at 0.0.

Unfortunately, this formula governs our life these days:

Fever + Neutropenia = 2 days in hospital (minimum)

It's hard to say how long Luis will be inpatient. Being discharged depends on when his fever breaks, what his cultures reveal (which take two days for results), and depending on the doctor, they may wait until he is no longer neutropenic.

It's really frustrating that he has had so many fevers. The nurse case manager suggested that some kids just don't do we'll with the daily chemo. It perpetually keeps their immune system suppressed. This daily chemo is on top of regular weekly chemo and monthly chemo. There's not much else to do but pray that the summer is more forgiving.

--Mommy