Postponing the next phase

We got to go home from the hospital on Thursday January 31, but Molly's Absolute Neutrophil Count was still too low (300 - normal is about 1500 for cancer patients, and 3000 for healthy people) to take her off of the antibiotics, so she got sent home with her port accessed. She also had to take the medication for the c. diff. for another week. A low ANC means that she is at a very high risk of catching infectious diseases or getting an infection from open wounds.

We were hoping her ANC would come up so we could de-access her port and stop giving the antibiotics (I think she might be getting a yeast problem because of the meds) but the labs from Monday (Feb 4th) showed that her ANC went even lower (100), so it is apparent that we'll be giving her the cefepime through her IV port 3 times a day for at least another week. The pharmacist that sends us the meds told me that he thinks her ANC bottomed out and it will be rising pretty quickly now. We have labs scheduled for next Tuesday, and that will tell us if we can discontinue the antibiotics and start the next phase of chemo.

P.S.

Our family and friends are such great people! We are astounded at the level of support you all have for us! Thank you so much! By the way, Daddy is recovering just fine from his abdominal surgery. He's still sore and can't get comfortable when we sit and watch TV, but he's back to sleeping normally. It'll still be a few weeks before he can help with carrying kids around, but that's OK because we can't go anywhere with Molly's ANC so low anyway.

P.P.S.

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