Week 3

     We woke up to great news this morning! The doctors office called to inform us that Eric's tumor markers are down to 6000! This was very exciting to hear, the chemo is working! Eric has been thrilled to hear each time they have dropped, it is such a relief to know that we are getting results! So our day started off well!
    We went in today for the MRI on his brain, they should have results within 2-3 days. We are hopeful that everything will show as normal on the MRI. He sailed through that today and the chemo treatment. They did report that his white blood count is really low, so they have to give him shots every day this week to try and boost the growth of the white blood cells. So now instead of just going in once this week, he will be there the rest of the week for a shot and on Friday for blood work to check the progress. The shot can cause bone pain and flu like symptoms, so this week may be a little rough. Tonight Eric just seems to be his usual tired after treatment, but overall is doing well.
   Last night we got the clippers out and buzzed his hair off. It has been slowly thinning out, but yesterday he noticed his hair falling out a lot more. You could pull clumps of hair out of his head by running your finger through his hair, even his arm pit hair was falling out in the shower. So after a day of shedding all over everything, we gave in and buzzed it off to try and manage it better. It is weird how easily it comes out, you pull on it and it just falls right out. He has a few bald spots now in his "trademark" on his face....but he hasn't let go of it yet. We will see how long it will hang on for. The nurse commented today that he is lucky cause she still thinks he is adorable even without hair. I of course agreed, he is one handsome man!
   Eric has had a lot of strength and is handling everything really well. We are trying to keep him away from a lot of people in an effort to keep him healthy. That is the one major thing with his white blood count being low, is his body will be unable to fight off bacteria or infections. We have to really do our best to keep him germ free. Hopefully by Friday his body will have produced enough cells to be back in a normal range.
    Overall today has been a great day. It couldn't have started out any better, and the little bit of good news has lasted the whole day through!