Its been a hectic summer in the Baxley house, so I havent updated in a while. Kacie started her freshman year in high school this week. Please pray for her as she adjusts to a MUCH bigger school and the changes that come with high school. Im alright. I took the last of my required PRAXIS exams and passed them. Yay! Im on the down hill side of finishing my degree. I was awarded a small scholarship from the ASU Faculty and Staff for the upcoming fall and spring semesters. I am very thankful and humbled by this honor. I am grateful for anything that will help me pay for school. Ill be taking 18 credit hours this fall in order to finish up with my content classes before my internship in the spring. Please pray for me as I take on this HUGE load. Nick is doing ok. We found out at his checkup with the oncologist today that his red blood cell count his been on an upward trend for the last several months with a significant increase today. The basic meaning of an increase in red blood cell production is the body isnt getting enough oxygen. The bone marrow produces more red blood cells to carry more oxygen. In order to find out what is causing this problem, the oncologist has ordered several tests to rule out different problems. Tomorrow Nick will have a MUGA scan of his heart. I dont know much about this scan. Ive never heard of it before today. What little research Ive done (I refuse to do anymore. Its too scary.), tells me this is a test that is done on cancer patients who have had a chemotherapy agent that can cause damage to the heart. Nick had a drug called adriamycin 18 years ago that is known for causing damage. That particular chemo stays in the body for literally a lifetime and can cause heart damage at any point in someones life. The other issues that could be the cause of the red blood cell increase range from dehydration all the way to serious heart/lung problems and a gamut of things in between.There are a lot of questions at this point and no answers yet. The MUGA scan will be tomorrow. Im not sure when we will get the results. We will meet with a pulmonologist (lung specialist) on Aug 19 to test the function of Nicks lungs. The oncologist also sent off several additional blood tests today, but I did not ask what the tests were. For me, its not the test that really matters...its the results. So please pray for us as we walk this new part of this cancer journey. In between all of this, Kacie is adjusting to high school, I am trying to be mom, work, and finish school, and Nick is trying to get plans in place to begin his EMT training. We have really enjoyed our version of normal the last several months. I think its safe to say we are not ready to let that go. Trying to remain... ~In HIS Grip! Kristy
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 01:45:33 +0000
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