Day 209

Well I didn't expect to hear from Sandy, my research nurse, so soon....but when I saw Hershey's phone number on the caller ID before answering the phone, I knew something was wrong.

My counts have dropped lower.

The count that I don't take a rescue drug for is my Lymphocytes. They've been kind of low ever since the I was on the Trial drug. But even though it's why they wound up pulling the trial drug, it was never really that big of a problem for me. Mine bounced back up after stopping the drug.

Yesterday Sandy called me to tell me that they've dropped. They dropped very low....down to .29. She explained to me that if they drop down to or below .20 Roche will discontinue the trial and tx on me.

Dr. Smith is lowering my Peg. to 50 units in hopes that my Lymphocytes go back up. I have 2 weeks and they'll run the blood work again.

If they go back up I'll remain on the 50 units of Peg for the remainder of my tx. She's also hoping that with the reduced dosage that I may have the chance to get off of the Nuepogen and Procrit. She'd like to get me off of some of these drugs....I'm on so many.

I've been undectable all this time, so Dr. Smith is thinking that the reduced dosage should be enough for the last 18 weeks.....that is so long as my Lymphocytes bounce back over the next 2 weeks.

My ability to bounce back has been pretty good in the past. My fingers are crossed for that to continue......for the first time in a long time, I'm scared.

With my counts down at least I can understand why I'm feeling badly.

This news for me comes on a day that my friend Rosie was discontinued from the trial because of low platlet counts and still having a viral load after 193 days of tx..

I can't imagine. Coming all this way and being told that there is a chance of not completeing tx is a scary thought. I can't even pretend to fully understand what she's feeling right now.

My heart goes out to you Rosie.