Office visit 7/26

07/26 11:30
ANC 990

The office visit took quite a bit longer today because we couldn't get blood return on Alan's port at first. We had some trouble last month (it took Carol five saline flushes to get things flowing again) but things had been fine since then. The port has a valve inside - it allows the saline flush to go in, but it can sometimes get plugged or blocked with a clot not allowing the blood to be drawn out. We needed to fix this, not only because we needed a blood draw to test. If we couldn't get the blood return working, we would have to replace the port again.

The nurses put some tPA in the line which mean we had to wait for an hour for it to work on loosening the clot. We were moved from the exam room into one of the treatment rooms while we waited. Alan escaped into the hallway for a while, but was lured back into the room after getting one of the big calculators to play with. That, along with the remote control to the TV, kept him busy while the tPA did its job.

An hour later, Alan's port flushed and returned perfectly and we were able to continue. His counts came back a little low, and since we are hoping the whole family can travel to celebrate Grandpa's milestone birthday next week, Doc A started Alan on Neupogen. Alan also got a dose of Vincristine. We'll be back on Wednesday for counts.