The weekend that was

Unfortunately, for Tom this past few days have been very quiet. His white cell and neutrophil counts have not rebounded quite as quickly as they have with past chemo rounds. With such a low immunity, public places are off limits. Sadly, he did not get to take advantage of the Plaza of Honor invitation or the Rider game tickets from the Chris Knox Foundation.

When we tried to give the tickets back, the Foundation contacted George, the owner of the Four Seasons, who had purchased the tickets. They insisted Tom's family should go in his place. Tom and I had spent all day in the clinic (he had received 2 more units of blood) and it was 5 PM before we even got home. I wasn't sure I felt right about going, but Tom said he really wanted Mike and I to go and enjoy a night out. He and Nancy hung out at home and ate pizza and watched movies. He was feeling alright, just tired.

We very much enjoyed the company at our table: Sharla and Kim (Chris' parents), George and Sophie, and young cancer survivor Ty and his dad Gary.

It was cool to see so many Rider players, past and present. Look, there goes George Reid! Hey, there's John Chick. Andrew Greene stopped by to say hello to George & Sophie. And we got to meet and congratulate Plaza of Honor inductee, Dan Farthing. (He's just as nice in person as he's always seemed in the media. His speach was very touching - what a nice man.)

We went to a lab near our house first thing Sunday morning to get blood drawn and check his counts, hoping he'd be able to go to the game on Sunday. His girlfriend Stephanie had come in and the whole family (except for Jeanie of course) was going.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. We got home and had breakfast, when he developed a nose bleed. I knew from the nurses that was a sign his platelets were dangerously low. Fortunately, the bleeding stopped fairly quickly. I called the oncologist on call, and he told us to go straight in to Emergency.

In Emergency, Tom got the VIP treatment - they put us in a reverse isolation room as soon as we arrived. No sitting in the waiting room this time! In a reverse isolation room, no one could come in the room without being masked and gowned. The precautions were necessary because we knew how low his counts were, and if he picked up the flu or an infection from someone else in Emerg, it could be very serious for Thomas.

We learned his platelet count had dropped to 9, so a transfusion was definitely in order. Platelets are what make your blood clot - hence the nosebleed. For you and I, normal values are in the hundreds. For a cancer patient, the chemo kicks the heck out of their bone marrow - where our blood supply originates from - so the red cells that carry oxygen through the blood, the whites that fight infection, and the platelets that make the blood clot are all compromised by the cumulative effect of chemo.

Platelets look very odd - they are a muddy colour, and they pumped them into his central line full force - no pump to control the flow, strictly by gravity. The volume made him start to cough uncontrollably, but we got him sitting up straight and the coughing soon settled down. Something for me to note in case there's a next time...

While in Emerg, we also learned his white count was still only 0.3, so he still had essentially no immune system. Which meant no football game for Thomas! I managed to convince Stephanie that she should still go to the game, it would be a shame to come all this way and miss it. Nancy and Laura each brought friends (Sharon and Meagan) as last minute replacements for Tom and I.

So we stopped at Galaxy on the way home, and I ran in to pick up some movie theatre popcorn. He and I watched the game together, down to it's almost thrilling conclusion. (It all came down to the final play in the dying seconds of the game - unfortunately, it was not meant to be and the evil empire - Edmonton - won.)

There will be other dinners and other football games. The main focus is keeping Thomas as healthy as we can, and he's being very mature about it. He's got his eye on the prize - a full recovery.

Meanwhile, we are grateful for so many things - for the chance to enjoy one another's company, and especially for all the kindnesses shown to us by Chris' Foundation and by so many others, and for the continued love and support and prayers from all of you. Thank you also for the continued support of my Terry Fox walk - we are now 5 days away and I'm 76% of the way to my goal!

I'm on my way this morning to take my Mom to the stroke assessment clinic as follow up to her incident last month, and Thomas and Mike are at the clinic checking his counts before we know what his plans can be for the day. He feels pretty good and his colour is much better - I've got a feeling his numbers are finally up!

Take care of yourselves - and have a great day!
Thomas' Mom