Update on Zed

Zed had his first chemo treatment on Monday January 21. He tolerated the treatment very well, he said that he felt really good almost immediately. His hacking cough and night sweats went away, which is great but he started to get really severe hiccups in return. The Dr seems to think that the lump in his abdomen is shrinking and pressing on a nerve or his diaphram.

As the week past after the first treatment he slowly lost energy and we were hoping the second treatment scheduled for Tuesday January 29th would give him a boost. Unfortunately they were unable to give him chemo on Tuesday, as his red blood count was too low to receive chemo. A healthy person’s red blood count should be around 40 his was 27. So they sent him to the hospital to have yet another blood transfusion, this time he received 3 unit of blood. Mom and Dad were at the hospital from about 1 in the afternoon till about 11 that night. It's a long process it takes 2-3 hours per unit of blood. Because the cancer is also in his marrow, his body is unable to build back his blood supply as quickly as needed to have chemo once a week.

Hopefully as treatments continue it will kill the cancer in the marrow and he will be able to receive treatments on schedule, supposedly every 2 weeks. They had him come back into the Dr. on Wed and Thurs to receive a shot to build his white blood count up, the transfusion is for the red blood cells. They wanted to give him an IV on Thursday, as he is dehydrated, but let him go home with strict orders to drink lots of Gatorade. He seemed to be in pretty good spirits on Thurs night as he was sharing his wit with us all. He said we all had to take a drink of his Gatorade to help him finish before mom got home, so he wouldn't get in trouble! He had about 4 large Gatorades in 6 hours.

He is getting thin, in August his weight was about 230 He now weighs 198. Hopefully we can get him back on track soon! We appreciate your love, concern and prayers - it's what keeps us going. We love you all.