Scary Day

Posted On April 17, 2019

The way the Tate’s appointments are structured, a nurse draws his blood shortly after we arrive, and the results come in while the doctor or Nurse Practitioner is performing the exam. Today I knew something was wrong when the Nurse Practitioner glanced at her laptop and quickly excused herself. We waited a very long time before she came back into the room. Tate’s ANC has dropped by more than half to 140. There are a variety of things that could cause this with two of them being front runners: he could have a sensitivity to the drugs; it could be relapse.

Last week the Nurse Practitioner advised us they wanted to order a test that would show whether Tate has a sensitivity towards Mercaptopurine, the drug he is supposed to take every night for the next three years. She explained that some patients are slow metabolizers and need smaller doses. Tate was supposed to have his blood drawn for the test today, but when we got to the clinic they said our insurance company has not approved it yet. Tate has a person at our insurance company assigned to his case, so Greg contacted him right away to see if the approval can be expedited. Greg is very, very good at stuff like this.

If you’re interested and science-minded, the link below is the research Greg found that explains the various types of sensitivities.

https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/thiopurine-s-methyltransferase-deficiency

Relapse. It’s not a something you want to think about, but as parents of a cancer patient, it’s not a possibility we have shielded ourselves from. That being said, I still crumbled when she told us they are concerned his cancer is coming back. Tate. Poor Tate. I cannot begin to describe the expression on his face.

The Nurse Practitioner said Tate’s ANC not going the direction they anticipated is cause for concern because he hasn’t had any chemo for the last three weeks that would suppress it. It should be going up. His platelets have also dropped. Those are indications that Tate may have relapsed, but they could mean something else. She asked the techs at the clinic to look at the cells to see if they could find any abnormalities; they couldn’t. She then sent Tate’s blood to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital lab to be read by a pathologist as well. We do not have those results yet, nor do we know when to expect them.

Tate is scheduled to meet with his oncologist Dr. Williams Monday morning. He’ll talk to us about blood tests and relapse and hopefully what we can expect next.

I am really scared. My brain and heart race to the worst possible conclusion and stay there. This is when I call my sister and a friend and scare them too because I don’t like being in dark places alone. Greg is more anxious than scared; not knowing is the hardest part for him. He has been pacing the length of our kitchen all night, talking about everything it could be. Scott dropped everything to be by his brother’s side; he left class early and called in to work. Tate continues to be the person to learn from in this. He needed some time to himself when we got home from the appointment. Understandable. Much later, when I was a calmer, not-crying version of myself, I went into his room to check on him and ask him how he felt. Tate said he started to panic at the potential for relapse but decided to wait until he knew for sure. He is so calm. Not knowing is not the worst part for him, enduring treatment is. He feels good right now, and he’s going to enjoy it.

Me: What are you thinking about?

Tate: The cat.

Tate’s spirits are high despite his low ANC and his parents’ fears. He is disappointed he was not able to attend his closest friend’s mission assignment tonight, though. He had been looking forward to it for months.

All the pictures of Tate are from last week. Having a boot on his broken foot has really increased his mobility. He was walking all over the place! This week he is back to not rolling around with the dogs, not flossing, staying out of the wind and so on. There are a lot of rules for an immune compromised patient, and Tate follows all of them. Today we learned Tate is good at the mental game, too. He was the strongest of all of us.