Ray's First Day of Chemotherapy

Ray is having his first chemotherapy "shot" tomorrow morning at 8am. He will also continue with his Procrit hormone shot that he has been taking once a week for a month now with little response on his blood counts. This particular type of chemo is known for making his bone marrow start producing higher counts of both red and white cells.  There is a 60-70% response rate with this drug. The "plan" is to get Ray's blood counts higher and kill his "blasts" (leukemia cells) so that he will be in optimal condition for his bone marrow transplant.  The Dr. has said that this chemo may take 3-4 months to start working and will make his counts go down initially, so he will have to be watched very carefully.  It will make him even more tired and short of breath than he already is, and may make him very nauseas (the Dr. has prescribed medicine for this side effect).  It should not, however, make his hair fall out.  Please pray for minimal side effects and great results.  He will be taking this chemo every day this week, Monday- Friday, then 3 weeks off and then he will repeat this cycle until we have the results we need.

More to come this week.......I will post an overview of his illness, Myelodysplasia, for those of you who may not be aware of how we got "here" and what exactly he and his family are facing.  Thank you for your love and support and most of all your prayers.  You can always reach Ray at 972-400-5621 or FaceBook. He would love to hear from everyone!