Chemo #4 + Platelets and sudden deafness! oy!

Last week Garrett had his 4th dose of gemcitabine and platlets fell again so we boosted them last Friday with a platelet transfusion and got more Neumega shots over the weekend.  This week we get off from chemo (yay!)  but we were so put off by the stand in doctor last week that we didn't get to talk about the new and perplexing symptoms bothering Garrett.  So we will go in this week to see his usual oncologist to catch him up and get on with finding answers. 

Over a week ago Garrett woke up from a nap with no hearing in his right ear... no pain or other symptoms.  The on-call doc during his blood transfusion the next day looked at it and referred him to an ear specialist who we went to see last Wednesday.  They tested his hearing and saw no physical signs of trouble from the outside, but found very little usable hearing in the right ear. If it is not related to his cancer or cancer treatments the hearing could recover over the next few months aided by steroids Garrett already takes for radiation damage  (when not related to any other ailment one-eared deafness like this is known as sudden hearing loss). We scheduled a head MRI scan for next week to check on the physical condition around the inner ear and nerves.  If all looks well there we can only wait and hope that the hearing returns on its own over time.

In the last few weeks Garrett also noticed a chip in one of his teeth.  Some of the cancer treatments (especially Zometa) have the potential to weaken teeth so we'll go soon to get this tooth smoothed out and see what options they might have for strengthening the rest of his teeth.  We'll aslo consider stopping Zometa for good since his teeth are pretty important for getting food down and keeping his weight up!  Late night muffins and Starbucks ice cream have been contributing to his weight creeping back up and holding steady.

We've got lots of new challenges to take on these days, hopefully more answers and less questions ahead!