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October 14, 2006 , Day -03
Friends,
This is Ted back. Menchie did yesterday's for fun. Today was a pretty quiet day, actually. I got to sleep in, and there were not million doctors coming in and out all the time. I was to nauseous to eat anything for most of the day. I was free from IV hoses until 11am. Then they started preparation for the Chemo. They gave me the usual drugs, allopurinol and protonix, then they added ativan, and another long term anti-nausea medicine. The gave me benadryl and lasix (a diuretic) before each infusion, along with hydrocortisone. Then they shot me up with the chemo agent. Because of the benadryl and the ativan, I was pretty out of it, so I just slept through most of the process. I woke up about 7 pm feeling OK. The back of my throat is a little tender, so I might have some mucositis starting there. How unfortunate. I understand these sores are very painful. I am not experiencing any rashes, heart problems or blood pressure problems.
My doctor today told me that the VP-16 (Etoposide) is made from the fruit of May Apple plants, which are common in the northeast. I guess the May apples have very beautiful flowers and deadly fruit.
So, we are done with the conditioning regimen. I have swallowed my bowl of hemlock, but fortunately, the doctors have the antidone, which my brother gave them a few weeks ago. I have hit bottom now, medically, and will start the long hard climb out of this pit. The blood counts will start to drop precipitously, and I wll start getting transfusions until the transplant takes.
On the medical front, as I indicated above I got Benadryl, Lasix, Hydrocortisone, Protonix, Septra, Allopurinol, and Etoposide today. I got six big syringes of Etoposide in one hour. I don't know exactly what the dose was in each of the syringes, but the syringes were about an inch in diameter and six inches long. A special pump was used to empty the syringes into me through my catheter.
The lab results are different. All went up except Platelets. Not to worry, I am sure the chemo will do a knockout on all of the counts.
Lab Results |
Blood Cell Type |
Normal Low |
10/11 |
10/12 |
10/13 |
10/14 |
| WBC |
4.5 |
5.4 |
4.3 |
3.2 |
3.7 |
| RBC |
4.3 |
3.00 |
2.72 |
3.10 |
3.02 |
| HGB |
13.9 |
9.8 |
9.7 |
10.7 |
10.2 |
| PLT |
130 |
221 |
186 |
178 |
155 |
I hope you are all doing well!
Ted and Menchie
tw@wilcoxent.com
mench@wilcoxent.com
www.wilcoxent.com
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