Vorlon Whispers

June 5 Chemo Upate

I just returned from my chemo treatment. It went pretty well. They gave me 2mg of Kytril and then 10 mg of Decadron. They were the premeds before the main course. The Kytril is to reduce any nausea and the Decadron is to reduce any swelling the might result from the chemo.

Then they dipped 145 mg of Taxotere for an hour. Last, they dripped 1550 mg of Gemzar over half an hour. The Gemzar proved to be pretty painful. I complained a bit and she slowed the drip rate, but told me they need to get it in the half hour. The injection point was just above my left wrist and the pain went down into the palm of my hand. I was holding a small note pad in my hand and the ache in my hand made it difficult to hold on the note pad. Eventually it as over.

My hand not longer hurts, but then inject point still does. I think I’ll call the company that makes Gemzar to be sure, what they telling me is accurate.

While I was sitting there, they put the box of an Aranesp shot they were going to give me after my treatment. My hemoglobin was a bit on the low side. Out of curiosity, I started reading the box and noticed this printed on the box: “For intravenous or Subcutaneous Us Only.”

I had in previous treatments asked why they couldn’t just inject it directly into the port they had already inserted into my arm. They told me it had to be injected into the muscle. Not knowing any better I accepted they response.

But, now I had information directly from the Amgen that said it could be injected into the intravenous port in my arm. I brought this to the nurse’s attention. Her response was, “Hmmm. I never saw this before. The doctor wants us to inject it.”

I lost this battle, but I saved the box. I’ll take it with me the next time I see my oncologist and see what he says. The Aranesp injection do burn a bit, but they don’t last long. Still, if they can just punch into my IV, why not?

I am not scheduled for a Neulasta shot as my white cell count is over 20,000. One can have too many white cells too. Since in my previous treatment I went from 3,600 to 1,000 and this time I’m starting at 20,300, I should be in good shape.

My platelet count is 226, up from 95 so I ‘m in good shape there. I’m feeling pretty good; the only thing I expect to the chemo will attack my feet and fingertips. Then, in a couple of days, I’ll start to feel tired again.

Posted by The Vorlon at June 5, 2006 4:52 PM