Chemotherapy Cycle 2

Michael went back into the hospital on November 10th for his second chemotherapy cycle. His cycle is suppose to consist of day 1, all three chemotherapy meds; days 2 & 3, only 2 chemotherapy meds; and day 4 only 1 of the chemotherapy meds.

Monday-Day 1:
Michael was his good ole’ self with the nurses, joking with them. He had his labs drawn. We met with the oncologist. Around 11:30am, they started him on his pre-meds. Around 2:00pm they started his chemotherapy meds. He received all three chemotherapy meds today. He finally finished up around 10:00 pm. He actually had a pretty good day, no nausea, or any of the other major side effects.

Tuesday-Day 2:
Michael was still feeling pretty good. He was still joking with nurses. Michael received his pre-meds and started his chemo. He only received the two chemo meds again today. He finally finished up around 9:00 pm. No nausea, but the fatigue did begin to set in some in the evening.

Wednesday-Day 3:
Today was pretty much the same as days before. Michael received his pre-meds and started his chemo again mid-afternoon, getting only two of the chemo meds finishing up around 8:00 pm. Still no real nausea, but his fatigue is increasing.

Thursday-Day 4:
Things looked good for Michael until this morning. His blood work on Monday and Tuesday looked good, but when they did his blood work this morning, his white blood count was already down to 1.9K (his normal is 7K and the normal range is 5K -10K). At 1.5K he would be neutropenic (risk of infection) and at 1K they would have to isolate him. Being at 1.9K is way to low at this point in this cycle.

They stopped his chemo treatment, went ahead and gave him his shot of Neulasta (to help stimulate growth of the white blood cells) and sent us home. We have to start him on an antibiotic on Monday for 7 days. They said hopefully (in his own environment) his counts won't drop too much; however at 10 - 14 days of the cycle is when they will the lowest. The last cycle his low point was 1.5K at 14 days.

The doctor said that he probably isn’t capable of taking the treatment at this rate. The oncologist is now going to change his cycles to be every 4 weeks instead of every 3. He also is discussing the possibility of changing his dosage on his next treatment. Not sure if he is going to decrease and of the dosage, change any of the meds, or change the duration of the dosages. We will know more next time we go in for his follow up. Even though we have him home, we do have to keep him monitored through the weekend. Once I got him home, you can see the fatigue that has set in again. He is extremely tired.