Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The heavy Chemo round has begun!!

I have my schedule and it is WONDERFUL!!
(for those of you who want the specifics!!)

Chemo only 1 day a week.... for the first four weeks!!! Thank YOU ~ Lord!!!
Yes, they are the hard chemo drugs though. Daunarobison (it is really hard on the heart, which is why I went for the exam on friday, to make sure my heart valves are okay, or they could not give it to me!!) and Vincristine which kills the nerve endings in my hands and feet.

Mondays for chemo, thurs for bloodwork and dressing change... In two weeks, l will need to add a saturday or two! But what a joy... twice a week for these two weeks!! How kind of God!! The Doctor says that till my numbers begin to drop, that is enough!!

Once the Daunabobision and Vincristine are done... I will have the Cyclophosphamide on Oct 11th, just once. This is a heavy drug that made me sick before.

Next, I will be in 4 days in a row... wed - sat, on October 13-16th and wed - sat; Oct 20 - 23rd.
So, that will be more intense for schedule but lighter on my body as it is for the Ara-C... a mild chemo! I may need to go in on the mondays for bloodwork too. I have not booked that yet.

I started the Dexamethasone, ( steroid) today and it will be full strength for 28 days... and then I will be tapered off of it. This is the crazy one with many... did I say many?? Many ~ side effects... Swelling, shakiness (in hands and voice), weakening of muscles, increased appetite, agitation or high strung buzzing of everything... so one cannot sleep at night w/out drugs!! I had forgotten just how much of what I dealt with before was caused by these little pills!!

I will also be taking an oral chemo drug during the last 4 weeks. Both the Chemo and the Dexamethasone, are paid for completely, by BC Medical. I picked them up yesterday from the BC Cancer Society! Another gift from God! So grateful to live in Canada and have so many good benefits of being Canadian!!

I need to take the Anti-Fungal with the Steroid too... Fluconazole! We could not get it at Superstore...or London Drugs... so the pharmacist with the Bone Marrow Transplant centre, called and we got it from a pharmacy in Vancouver. Oh My Goodness!!! 60 pills.... two a day for 30 days.... cost $399.00!!!! Thank You Lord (again) for extended medical! And, they only charged me 10% instead of 20%!!! So my cost was $39.00!!! Boy, God is looking after us!!

Celebrating Life!!! Lorna ~ the Leukemia Mamma!!

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