My Second Treatment

The second of twelve chemotherapy sessions was scheduled for Thursday. Wedensday night I did a relaxation exercise at a friend's house. We also talked about identifying stressors in our lives and stopping to take a deep breath when we notice them. Then we went to a Qijong class. It was my first time and I found it interesting.

According to Wikipedia, Qigong or chi kung is an aspect of traditional Chinese medecine involving the coordination of different breathing patterns with various physical postures and motions of the body. Qigong is mostly taught for health maintenance purposes, but there are also some who teach it as a therapeutic intervention.

This morning, I had to get my blood drawn at 8:30. At 9:30 I met with my doctors and we discussed my blood counts. I then started my infusion at 11:00 and was out before 2:00.

My blood counts were down again for the second time in two weeks.

Here are the numbers.





The doctors pointed out that my Absolute Neutrophils were very low. They said that we could continue with treatment even if they were much lower but I had to be careful of infections. I was told to call the doctor immediately if I got a temperature over 100.5 degrees.

The infustion itself went well. I had a new nurse because my the nurse I had last week was taking care of one of her sick children. I know one of her little munchkins was sick when I got my first infusion. The nurse that took care of me today was very nice. I'm starting to wonder if Mass General has only great staff.

I started with some pills. They were Andonsetron and a steroid called Decadron for nauseu prevention. It took two trys to get a good vein but once we had one it was smooth sailing. I started with fluids for a short while and then I went on to the Adriamycin (Doxorubicin) I got 46 mg. from 12:19 to 12:33. Next was 18 units of Bleomycin from 12:34 to 12:39. Then we went on to 11 mg of Vinblastine from 12:40 to 12:45. Finally, I got 690 mg of Dacarbazine from 12:50 to 1:50. One of the drugs made my arm itch and feel cool to the touch. The nurse gave me a heat pack that took the chill out of my arm.

I went home and took a nap. Again I've felt no nausea ( as of 1:10 AM) and I ate normally and put up the Christmas tree with my Dad. I'm taking Senna to avoid constipation.

I have a pulmonary function test scheduled for just after New Years. They keep an eye on my lungs to make sure the chemotherapy is not causing any damage.

My mood is a 10 on a scale of 1 - 10.