Friday, August 19, 2011

Why Inpatient chemo


Dear Friends:

Well the good news is my platelets continue to multiply, the okay news is I go back in the hospital probably Monday.

A few people have asked me why I have to go to the hospital for chemo when everyone else they know does it in some kind of outpatient status. That’s easy – I’m special.

Oh alright I’m not that special, anybody with Burkitt’s Lymphoma gets the same stuff I get. But boy—oh—boy it is some nasty stuff. During my first chemo trip the nurse comes in wearing a yellow plastic protective smock, a protective clear plastic visor over her face, the obligatory gloves, and an IV bag full of red stuff.
So I say, “What’s with the outfit?”
“We can’t get this stuff on us,” she says. “It can really damage your skin.”
“And you’re putting it inside of me?”
“Oh don’t worry,” she says. “It won’t touch your skin. It goes right in your IV line.”

For some reason that answer seemed to make sense when she said it, although it doesn’t today.

Besides the downright nastiness of the drugs they have to be given in a specific sequence over 100 – 120 hours. IV bags are changed in the middle of the night, I am given neurotoxicity tests at all hours (very similar to field sobriety tests), and blah, blah, blah. Anyway the point is that this cancer requires one of the most intensive, aggressive, and dangerous chemo protocols around. You just can’t do it in an outpatient environment.

The aggressiveness of it all has its own rewards though. It doesn’t drag out the chemo. Eight sessions and I’m done! Cancer gone and I get my life back (if the side effects don’t kill me). As you all may remember, I begin session five Monday.

I guess that’s it. Oh wait! All my blood numbers are creeping back up to “safe” levels. We’ve long ago given up on normal and are dancing with safe versus unsafe. I asked my doc about this and he said that low blood levels won’t kill me, but the Burkitt’s will. I need to be careful about staying focused on the real danger, he says. My blood will bounce back later.

Now I guess that’s it. See you guys later.

Peace,

Bill

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