July 26th Chemo Update

Chemo Day one is behind us.  Yesterday was a marathon day in the clinic - arrived around 10:30 and left at 6.  Yikes!  Fortunately my friend Karen from North Andover was with me along with a surprise guest my long lost friend from work days Lisa.  They were hilarious and wonderful company.

The day stretched out for a number of reasons...wrong labs pulled, the Dr Avigan factor (he takes his time before I do anything big), the need for an EKG, some numbers they did not like causing them to redraw blood work 3 times.  In the end all good and we started the chemo which will go through Friday.

The goal of this chemo is to keep the leukemia in my blood at its new found we-never-thought-we-would-be-here-again state of 0%.  Once I get through the recovery of this round of chemo (typically a month) we'll revisit our treatment options.  This chemo called Dacogen is one I tolerate pretty well so hopefully won't have too many issues with loss of appetite and upset stomach.

Also continuing to feel a bit better each day and my vitals reflect a much stronger blood pressure and better heart rate.

Coming Up

• Should be a pretty straight forward week of chemo every day until Friday.
• Will get the chemo every day and will also get fluids as needed to help with hydration and blood products such as platelets and red blood as needed.
• With my multiple blood transfusions I am at risk of too much iron in my system.  This iron overload can damage parts of my body including the liver and the heart.  There are therapies to combat and the team is also weighing the need for any transfusion with this risk.
• Occasionally my electrolyte numbers and/or levels of one of my medications in my system will be 'off' (either too high or too low).  These have all been corrected with adjustments to my medications.
• With the multiple IVs and blood draws I get every week my team continues to look at a more permanent option for access for blood draws and infusions.  Many options are not available to me right now (such as a port or central line) because they are too invasive and offer a nice place for my bacteria to colonize and turn into an infection (that's happened before with my weakened immune system).  One compromise option is a midline which allows access but is less invasive.  Probably more than you ever needed to know...

 Back to the clinic shortly

Thanks for checking in!

Love Maureen