Cycle 3 - Day 11
Wednesdays are super busy for me and I didn't get a chance to write an update last night! I'm glad to report that Roberto is doing much better now and is getting more and more energy each day. He's still having trouble sleeping at night. The oncologist did prescribe a new sleep aid for Roberto, but he's been a bit cautious with new medication after his reaction to Ambien.
I might slow down on the posts since there won't be too much to report now. Or I might just keep posting things about board games. Who knows?
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The lack of exciting Roberto news does mean I get to do an educational post (blame the teacher in me). I started the Hidden Side posts to share the things we learned about either in the *one day* of Chemo Education Roberto and I received or things we've picked up along the way. We learned about most of the topics below during the Chemo Education day.
Watching Out for Germs
I've probably mentioned Roberto's increased risk for getting sick now that he's receiving chemotherapy. The chemotherapy drugs themselves simply target rapidly growing cells which include cancer cells and blood cells. As the chemotherapy treatment progresses, Roberto's blood cell counts (white and red) have slowly decreased. One good thing is the Neulasta shot that Roberto receives at the end of each infusion week. Neulasta promotes the growth of white blood cells by making the bone marrow do something crazy.
Still, Roberto's white blood cell count is low on certain days so it's important for him to not be in contact with sick people or germs. It helps to keep him at home so that minimizes his contact with people. Of all things, we had to prohibit contact with a baby because she recently had her immunization shots and was full of viruses! Dirty viruses!
We also have to be careful about the food we give Roberto. While we want to give him fresh, healthy food, there is a limit. For example, fruits that can be peeled, like bananas, are fine since they are protected with their peel. On the other hand, berries are not because there's no way to fully clean the possible dirt and germs from them. Vegetables are a little easier since we can cook the s**t out of them.
Red Blood Cells
While Neulasta forces Roberto's body to make white blood cells, we recently learned that there's no wonder drug to promote the growth of red blood cells. Moreover, Roberto's platelet count is nearing very low levels. If his levels get too low, Roberto will require a blood transfusion before continuing with the chemotherapy. Another good use of blood to make me feel guilty for not donating (Roberto donates all the time and hassles me about my dislike of needles).
Every Chemotherapy Plan is Different
Roberto has an infusion of chemotherapy drugs for six hours straight for five consecutive days. Sitting at the Infusion Center for such a long time, we noticed that the other patients didn't stay as long as Roberto and didn't come in every day like him either. For example, some patients would come for a couple of hours every few days. Just to make sure our oncologist wasn't putting Roberto through some sort of torture, we asked the nurses about this difference. The nurses told us that Roberto is on an intensive chemotherapy plan. I guess this makes sense since Roberto tumor nearly (or did) double in size in one month.
You're Going To Lose Weight
During the first week of each cycle (infusion week), Roberto loses weight simply from lack of eating. Unless you're on the Biggest Loser, it's not great to lose that many pounds in a week. Fortunately, he gains some of the weight back during the two recovery weeks in the form of In and Out burgers.
Wednesdays are super busy for me and I didn't get a chance to write an update last night! I'm glad to report that Roberto is doing much better now and is getting more and more energy each day. He's still having trouble sleeping at night. The oncologist did prescribe a new sleep aid for Roberto, but he's been a bit cautious with new medication after his reaction to Ambien.
I might slow down on the posts since there won't be too much to report now. Or I might just keep posting things about board games. Who knows?
--------------------------------------------------------
The lack of exciting Roberto news does mean I get to do an educational post (blame the teacher in me). I started the Hidden Side posts to share the things we learned about either in the *one day* of Chemo Education Roberto and I received or things we've picked up along the way. We learned about most of the topics below during the Chemo Education day.
Watching Out for Germs
I've probably mentioned Roberto's increased risk for getting sick now that he's receiving chemotherapy. The chemotherapy drugs themselves simply target rapidly growing cells which include cancer cells and blood cells. As the chemotherapy treatment progresses, Roberto's blood cell counts (white and red) have slowly decreased. One good thing is the Neulasta shot that Roberto receives at the end of each infusion week. Neulasta promotes the growth of white blood cells by making the bone marrow do something crazy.
Still, Roberto's white blood cell count is low on certain days so it's important for him to not be in contact with sick people or germs. It helps to keep him at home so that minimizes his contact with people. Of all things, we had to prohibit contact with a baby because she recently had her immunization shots and was full of viruses! Dirty viruses!
We also have to be careful about the food we give Roberto. While we want to give him fresh, healthy food, there is a limit. For example, fruits that can be peeled, like bananas, are fine since they are protected with their peel. On the other hand, berries are not because there's no way to fully clean the possible dirt and germs from them. Vegetables are a little easier since we can cook the s**t out of them.
Red Blood Cells
While Neulasta forces Roberto's body to make white blood cells, we recently learned that there's no wonder drug to promote the growth of red blood cells. Moreover, Roberto's platelet count is nearing very low levels. If his levels get too low, Roberto will require a blood transfusion before continuing with the chemotherapy. Another good use of blood to make me feel guilty for not donating (Roberto donates all the time and hassles me about my dislike of needles).
Every Chemotherapy Plan is Different
Roberto has an infusion of chemotherapy drugs for six hours straight for five consecutive days. Sitting at the Infusion Center for such a long time, we noticed that the other patients didn't stay as long as Roberto and didn't come in every day like him either. For example, some patients would come for a couple of hours every few days. Just to make sure our oncologist wasn't putting Roberto through some sort of torture, we asked the nurses about this difference. The nurses told us that Roberto is on an intensive chemotherapy plan. I guess this makes sense since Roberto tumor nearly (or did) double in size in one month.
You're Going To Lose Weight
During the first week of each cycle (infusion week), Roberto loses weight simply from lack of eating. Unless you're on the Biggest Loser, it's not great to lose that many pounds in a week. Fortunately, he gains some of the weight back during the two recovery weeks in the form of In and Out burgers.
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