01/19 08:55Alan had great blood return today and his counts were good. We were in the office bright and early because Doc P had a meeting at 11:30 and he wanted to be there while Alan was getting the chemo. Docetaxel is a new drug for Alan and he wanted to be on hand if there were any adverse effects. After some hydration, pre-meds and the Gemcitabine we got to the Docetaxel. The chemo nurse, Marcia, told me that the Docetaxel is made from a tree bark. Usually with the chemo drugs, if you make it through the first treatment, you'll be fine for the subsequent treatments. Because the Docetaxel is made with a natural ingredient, there are greater risks of an allergic reaction with the second treatment since the body would be building up antibodies during the first one. There would also be the possibility of bronchial difficulty during the infusion.
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Alan was quite irritable today and was very unhappy to be confined. He got a dose of Ativan which made him a little sleepy, but it was followed by a dose of Dexamethasone, a steroid to help him handle the the Doxetaxel, which counteracted it somewhat.
Today we had a visitor - Miss Megan, a fellow member of the MOMS Club who brought breakfast and lunch and came to keep us company on what ended up being a very long day. Alan enjoyed watching videos of her kids on her iPhone, especially her two little boys playing "light sabres"! Before she left she helped take Alan for a walk around the office to help shake some of the boredom. Thank you so much Megan!
As the infusion of chemo drugs ended, Marcia told us that Doc P wanted Alan to stick around for the rest of the day on IV fluids so he could be sure he wasn't going to have any severe reactions. Alan got another dose of Ativan and ended up having a nice nap.
When it was time to leave, Marcia gave us three half tablets of Dexamethasone to give Alan tonight, tomorrow morning and Saturday morning. Protocol calls for three days of treatment with this steroid when getting the Docetaxel. In the second cycle, she will give the tablets to us early so we can start giving it to him the day before Alan gets the Docetaxel.
Unfortunately, when we got home, Alan threw up several times, twice after getting the Zofran and the Dexamethasone (which is supposed to enhance the anti-nausea properties of the Zofran). He's sleeping peacefully now so we'll see how he is in the morning before deciding if he can go to school. We hope he can because he was pretty annoyed this morning when his big brother got on the school bus without him.
I am sorry to hear that you had such a rough day. That is such a long appt. I hope that the second dose goes better - not worse. You guys will be in my thoughts and prayers. I think you are so amazing... You are so strong going through all of this. How is Alan doing on eating? I have been reading through your archives but I am not very far yet, just a few months through. I know then Alan had a lot of eating and weight issues, is that still a problem or as he has gotten older has it gotten better? Also, I know Alan only likes chocolate pediasure - my son only drinks vanilla, we are switching to 1.5 so I have some extra vanilla if you want to try to add chocolate flavoring too it, I don't know it if would be too sweet but it might add some extra calories. Please let me know if you are interested.
ReplyDeleteYou guys will continue to by in my thoughts and prayers.
Well, glad things seem to be going well overall but sad to hear he's having some issues with nausea. Hope he's feeling better and gets to go to school. Fingers and toes are crossed! : )
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