Round 2's status update

On Wednesday, March 2, we completed round 2 of the chemotherapeutic drugs. Round 2’s dosage schedule went as planned allowing us to be at home every second day.

Along with the ‘regular’ side effect of chemo, round 2 offers extra ‘special’ side effects: rash (which he had the first round, and will most likely not get this round), eye infections and neurologic effects. To prevent an eye infection, he is given steroidal eye drops multiple times a day.

If the chemo begins to affect his brain function, one of the signs he will exhibit is a lack of coordination. To monitor this, my Dad must write the same sentence, at the same time everyday, to determine if there has been any change in writing pattern, or ability to write. Once his counts drops below normal, the possible neurological effects are especially dangerous, as the lack of coordination could cause a fall; which would be very dangerous to a person with low platelets. But, so far, the sentence is looking stellar, and no sign of an eye infection!

(All of you that have had the pleasure of reading my Dad’s handwriting know how fantastic it is in the first place… I’m sure the nurses assumed handwriting wasn’t a pre-req to get into law school.)

With the completion of the chemo drugs, we are now watching the blood counts fall. The chemo is wiping his entire body of both bad and good cells, and will soon be rebuilding new cells… sans leukemic cells! (fyi- that’s French for ‘without’)