Round #4 Begins Now

It must be psychosomatic that I begin feeling nausea just as soon as I enter the hospital doors (and the chemo is still hours away). Likely this is some combination of fear of hospital food and anxiety about the chemo. I’m in room 7134, whose direct number is 404-686-7134.

You never call, you never write
My apologies for being so silent over the past few weeks. Round #3 was quite hard on me and I rarely felt like doing much of anything, least of all updating my blog. The chemo really takes it out of you, to the point that you lose your drive for most anything you love. It’s only been since Friday that I’ve been feeling half-way decent and yet my labs (taken this morning prior to admission) still show several levels in the low zone (namely hemoglobin and hematocrit). This likely explains my general fatigue.

Time off between rounds may increase
Dr. D’Amato mentioned today that my time between rounds may increase by a week to give me more time to recover at home (depending upon how I’m doing). Furthermore, she may also decrease my dosage of Ifosfamide for rounds #5 and #6 (my "last" 2 rounds) to make those more tolerable. For rounds #1 - #4 I’ve been getting the highest levels of Ifosfamide that she can prescribe. For the doctor who preached “tough love” a few weeks back, it was good to see some compassion.

One of my chemo buddies is missing
One of my chemo buddies (Donald) who is normally on my 3-week cycle is not here today. He’s exactly 1 round ahead of me so this would be round #5 for him. My guess is that he was converted to a 4-week cycle and, therefore, won’t be in until next week. It was always nice catching up with him to find out how the last round went. His summary of the previous round was always a good predictor of what side effects I too may experience. For example, both of us needed a blood transfusion after Round #3. So with him not here, I’m really not sure what to expect after I get home.

Here’s to a fast Round #4 in hospital and a steady recovery at home
Not to be a pessimist, but I have this sinking feeling that I will very likely need one or more transfusions after this round of chemo. I can only hope that this round will not be as painful as the last and that my recovery at home will be consistent. Your thoughts, prayers, and support are definitely appreciated.