Surprise! Round #4 Starts Tomorrow!

First off, my apologies for not posting an update earlier.  In general, "no news" means things are either going exceedingly hard or smooth as silk.  In this particular case, it means the latter.  Everyone (especially me, the oncologist, and my family) has been positively shocked at just how easy this round has gone for me.  I didn't have a single complication and have been able to work the vast majority of this cycle.  I'm honestly surprised that just a mere 16.667% dosage reduction has made such a difference, but it did.  Also helping (I think) was a single round of Lasix on day #5, when my body was showing signs of fluid weight gain.

Originally Round #3 was intended to be my last round before the cruise (now just 2 1/2 weeks away).  But since "no good deed goes unpunished", the doctor feels strongly that I should get another "mild" round of Yondelis prior to the cruise.  Part of the reasoning (and I agree with him) is that you don't want to give the cancer a chance to rally back during the month of "chemo vacation" resulting from the cruise schedule.  And speaking of schedule, the goal is to dose me with Yondelis every 3 weeks.  Thus far, due to overdosing and other complications with Rounds #1 and #2, those rounds lasted 4 and 5 weeks respectively.  But I'm back on schedule now . . . and will pretty much stay on schedule for Round #5 (post cruise), all because of getting this "surprise" dose tomorrow.

Nervous?  Not too much.  If I can manage to have another round that goes as smoothly as Round #3, I still should have plenty of fun on the cruise.  There's a chance, in fact, that the oncologist may even slightly reduce my dosage (just this one time) in order to ensure there are no pre-cruise complications.  I plan to negotiate a "reasonable" dosage with him tomorrow.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!