Monday, April 14, 2014

04/14/2014

Evan returned home from the hospital last night around 10:00 PM.  He had just finished up his latest round of Chemo and it was the first since his surgery.  He was admitted to Health Park Hospital on Thursday morning 04/10/2014 for hydration therapy and blood work prior to beginning Chemo.  Since it had been about a month since his last Chemo, his ANC levels were way up at 3658; White cells5.9 (low); Neutrophils 62 (normal) and Basophils 0.  This round is the worst for nausea as he receives the "red devil" and white lightning" this round.  He did well until Saturday near the end of the 48 hour drip and that is when upchuck city attacked him.

On Thursday he was really doing well and he was allowed a rare trip off the "ward" to the second floor (from the fourth) to take part in the Fur Circus.  He had to have a nurse escort in order to have this happen and the staff were very accommodating.  The circus is a traveling group with a ring master and several "animal" mascots to play with the children.  The event was featured in the local news paper on Friday and Evan was on one of the pictures published.

The Oncologist was going to add a third drug (Ifosfamide) to this weeks featured event as it is standard operating procedure since the necrosis of the tumor was less than 90%.  I belong to the acor.org listserv which is a email service that allows people who have the same type of cancer to express their feelings and to add insight to this process.  I have found the listserv invaluable for the information presented both from a scientific and human standpoint.  People on the serv will publish scientific documents for information and they will publish their stories so others can gain an better understanding of what may happen to them in the future.  I find reading about what has happened to someone that Evan has yet to experience gives me an idea of what to expect for him. There is an amazing variety of stories and outcomes that it is clear to me that there is no one path to cancer free and the journey for each and everyone has similarities and divergent paths.  There is also the stories of tragic outcomes and it is difficult to read those, but those stories have a message all their own about courage resolution and family strength.

On Sunday one of the serv members published a study done by one of the cancer organizations that stated there were no benefit to adding Ifosfamide to the standard MAP therapy in patients who had tumor removal and no metastasis.  The study further stated that Ifosfamide added to MAP therapy was beneficial when there were still active tumor inside the body in combination with metastasis or no metastasis.  I had Meghan bring this to the attention of the Oncologist when he called her on Monday to discuss the pathology report and schedule Evan's next round of Chemo.  He told her he would not add Ifosfamide unless consultation with his peers across the Country could prove something that would be compelling to add the drug.

Evan did not receive the drug and in researching its effects, this is a potent and nasty Chemo drug that leaves the patient in a very immune compromised situation that usually results in lengthy hospital stays and even isolation.  It also has some nasty side effects to the kidneys and liver.  I believe this is the best course for Evan and should he develop any metastasis I will be the first to say bring on the drug.

Evan has an appointment to see the Oncologist at the clinic on Thursday.  They will check blood levels and his general health.  We expect to see that his ANC levels have plummeted and his white counts to be almost non-existent.  I will post if there is something unusual.  The next part of this round is due to begin on 05/01/2014 if all goes according to plan.  








1 comment:

Brad R said...

Thanks again Bob for allowing us to follow this journey with such great insight. We're blessed to know all of your family.