Day -6

Dr. Matous arrived bright and early as I was waking. He examined me and started me on lasix. It is to keep me from retaining all the fluids that they are giving me. It makes me go to the bathroom every 30 minutes. I have to measure my urine every time I go to the bathroom. I also have to record my intake of every liquid I eat or drink. The records showed that I was retaining fluid so the doc ordered the lasix. He also said my blood sugar level was slightly high and they are very strict on this unit. The premeds are causing the high sugar level. Before every meal they check my level and give me a shot of insulin. I can't even feel the shot so no big deal.

I had chemo at 9AM this morning. The premeds are the same as yesterday zofran & dexamethasone. The chemo for today and the next 3 days are etopiside (vp-16) and ara-c (cytarabine arabinoside). I have had these before and have no adverse reactions in the past. The doses are higher so we will see how it goes. Nanette came to visit foe 3 hours today. She brought some family pictures for my room. She also got an egg crate mattress to make the bed a little softer. She helped me clean up and scrub off the betadine left over from the central line placement yesterday. I sent her home because the weather is terrible with a blizzard warning. She had a difficult time getting home.

Blood counts. Platelets=40 White blood cells=2.3 Red blood cells=28.2.


I walked for about 75 minutes again today. Not much going on during the afternoon so I caught up on my newspapers, e-mail, phone calls and started this blog. Watching basketball and some TV shows tonight. I am getting the same chemo again starting at 9PM tonight. I tried to get the nurse to start it earlier since it takes about two hours to run. She said no because they have to hit me when the cells are dividing. It will make a late bed time for the next 4 days.

It looks like we will finish at midnight. The nurse will finish the chemo and then take blood then give me my ambien. I just got an insulin shot. Still snowing pretty hard outside. It is supposed to stop by morning. Take care. Thanks for reading.