CHEMOTHERAPY CONTINUED BUT MODIFIED

Dr. Homsi was pleased to report today that the CT scan and MRI reviews were essentially unchanged from those taken eight weeks ago which is good news.  The plan is to continue chemotherapy, but reduce the chemo drugs from two to one. 

One complication is that the PICC line is not functional (it was impossible to get a blood draw through the line), so it was removed today.  The one chemo drug, dacarbazine, was administered today through an IV.  A saline solution was also administered through the IV with the chemo drug to prevent the chemo drug from burning the local tissue.  Irene could feel the burning in her arm, and they would vary the mix entering the IV to keep her comfortable and prevent the tissue damage.  I was surprised to hear Irene say that the burning was really hurting her.  She almost never admits to pain above a three on a scale of 1 – 10.  This process extends the time of the infusion for the one drug to four hours. 

She will have the Nulasta shot to protect her heart, anti-nausea and IV fluids tomorrow and Friday.  The next chemo infusion is scheduled for June 27^th and new CT scans and MRI’s at the end of July.  The blood draws and how Irene feels will determine any additional treatment along the way.  With the PICC line removed and the Inferior Vena Cava filter in place, we no longer need to flush the PICC line each night, and Irene does not have to administer the Lovenox shots each night in her tummy.  Life is good.

DHG