Skip to main content

From Mathew's Journal, IE Chemo for 5 Days

The first Chemo, IE, Inpatient 5 Days

I have mentioned before that I want people to get their medical advice from the professionals and if you want to look up more information about the particular chemotherapies that were given to Mathew, you can do so.
I will mention what we understood or took notes on.

This will be from Mathew’s Journal and the next post from The Notebook.
It’s funny but Mathew’s notes were more comprehensive than mine or Diane’s!

The pharmacist came to Mathew’s room and spent a long time explaining the chemotherapies, pre-chemo meds, and post-chemo shots. She wrote everything down on the large whiteboard that was in the room.

Later, the oncologist told us that Mathew did things out of the normal order. Usually, he said, a patient came to them with a diagnosis, had their port put in and then received the VAC/outpatient chemo first and then the IE 5 day inpatient chemo.
Mathew was already inpatient and so ill that he received the IE first.

Ifosfamide and Etoposide

Moffitt provided us with 6 and 7-page printouts for each chemotherapy. The information came from the site chemocare.com.

Because the cancer was in Mathew’s liver and his liver hadn’t completely recovered, his bilirubin was still high, he only received a half dose of chemo. We were told that even though it was a half dose, it would take his body longer to process it and it would stay in his system longer, so the benefits were still there. 

I wondered later, if the half dose staying in his system longer wasn’t a better idea, though I am not sure how that can be accomplished.

As time went on, I had my own ideas and theories regarding the treatment, but it was just my mind trying to make sense out of a nightmare, but I mentioned these things to the doctors because I know that discoveries have been made by unusual mental connections of ideas. 


From Mathew’s Journal  **I m not certain of these doses, I have this information and eventually will update these types of posts with medical record information. I post this in order to illustrate Mathew’s attempt through physical, mental and emotional pain and fear to be his own advocate. You will see how this changes as he starts receiving chemo and the tumor responds. 


Pre-chemo meds were dexamethasone and mesna which was run the entire 5 days.

IE is a 5-day inpatient chemo treatment. 

Mat’s definitive notes on the process of I.E. (unless of course, he finds it bores him.)

I    1 hour 1900mg/800 saline
E   1 hour 100/500 saline

Mesna runs 24 hours, binds to and inactivates a protein (the urotoxic metabolite of ifosfamide and cyclophosphamide) this is to prevent……



The next post will have the same information but from The Notebook.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

About this Blog, A Journey Through Sarcoma

Confections for Cats, A Journey through Sarcoma is a chronicle of my son's journey through Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Sarcoma. It is intended to educate and inspire by using Mathew’s thoughts and feelings, dreams and fears through a variety of mediums; art, music, and writing. Through factual experience, what we learned and what we wish we had known. Mathew’s desire was to give meaning to his journey and in the process help anyone else on a similar path. The last possible explanation in my mind for my son’s health problems was cancer. Even the words “the scan shows a large mass” didn’t lead me to conclude cancer and when the cancer diagnosis was confirmed, I still wasn’t prepared. My Mother is a breast cancer survivor and my sister Elizabeth passed away three years after her breast cancer diagnosis. I thought I knew what cancer treatment and living with cancer looked like, but none of us could imagine or be prepared for how all semblance of routine and normalcy had alre...

When a Cancer Patient Has a Medical Emergency

3 Days in the DRC, Part 1 If you haven’t read my first post about the DRC at Moffitt and how it works, since Moffitt does not have an ER, you can read about it here.  https://confectionsforcats.blogspot.com/2018/04/neutropenic-fever-after-ie-chemo-and.html In summary, the DRC is where an existing Moffitt patient is directed to go if they have a medical emergency.  Usually, we would be there a few hours or overnight (since we arrived at midnight or shortly afterward) until they had a room for Mathew on the ward. This particular visit Mathew stayed in the DRC three days. As mentioned in my other post, the DRC has maybe two rooms with a bathroom; otherwise, one bathroom for about a dozen patients. In Mathew’s case, a patient with a lowered immune system.  This time Mathew was in the room furthest from the bathroom.  When inpatient, we had a routine for getting him to the bathroom. First, he needed the IV unplugged (often quickly) and most times, I ...

Hair Loss After Chemo for Sarcoma, My Son's Point of View

I can't imagine or pretend to know how it feels to lose your hair because you have cancer and the chemo causes your hair to fall out.  I only know what I saw with Mathew and years ago, my sister Elizabeth's experience as they lost their hair to chemotherapy. But it was something that affected Mathew more than just the initial hair loss, it had nuances. Here is a journal entry. It's short but I think it speaks volumes. MATHEW’S JOURNAL     5-23-14 Lately, I’ve been envious of people’s hair. Well, I guess not envious of other people’s hair but missing mine. I told my Mom about it and expressed to her that I was afraid I was falling prey to vanity. She expressed the idea that I may be missing having hair because it’s part of being healthy. I do miss having a life and at the same time, I’m afraid that I may never have a full life again or that I may lose what’s left of the one I have. -  I’ve been thinking about dying a lot lately. I don’t know wh...