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Chemotherapy Cycle 3


Cycle 3

Chemo round 3 should have started at the beginning of February 2017 but it had to be delayed as Ryan's kidneys were struggling a little bit due to him being too dehydrated.

The doctors sorted that problem and re-hydrated him, but the following day when they took blood to check his levels, his neutrophils had dropped to 0.6. They have to be above 1 to be able to have chemotherapy. So treatment was delayed a second day. On day three his blood neutrophils had dropped further to 0.5 so we were discharged from the hospital and advised to go home and wait for them to improve.

Before we went home though, the doctor and dietitian came to chat about Ryan's nausea and lack of gastrostomy feeding. They had a few ideas, but they wanted to make only one change at a time so they know what worked or what did not.

A different anti-sickness medication, a different type of feed, they also wanted to start a diuretic and a laxative as his gut is not working as well as it should.

We had a relaxing weekend at home and the community nurse came out the following Monday morning to check Ryan's blood again. The levels had raised to 1.1 so we headed straight back to Cardiff to commence cycle 3 exactly one week later than planned. That is one of the first things you learn about the old Cancer game. NOTHING goes to plan or the way you expect it to.

Finally, chemotherapy cycle 3 commenced and Ryan has done well again, with only a very small Ifosfamide reaction this time that only lasted for a few seconds. Then at discharge, his neutrophils were 3.2, and we haven't even started the GCSF injections yet, so explain that one to me, please.

However, his haemoglobin level had dropped to 86 and he was feeling rather rough with sickness and chest pains. The doctors are not sure if that is due to the low Hb or if he is coming down with a bug. If it was a bug it never took hold and he improved as the Hb went up.

We are halfway through treatment now with 3 more cycles to go. Cycle 4 starts Tuesday 7 March 2017.

Comments

  1. Anon8 March 2017 at 03:29

    Is Ry continuing schooling through all this? What a trooper he is. Love him to bits!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @SarahLou8 March 2017 at 07:37

      Unfortunately not, no. Ry hasn't been in school since July 2016, although he missed most of year 9 also pre diagnosis. We have been able to secure a home tutor, provided by the school which will start in the next 2 weeks. Ryan will only be doing Maths and English GCSE in 2018. Thank you for your question. I may write a blog post the subject of missing education.

      Delete

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