A day of chemo

On Thursday, November 18, 2010, Carl got his chemotherapy with the main chemotherapy drugs Irinotecan and Vincristine. I say main drugs, because there are other drugs that they give along side of the chemotherapy drugs. They got blood drawback from his port (after a time) without the use of TPA. Carl got oral doses of 8mg Zolfran (also known as Ondancetron), and 10 mg Dexamethasone. Through the IV they gave him 0.2 mg of atropine. These first 3 drugs are given to prevent side effects from the main chemo drugs. The main chemo drugs follow - Carl was given 241 mg of Irinotecan in saline through the IV over 60 minutes, followed by 2 mg vincristine in saline over 15 minutes. We spent the time watching the parts of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 1.

I hope these drugs are effective and that Carl can continue getting them for quite some time. At the end of the month the Doctors will check to see if the drugs are holding back the tumor.

Thank you again for all the encouragement and prayers.

November Chemotherapy

On Thursday, November 11, 2010, Carl started a course of chemotherapy that featured the drugs Irinotecan and Vinchristine. The 'protocol' for this chemotherapy is a dose on Day 1 and Day 8. On Day 21, the patient can start the course again. The Day 1 and Day 8 doses are delivered through IVs into his port. He gets these doses at the outpatient Froedtert Cancer Center Day Hospital.


Under this protocol, Day 8 is tomorrow, Thursday, November 18, 2010. So tomorrow we will once again trek down to the Cancer Center. Carl will be connected to the IV for around 3 hours, making this one of the shorter chemotherapy sessions, although with the registration and waiting, we will end up being at the Cancer center more then 1/2 of the day.

Carl 'completed' one course of chemotherapy with the drug Irinotecan before, getting the drugs on Monday, October 18, 2010 and Monday, October 25, 2010. He tolerated the Irinotecan well, so the Doctor added the Vincristine to this course.

I hope these drugs are effective and that Carl can continue getting them for quite some time. At the end of the month the Doctors will check to see if the drugs are holding back the tumor.

Thank you again for all the encouragement and prayers.

So, isn't this kind of a boring post? I hope the photos from one of our trips to the pumpkin farm make it more cheery.


This last photo shows one of the side effects of the Adriomycin chemotherapy. (photo taken October 17, 2010.) Carl didn't loose all of his eyebrow or eyelash hair like some people do, but wow, did it thin out. Already his hair (and eyebrows, and eye lashes) are growing back in. Another reason I hope that Carl can use these drugs for quite some time.

Feeling tired

Carl said to me today - 'I just don't know why I feel so tired right now.'

Hmmm... let me think? Maybe a large dose of Irinotecan and Vincristine on Thursday has something to do with it?

Or possibly surviving a weekend with four active children.

Whatever.