Day -10

Today was Chris' first day of chemo for the stem cell transplant, and it was a very long day. We reported to admissions at 8:15 and Chris was formally admitted to the hospital. The benefit of this is that Chris can opt to stay any night, if he isn't feeling well enough to go home. However, for the first time, we were in a shared room since Chris is not currently at risk for infection.

After that it was off to the immunocompromised section of the hospital for bone marrow transplants and blood cancers (5 West), where Chris had all of his vitals checked, blood work done and we did a bunch of patient questionaires. They also cleaned and redressed Chris' PICC line. Since the PICC line goes directly into the large vein beside the heart, they have to be really careful about anything contaminating the site.

By about 11:00, Chris was finally hooked up to the Busulphan, which he received for 3 hours. Throughout the chemo, we met with a pharmacist, doctors, a social worker, and the assissant to the manager on the floor. We are trying to find out new ways to pass the time while at the hospital. We found out that the hosptial has wireless Internet, the only problem is that it rarely works (by rarely, we mean never). Since we were in a shared room, we couldn't watch a movie or a television show. So instead Chris played 17 games of Free Cell and I am almost finished my second book.

We also received Chris' medication chart for the next little while.
Dilantin to prevent seizures (three pills three times a day for the first day and then once a day after that for five days).

Ursodiol to protect the liver (one pill four times day).

Allopurinol to protect the kidneys (one pill once a day for nine days).
Zofran to prevent nausea (one pill twice a day for 10 days).
Decadron to prevent nausea (two pills twice a day to prevent nausea).

Chris was also given a bunch of other medications to use on an as needed basis.

Prochlorperazine for additional nausea (one pill every four hours as needed).

Maxeran and Benadryl for additional nausea (two pills and one half pill of Benadryl every 4 hours as needed).

Ativan for sleeping problems and anxiety (one pill every six hours as needed).

So far, we are much bigger fans of Busulphan than the Cyclophosphamide. Other than feeling a little dizzy, Chris is doing well. He can continue to drink coffee and we don't need to wake up every hour on the hour (Busulphan 3, Cyclophosphamide 0).

Day 3 - Chemo

Today Chris had his first dose of Cyclophosphamide. We were at the hospital from 10:30 to 3:30 and the whole process was pretty surreal. Luckily we recieved the VIP treatment, and they gave us our own room with a TV and a private washroom. We also were able to hook up our laptop and watch videos. We took a couple photos of his room (you get bored sitting around for 5 hours), so we will post them soon.

We also learned how to give Chris his injections, which I was a pro at (after practicing a lot on a padded j-cloth). 

Since this chemo drug is so tough on the bladder (and could cause damage to it), Chris has to drink and go the bathroom every hour for the next 24 hours (including throughout the night). After staying up essentially for 24 hours, we are due back at the hospital tomorrow at 10:30, so hopefully they give us a bed again so Chris can nap.

Chris is doing really well so far. His only real symptoms is cloudiness in his head. He still can taste everything, has an appetite and no nausea. They gave him two pills for nausea while he was there and a pill for his kidneys, so it looks like they are working :)

Also, we start his drug regimen tonight (one hydration pill and two nausea pills), so hopefully he still feels this way tomorrow.

Day 1 - Collection Planning Meeting

So today is officially Day 1. We went to Ottawa General and met with the nurse coordinator, the pharmacisit and one of the doctors on the bone marrow transplant team.
We also recieved our first schedule for the collection regimen and a fancy chart with all of the drugs Chris will need to take.
The schedule goes like this:
October 16 - 4 hours of Cyclophosphamide (chemo to lower white blood cell count)
Octber 17 - 4 hours of hydration and electrolytes and we learn how to give Chris injections of Neupogen
October 18 - 26 - Daily Neupogen injections ( to boost stem cells)
October 22 - Physical and blood work to check for infections
October 26 - Blood work to check stem cell counts
October 27 - Stem cell collection (6 -8 hours)
October 28 - Additional stem cell collection ( if needed).
Then we wait for a 2 -3 weeks to find out when Chris will do his high-dose chemo followed by the stem cell  transplant.

The drug chart that we recieved detailed all the drugs and when to take them. We noticed that it seemed that each drug had a side effect that needed to be treated by another drug that may also have side effects that could require treatment. Chris will be taking two drugs for nausea, and if they don't work they have a third nausea drug to take as well. The only catch is that this third drug may cause Chris' eyes to roll back in his head and his joints to lock up. So if we take this drug, they have also prescribed another drug to go alongside it to prevent this. There is also a drug for pain (no Tylenol or Advil allowed), a drug for his kidneys, a drug for hydration, and this is on top of the daily injections he will need to take. Thank goodness for schedules.

In other news Chris decided that he would get a mohawk today. You see Chris has always wanted a mohawk, but always knew that he would never be taken seriously at work as an engineer. Now that he knew he was losing his hair, he decided that this was his opportunity. But in one of those "life's like that" moments, we also learned today that Chris will not lose his hair for another 2-3 weeks. So Chris now has a mohawk for much longer than he originally bargained for, but he did get his wish and I can't take him seriously.

We are off to clean the house to make sure it is germ free in advance of his chemo.