It’s a big day today, as I get the second of my large chemo blasts this afternoon. This second chemo agent is called Melphalan, and is the more toxic and side-effect producing of the two. So far I’ve tolerated the first chemo agent fairly well. My biggest complaint today is that my 24/7 friend the mini-infusion pump has blimped me up by adding 10 pounds of water weight, so I’m looking more and more like Bibendum the Michelin Man and less like my normal svelte self.
One interesting (to me, anyway) thing relating to the Melphalan infusion is the recent discovery of a very low-tech way to handle one of the most serious side effects, which is the development of very painful mouth sores. Seemingly by trial and error, nurses discovered that having patients chew on ice during the infusion process resulted in a reduction of mouth sores later on. This was duly researched, papers published, and a protocol developed around ice chomping (with a new fancy name, of course, oral cryotherapy). The protocol calls for sucking on ice cubes and drinking cold slushy water before, during, and after the infusion. Apparently the cold reduces blood flow to the mouth, thus reducing the amount of the chemo agent that gets into that area. This simple technique has radically reduced the frequency of mouth sores and the necessity of hospitalizing people because of them. I love it when simple solutions work.
Short term, after a rest day tomorrow, I get my stem cells re-transfused on Friday, which the BMT team refers to as “Day 0.” But I’ll start feeling worse and worse in the next 5 days as my blood counts drop. Supposedly sometime between Day 14 and Day 21, I’ll start to feel better. But for 2 – 3 weeks, it’s going to be a hard slog. I feel ready for it now, and even if I didn’t — well, there’s nothing to do but move forward. I’ll try to keep you all advised of how it goes.
Categories: Blogging