Started this very late last night - saved it and I can't figure out WHERE the heck the saved documents are so have to start over. Not sure I'll be as wordy as last night - had typed an awful lot but will try to give you the gist of what I had already typed.
Saturday - cytoxan day
Arrived at IPOP (In Patient Out Patient) around 7:10 - well actually arrived at John's Hopkins main lobby. Went in door and headed for coffee shop ONLY to find out it was closed - DISASTER - as neither of us had had our morning coffee - of course Don wasn't as stressed as me haha. Decided to go on up to IPOP but Megan (our nurse) said you have plenty of time to go get some so over to cafeteria we went (bless you Megan).
Got coffee and back to IPOP by 7:30 (our scheduled appointment time).
7:35 - Megan took Don's vitals. Shortly after started the hydration process (2 hours) - Don had to give a certain amount of urine before they could start the cytoxan. In preparation he also drank 64 ounces of juice and water. Once it was determined enough urine was collected the cytoxan started at 10:30 - hydration was continued along with this. Total time for hydration was 8 hours - total time for cytoxan 1 hour 30 minutes. During this time he was given **Dexamethasone** (see note below) and zofran (anti nausea medicine). The dexa had a bad affect on Don but he was familiar with it since he had had it with prior chemo treatments with his oncologist.
During this process he also was given Mesna - it was to coat the bladder during the chemo process - he had 4 different dosages of this - during the entire process Don was being hydrated. The last dosage of Mesna was at 6:15 and the hydration process was done by 6:30 so we were free to go.
Kristi and Charlie had came to see us at 2:00 and they stayed with us throughout the afternoon and well into the evening. It was so good to have them w/us. We went to dinner at Greene Turtle in Baltimore and back to Hackerman Patz by 9:30 - Kristi and Charlie left soon after that.
A long long day for all of us - Don was extremely tired but one of the side affects of Dexa is it keeps you wired so we were up to midnight at least. The Dexa and the new neighbor who moved in last night - we heard his entire conversation on the phone through the walls - grrrrrrrrrrrr.
***Myeloma Treatment: How Does Dexamethasone Work?
Dexamethasone and the other steroids are useful in myeloma treatment because they can stop white blood cells from traveling to areas where cancerous myeloma cells are causing damage. This decreases the amount of swelling or inflammation in those areas and relieves associated pain and pressure.
More importantly, in high doses, dexamethasone can actually kill myeloma cells. When combined with other myeloma drugs, it can also make those drugs work even better. Dexamethasone and other steroids are sometimes used by themselves to treat the disease. According to the International Myeloma Foundation, dexamethasone is the most effective single agent for treatment of multiple myeloma when given in large doses. The risk of side effects is much higher at these doses, however.
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