Second part of the treatment ! Thrus 10,Day -7 / Fri 11,Day -6

I was admitted to the hospital yesterday afternoon after having a PICC line placed on my left arm in the morning for treatments. I was blessed again to have a good doctor doing it, who went the extra mile to check with the doctor that placed my vascath a couple of weeks ago, to whom I had showed my records from home to find out if I had any vein that could be use before putting me through the pain..LOL. Which was a good idea since I forgot my records in the morning and knowing my history with veins, it was the best thing she could ve done. I went home to get some rest and took some pain medicine, waiting for my room to be ready.
I got to watch the opening of the soccer world cup all the way to Alicia Keys, when they called me to let me know my room number and to go there right away because the Dr. would meet me there in a few minutes.

As any hospital, I guess communication between departments is not one of their strongest. When I got there I checked at the desk and she called someone and told me to have a seat and wait. We waited for about an hour when Ms Paula (Dr. Burt s assistant) called and asked if I could go to the hospital right away because the doctor was waiting for me in my room. I told her we were there since last time she called me, just sitting waiting for someone from admitions to come and get us, she talked to the lady at the desk and she kept saying I had to keep waiting. Ms Paula got on the phone with me again and she said, Rossana just walk to the elevators and go up to your room, Dr Burt is waiting for you there, and dont let anyone stop you....LOL so we did. The lady from the desk kept calling us to go back to stop us and we didnt. I was not listening to her or waiting anymore.

I apologized to Dr. Burt for having him waiting and I explained him what happenned, he just laugh. He is such a nice and busy person. He examined me and told me he was placing the orders and we were starting the chemo in a few hours. So I didnt have my last IVIG as it was scheduled for this morning. Last week June 1st was my last. He also took me off of all my medicines starting today. Just kept me on prednisone and zocor.

Thrusday June 10 , Day -7 (-minus...lol)

I got all set up and about 6:30 pm they started the pre-medications. Benadry (IV), tylenol (pills), Solu-Medrol (1gr) which is IV steroids too. And of course the regular Saline solution that they keep you on 24/7, for hydration. Around 7 pm they started my chemo. Rituxan (500 mg) running at 50 mg per hr. increasing at 50 mg every 30 min as tolerated up to 400mg per hr. It took about 3 hours to run since I didnt have any side effects. I felt tired and kind of sleepy at the beggining, but I think it was the benadryl more than the chemo. LOL

Friday June 11, Day -6

Dr. Burt came early this morning around 8 am with his assistant, Amy. Mrs. Paula is on vacation. Told me about my blood work and gave me a copy. My numbers didnt go down too much the first day. My glucose (190) which is high (steroids...lol) and rdw (16.8) . Down were albumin (3.3), red cell count (3.63), Hemoglobin (11.4) and hematocrit (33.2). Everything else was normal , about 10 pages of test.
I know this kind of information is more technical, I wont be posting it everyday...lol dont worry. I just want people that wants to go through this treatment and know more about it to have an idea of how it works and what to expect and because I know my nurse, doctor and pharmacist may be reading it and Im sure they want details...lol.
Around 12:30pm we started pre-med, same thing every day,same dosages. LOL
Chemo started around 1pm. Today it was ATG ( Anti-thymeglobulin) 250 mg, 28.3grms. running slowly for 10 hrs. Just got done with it a few minutes ago, the last hr of the infusion I got a little headache, called the nurse and in less than one minute he was here to check and see what was wrong. In less than 3 min. brought me a norco. Just like the hospital at home....LOL right !
Headache is gone! And I feel great so far. My body is taking it pretty good, just like water for now. I hope it keeps going this way!!

Well I'll try to keep posting as often as I can, since I dont have much to do anyway.
Any questions, just email me. Thank you.