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... Madi is feeling okay. Given her last day of treatment 7 (of 8) completed last Friday and the fact that the impacts are the greatest at day 7, she should start feeling gradually better.
Next scheduled and LAST PLANNED TREATMENT is November 3-7 :-)  Madi was a tad nauseous last night, but manageable. Yesterday was the first time Madi has been released the same day (evening) that she received chemo. Of course nurse PJ slept at her feet all night :-)
Today all things considered, she feels fairly pretty dang decent! In brief:
Friday Oct 17: Chemo started at 10:15 AM. Feeling well enough all things considered. Discharged at 7PM!!! Thursday Oct 16: Chemo started at 12:30 PM. Manageable nausea, but feeling kind of 'crappy' but slept well Wednesday Oct 15: Chemo started at 1:30 PM. Manageable nausea, her team is managing it well. Tuesday Oct 14: Chemo started at 2:30 PM. Manageable nausea, her team is managing it well! Monday Oct 13: Scheduled admission to the hospital. Chemo given 4-11 PM without incident, minimal nausea, no vomiting. Madi slept well. Summary: Madi's oncologist Dr. Storch hydrates for a minimum of 4 hours prior to administering the inpatient chemo. The plan this week is to gradually move treatment earlier each day and perhaps Madi can be released Friday night (vs. Saturday morning). Hospitals are noisy and I think we'd all concede we sleep best in our own beds. Thank you again for your thoughts and prayers.  Madi, Dad, and Rodger met a chordoma warrior today for lunch at Bob's Big Boy in Burbank. We had talked to Adriane on the phone, emailed and IM'd, but finally met in person.
Adriane is a dynamo who was first diagnosed in 2007. She has been working directly with the Chordoma Foundation just about from it's beginning, as well as providing leadership, support and guidance on the global chordoma forum. It was a real treat meeting her! This picture was taken in September at the Symphony station in Boston where the "T" makes the transition from subway tunnels to above ground train. Dad boarded the train at this stop, and always had to note the light at the end of the tunnel while in Boston. Madi starts chemo round 7 of 8 tomorrow in Woodland Hills. The end of planned treatments is near and there IS light at the end of the tunnel. As you can read in an earlier thread Madi's post-chemo white blood cell (WBC) was incredibly low last week. On Wednesday it was 568. (A normal WBC count is 4,500-10,000)
Madi had a doctor appointment today. Her WBC count is 7800... absolutely amazing! Besides feeling a tad fatigued at times, she feels pretty dang good considering!  Blood-work taken on Monday 9/30 showed Madi's ANC and WBC counts were very low. If she had been hospitalized with a fever, she would not have been released until they had at least doubled... it's like walking a tightrope. Following any aggressive chemo treatment, the risks of infection are extremely high and doctors instructions are explicit: if the patients temperature reaches 100.4, go directly to the hospital, do not past Go, do not collect 200 dollars.
Chemo patients are encouraged to eat during treatment when they're not hungry, drink when they're not thirsty, and walk/move when they feel like curling up in a ball and staying in bed. Madi did incredible on all levels! Chemo peaks about 7 days after the last treatment and for Madi that was Wednesday 10/1. Early that evening Madi was understandably feeling rotten. She took her temp and said "I can't catch a freaking break". We've seen this before... once her temp hits 100.4, it keeps creeping north of that until IV antibiotics are administered. In a non-defeatist but understandably and only a bit perturbed she packed pajamas, her pillow, phone and other overnight necessities, then off to the hospital Wednesday evening. What was unusual in this scenario was her temp was 100.4 when departing, but only 100.2 at the hospital...and it stayed there. After consulting the doctor, Madi was not admitted... a first given she had a temperature but it didn't follow previous patterns of her turning in to a glow worm and being hospitalized. Blood-work today showed her ANC and WBC counts remain very low, but her temperature remains in check. Perhaps she actually caught a break this round! |
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