Day 1 of Chemotherapy

Dear Family and Friends,

Today Bob began his first day of "Induction Chemotherapy". I'm not sure how detailed everyone wants me to be, so I'm going to be just for the first entry because I know a lot of people want to look this stuff up, so here it goes:

Bob will be taking a 7 day course of the drug Cytarabine and on the last three days they will add Idarubicin to the mix. Per his doctor this is used to wipe out the bad cells from his bone marrow. The main side effect aside from nausea will be a risk of infection and blood loss due to not having an immune system. For this reason and the fact that his platelets are so low due to the prior internal bleeding, they are taking "Neutropenic Precautions" with Bob which means no flowers in the room, no fresh fruit or veggies, no tap water, and everyone wears masks and washes hands before we see him. Right now it is immediate family only due to his compromised immune system. Bob is also being given Zofran to combat any potential nausea.

On the 14th day after Chemotherapy begins, they will repeat the bone marrow biopsy to determine how effective the chemo was. On the 30th day they will begin "Consolidation Chemotherapy" which is an even higher does of the Cytarabine which lasts for 3 days. They will keep repeating the chemotherapy cycle 3-4 times. The next step after this depending on how much of the cancer cells were eradicated would be a possible stem cell or bone marrow transplant. We don't know about this part yet.

Unfortunately now we are still awaiting the results of the final cancer cytogenetic testing. We do not know which subtype of Leukemia Bob has, and this would help the doctors determine how strong it is. We hope to have these results by Monday.

On a more positive note, Bob is doing very well on his first day. He ate dinner and is just minimally nauseous. He says hello to everyone and is excited to watch "Burn Notice" tonight. (He wanted me to say this!)

Finally I would like to especially thank my friend Rana today. She will be running a 5k in Hyde Park, London on July 19th to raise money for cancer research. She is dedicating her run to Bob. Also, many thanks to everyone who has made donations on this site. Thanks again for all the texts, phone calls, emails, and comments as well. I assure you I am telling Bob about each and every one of them. Thanks again for everything and I'll keep you posted.

Michele

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