Friday, 10/10/03
Les’ ANC was up about 1000 points higher than last week, so we stayed overnight at the hospital for his next chemo treatment last Monday (10/6/03). YEAH! It’s amazing how quickly they can go up, and down.
Les had his hearing test on Monday morning (10/6/03). They can detect a slight hearing loss mainly in the higher frequencies. His right ear seems to be a bit worse than his left ear. Because of the amount of hearing loss, they reduced the strength of the dose of Cisplatin by 50%. Hopefully by reducing the dose, they can minimize any further loss. This is the last time Les will need this particular chemo medicine. Note: the hearing loss is fairly minimal right now, and we don’t even notice it. He does seem to be a little extra sensitive to loud noises though. Please continue to keep Les in prayer. God is able to heal his ears – I believe it!
We also started giving Les his last round of Etoposide at home. After 21 days are over, we won’t have to administer anymore chemo at home. YEAH! It seems though, that the Etoposide never wants to go home with us. I mean the actual bottle.
The first time we were in the hospital for chemo, they told me to go to the pharmacy and pick it up, but with all the confusion over packing and loading up, I forgot. It wasn’t until we were home that afternoon that I realized my mistake. Frantically, I called my mom and between her and my grandma they were able to get it from the hospital and drive it up to us (70 miles) that night.
The second time we needed to bring it home from the hospital with us, the insurance company was balking at paying for it, and it was after 5pm on a Friday. We were able to come home with just enough to get us through the weekend, and then after it was straightened out with the pharmacy and insurance, a friend was able to pick it up and drive it to us.
Now on this last visit to the hospital, I was all geared up to make sure I didn’t forget anything – especially the medicine. We had to wait an extra 3 hours for the medication to be prepared before we could leave, so I had all our stuff packed up and loaded in the car. All I needed was the medicine and Les. Well, I left Les in the capable hands of the playroom staff while I went to the pharmacy to get the medicine. When I got back to the playroom to get Les, he decided that he didn’t want to go home, and he wanted to stay in the hospital “forever”. In the confusion that resulted from me having to physically pry Les’ hands off the door handle and drag him screaming down the hallway and into the car, I forgot that the medicine was still on the table in the playroom (the playroom was closing so we couldn’t stay and also traffic would be heavier if we didn’t leave soon). Thinking that finally everything was in the car, I started off. It was about 3:30 in the afternoon, just about the time the traffic starts to get heavy for the afternoon commute. I drove through the worst of it and then about 25 minutes from home, I decided to check my home phone messages from my cell phone. The last message was from the hospital saying that they had Les’ medicine at the nurse’s station and she hoped that I wasn’t already driving home. I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry as I exited the freeway and started my trek back to the hospital. When I finally had the medicine in my car, it was 5pm and traffic was a mess. I then did the only logical thing I could think of; I invited my mom to go out to dinner at Chevy’s, my favorite Mexican food restaurant. We enjoyed a nice leisurely dinner and then went home when traffic thinned out.
Needless to say, I am very happy that I will not have to bring that medicine home again. Please understand though, that Les will continue to receive chemo treatments. It’s just that he will get a different combination of chemo medicines starting in November and continuing until summer 2004.
Les’ ANC was up about 1000 points higher than last week, so we stayed overnight at the hospital for his next chemo treatment last Monday (10/6/03). YEAH! It’s amazing how quickly they can go up, and down.
Les had his hearing test on Monday morning (10/6/03). They can detect a slight hearing loss mainly in the higher frequencies. His right ear seems to be a bit worse than his left ear. Because of the amount of hearing loss, they reduced the strength of the dose of Cisplatin by 50%. Hopefully by reducing the dose, they can minimize any further loss. This is the last time Les will need this particular chemo medicine. Note: the hearing loss is fairly minimal right now, and we don’t even notice it. He does seem to be a little extra sensitive to loud noises though. Please continue to keep Les in prayer. God is able to heal his ears – I believe it!
We also started giving Les his last round of Etoposide at home. After 21 days are over, we won’t have to administer anymore chemo at home. YEAH! It seems though, that the Etoposide never wants to go home with us. I mean the actual bottle.
The first time we were in the hospital for chemo, they told me to go to the pharmacy and pick it up, but with all the confusion over packing and loading up, I forgot. It wasn’t until we were home that afternoon that I realized my mistake. Frantically, I called my mom and between her and my grandma they were able to get it from the hospital and drive it up to us (70 miles) that night.
The second time we needed to bring it home from the hospital with us, the insurance company was balking at paying for it, and it was after 5pm on a Friday. We were able to come home with just enough to get us through the weekend, and then after it was straightened out with the pharmacy and insurance, a friend was able to pick it up and drive it to us.
Now on this last visit to the hospital, I was all geared up to make sure I didn’t forget anything – especially the medicine. We had to wait an extra 3 hours for the medication to be prepared before we could leave, so I had all our stuff packed up and loaded in the car. All I needed was the medicine and Les. Well, I left Les in the capable hands of the playroom staff while I went to the pharmacy to get the medicine. When I got back to the playroom to get Les, he decided that he didn’t want to go home, and he wanted to stay in the hospital “forever”. In the confusion that resulted from me having to physically pry Les’ hands off the door handle and drag him screaming down the hallway and into the car, I forgot that the medicine was still on the table in the playroom (the playroom was closing so we couldn’t stay and also traffic would be heavier if we didn’t leave soon). Thinking that finally everything was in the car, I started off. It was about 3:30 in the afternoon, just about the time the traffic starts to get heavy for the afternoon commute. I drove through the worst of it and then about 25 minutes from home, I decided to check my home phone messages from my cell phone. The last message was from the hospital saying that they had Les’ medicine at the nurse’s station and she hoped that I wasn’t already driving home. I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry as I exited the freeway and started my trek back to the hospital. When I finally had the medicine in my car, it was 5pm and traffic was a mess. I then did the only logical thing I could think of; I invited my mom to go out to dinner at Chevy’s, my favorite Mexican food restaurant. We enjoyed a nice leisurely dinner and then went home when traffic thinned out.
Needless to say, I am very happy that I will not have to bring that medicine home again. Please understand though, that Les will continue to receive chemo treatments. It’s just that he will get a different combination of chemo medicines starting in November and continuing until summer 2004.