How Louie Is Going Down

Treatment

My treatment will consist of 6 three-week rounds.  The first week (5 days) will be round-the-clock chemo and for those periods, at least the first few times, I'll be in the hospital.  After 5 days of chemo infusions I have several days in which the chemo is still in my system and so Scott and others around me need to be careful about contact with me and my bodily fluids....not that I'm in the habit of tossing around bodily fluids.

The second week is the period in which my body experiences the side effects (of the not pleasant variety) and in which my white blood cell count drops so I have to be careful about being around all of you non-cancer types and your bodily fluids.  Turn-around is fair game.

The third week is supposed to be my good week.  A week in which my white blood cell count is back up and the side effects have passed and I can bulk back up and get ready for the next round.

Here's a timeline of my rounds:

• Round 1: Began November 10th (hospital)
• Round 2: Begins December 1st (hospital)
• Round 3: Begins December 22nd (hospital)
• Round 4: Begins January 15th (could be outpatient)
• Round 5: Begins February 5th (could be outpatient)
• Round 6: Begins February 26th (could be outpatient)

Outpatient is an option during weeks in which we can go into the infusion center for five days in a row and during that time we'd be home much of the time with a portable infusion pump but we'd be going daily for refills.  During these first few windows there are too many holidays to allow us to try outpatient because the infusion center is closed at least one day of the week that we'd need.  (Stupid Christmas.)  (I hope Santa comes to the hospital.)