New Plan

So today we went to see Dr. Rowland about why the first chemo had ended up so badly and what the plan of attack was for the next chemo.

I had blood drawn and my white blood cell count was now high and my liver functions were almost back to normal.

Dr. Rowland was concerned about one of the chemo drugs I am on, Adriamycin, the "A" in ABVD. It is very toxic and it is also the reason Dr. Rowland thinks my liver got out of control. He was going to do some more research about it and see if we could have less of that drug next time without delaying my remission from cancer.

So my next chemo will now be on Tuesday. He wanted to schedule it Wednesday but that is our first day back at school and I didn't want to miss it. He agreed to come in early and do chemo on Tuesday even though he likes to do it Monday, Wednesday, Friday.(Editor's note:  He is actually at a clinic in another city on Tuesday and Thursday)

There was also talk that I may have to wait longer in between treatments to recover more. So instead of every other week, I would go in every 3 weeks. Again, we just have to wait and see how the next chemo goes.

I will also be getting the bone marrow shots for a few days after every treatment now. Since my white blood cell count was so affected by the chemo Dr. Rowland just wants to stay on top of it so hopefully it won't get too low again. This is especially important since I am going back to school and will have lots of new germs to contend with.

On a sad note, my hair started to fall out last night in the shower. I knew that around Day 14 my hair was supposed to fall out, but I thought since I wasn't having my second chemo that maybe I would keep it a bit longer. 

Nope.

I don't have any bald patches yet, but it is already starting to drive me crazy with pulling lots of hair off my shirt and trying not to run my fingers through it. So it looks like Friday night we will have a shaving party!

We are inviting a few of our close friends over, have some beers, sit out on my nice new deck, and shave my head. 

Dan and I are taking an emergency trip to Indy tomorrow to pick up my wig that I ordered. Hopefully I will like it. If not, I may be rocking the hat and scarf. I was hoping though to look "normal" to my school kids at least for the first couple days of school. Then once I have told them my story I'll see how comfortable I feel going "bare".

I will post some pictures with the next post. Sorry that I have nothing to really show at the moment.