Round 2 – Lets Go

Friends,

I thought I’d use part of this post to further explain my treatment because I don’t think I did a very good job in one of my previous blogs lol. I also want to clarify the picture has nothing to do with this blog, I just think it’s too cute.

So, how the treatment works is I receive 5 different drugs for chemotherapy (funny how it is called “therapy” but it literally wrecks you from time to time). I receive the drugs VDC and IE. The names of these are extremely long and hard to pronounce so, I am going to stick with the letters. Below is a little terminology before I continue with this:

• Ewing’s Sarcoma – a pediatric disease that only about 200 people are diagnosed with a year (why me? we are all wondering that too). It primarily affects children and young adults.
• Rounds (or cycles – interchangeable) – consists of 2 weeks total. So each time I finish a round I have finished 2 weeks of treatment.
• Inpatient –  I am admitted into the hospital for treatment.
• Outpatient – I show up at my doctor’s office for treatment.
• Counts/ANC – This is what allows me to not only go out in public but also continue treatment. In order to go out in public, my counts must be 500 or higher (they were 100 on Wednesday). In order to continue receiving chemo, my counts must be 750 or higher.
• Localized – This means that the cancer is only in the original place it was found (primary tumor). For example, my tumor is localized in my right leg on my fibula because that is where it was found and it has not spread anywhere else.
• Metastatic – This means that cancer has spread from the primary tumor to other parts of your body.
• Cancer brain or chemo brain – something I say a lot when I mess up or forgot something because chemo can mess with your concentration and focus.

So my treatment schedule goes like this:

• Week 1 – Inpatient for 2-3 days in the hospital with the drugs VDC.
• Week 2 – Outpatient in my doctor’s office with drug V for 1 minute. It’s a small amount of the drug.
• Week 3 – Inpatient for 5 days with drugs IE for 2 hours each day.
• Week 4 – Rest.
• Repeat this order for 12-13 weeks, then surgery to remove what’s left of the tumor, then back to chemo for 22 weeks (or 11 rounds).

Now for this week – This week I will begin round 2 of chemo. I have been recovering well from round 1 of chemo and still have my hair (woohoo!) but I am told that it will begin to fall out in round 2. I will be very honest, I was told this week is intense so I am pretty anxious about it. The plan is I will go see my doctor this Wednesday and have my blood drawn to see what my ANC/counts are at. If they are 750 or higher then, I will be admitted to the hospital for chemo on Friday. If they aren’t high enough… I will have to wait till Monday to be admitted. I don’t want to be admitted on Monday because then I would finish chemo on Friday, then drive straight to Arkansas for semi-formal and that is a lot on me and my family. However, the awesome news is that when I finish this 5-day chemo I will be done with round 2 since week 4 is a rest week. Meaning we are almost a third of the way there people!!

Prayers – Please pray for my anxious heart, because regardless of when I start this chemo, I will still be scared about it. Pray my counts will be high enough when we go to the doctor on Wednesday to start chemo on Friday. Also, pray I feel well enough after this chemo to enjoy my weekend in Arkansas. I have been looking forward to this weekend for quite some time to see my friends and sorority sisters.