So yesterday was the start of Delayed Intensification 1. This is the 4th out of 7 stages of Chemotherapy for Angelica. And….this is the stage where we finally hit the half way mark of this first intensive (almost) year of chemotherapy. That should happen in about 2 weeks-ish.
She had a fairly good day of treatment yesterday. She got some chemo injected into her spinal fluid (lumbar puncture), then 2 different chemo meds intravenously, they hung around for an hour after the LP (its required), they picked up the steroids that shes on during this stage and then they headed home. One of these meds can make her feel a little sick (and it did) and so we drugged her up and she basically hung out on the couch for the rest of the day and then went to bed early.
This round shouldn’t be a horrific round and yet there are a few side effects that are possibilities and that we are really hoping that she doesn’t get. The steroids are the worst offenders in this round and can cause problems with her sugar levels which might send her back into a diabetic state. They can cause severe joint and bone pain which can be bad enough to require hospitalization with morphine. They can cause her to have insomnia. They can cause severe mood swings. Really, it’s not pretty or fun.
The first half of this round is actually a shortened version of the very first round that Geli was on. It’s 3 weeks of treatment as opposed to the 4 weeks that she did. One difference is that the steroid is a stronger steroid BUT…she takes it one week off, one week on, and then one week off again.
Some of the effects are cumulative, which mean that IF she ends up with those side effects that she could be feeling the worst of it at Christmas. This would suck, and so we are asking for prayer that Angelica would remain strong and healthy and that the nasty side effects would not bother her.
We want….
NO sugar issues
NO joint pain
NO sleep issues
NO mood swings
NO nausea
NO illness or sickness
and for the chemo to do it’s job and nothing more.
Thanks so much for all your support and prayers. We appreciate you so much.