Everything went well today at our 1st appointment with Rion's medical oncologist (after waiting for an hour and a half which come to find out was due to an emergency and we were assured is NOT typical... all I can say is I sure hope not!)
This doctor will be prescribing Rion's chemotherapy both during radiation and afterwards. He will also perform routine blood draws (every 2 weeks while on radiation) to monitor the white blood cells & platelets to ensure the levels do not drop too much. The treatment plan remains the same: 42 consecutive days of a low dose of Temodar starting on the 1st day of Rion's radiation treatment, a 2-3 week rest period, and then a year of a higher dosage of Temodar. The higher dosage will be given for 5 consecutive days each month for 12 months.
As an aside, we will be using Temodar for a few reasons: 1) it is very powerful and able to pass through into the brain where as other chemotherapy medications are not as powerful and therefore not effective at treating brain tumors. 2) As an oral chemo, the side effects will be less than those of IV chemo drugs- no wide spread hair loss or debilitating fatigue are expected.
Along with monitoring the lab work, the oncologist will help us manage the side effects of the chemotherapy including nausea. They seem fairly certain Rion will have to deal with some nausea and to be pro-active he will start with anti-nausea medication at the same time he begins chemo. There will be additional medication he can take on an as-needed basis if the nausea is still a problem. Understandable this has me and Rion worried, no one wants to feel sick all of the time! But hopefully we can keep it under control and maintain an acceptable level of comfort.
Rion and I will be going to a teaching session next Thursday to further educate ourselves on what to expect while Rion is on chemotherapy and how to manage any side effects he may encounter. Our next doctors appointment is with the radiation oncologist next Monday at 9:30. This should be a fairly lengthy planning appointment but the aim of the whole treatment team is to being radiation treatments a week from Monday on February 20th.
We will let everyone know once the date to begin radiation is firmed up as we will be needing help getting Rion to and from the appointments. They will be scheduled for the same time each day, hopefully mid morning since Rion has to fast before and after each treatment. I will be taking him to the 1st few but then after that I am hoping to set up a schedule of rides for him each week- if there is a day of the week that works best for anyone and you want to help, please go ahead and shoot me an e-mail (gahendersons at yahoo dot com- spelled out to avid spam) so I can get a general idea of who will be able to help us with this.
Thanks again to all of our amazing family and friends who are going along this unfamiliar journey with us- although we may not be in frequent contact, we are still eternally grateful for everything that has been and is still being done for us.
Blessings,
Emily & Rion
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