Tonight Starts Chemotherapy Again

Time flies when you're having fun and Steve's break from treatment is now officially over. Tonight, he takes his first maintenance dose of Temodar of 140 mg. He will take his anti-nausea medication a half an hour before and he is being very dutiful with his fiber pills, prune juice and other medications for constipation in an attempt to minimize any unwanted side effects from the chemotherapy drug. He will take one Temodar pill in the evening for five evenings and then stop for twenty-three days. We wish him well and hope nothing will keep him from work or from feeling good enough to love life.

He had his blood drawn again the end of last week with a slow improvement in his kidney function. His creatinine is down from 1.8 to 1.7, on it's way towards a normal 1.5 and much improved from numbers over two. He is still drinking lots of fluids and he sees the nephrologist about June 15 for his next appointment.

He hasn't been able to completely stop the anti-nausea pills despite not having had any active treatment for a while. We don't know if it is the residual from radiation, chemotherapy, kidney failure or battling constipation or a combination of the above, but he would have an upset, gassy-feeling when he tried to stop his Zofran previously. We hope he won't become more nauseated with the Temodar because the anti-nausea pills really cause constipation, which causes a very upset stomach. It's a vicious cycle. What can you do?

On a happier front, Adam turns 12 years old next week and is graduating elementary school. The kids grow ever bigger at a rapid pace!