2006-04-03

03.04.2006

Recount of previous night

Realised the person who keep calling my own phone is Kevin, called him back and had a nice long chat. Might see Kevin during Easter Break, that would be awesome.

Also managed to ipod Linux running on my ipod nano, except then I couldn't boot back into Apple's default OS. That was kind annoying since podZilla isn't quite a full replacement yet. Because I couldn't boot back into Apple's default OS I couldn't format the ipod nano using the dd trick. In the end I had to boot the nano into Disk Mode and use Disk Utitlity to wipe it clean again.

I think I will wait for ipod linux to mature a bit before I try that again. It was kinda cool having linux run on my nano, though the wheel sensitivity and button debounce needs a lot more work if it wants to be as intuitive as Apple's default.

Time 7:02am

Woke up, had my pills, weight. 67.5kg today apparently. Waiting for breakfast. Going to ask Dr Trotman more about my chemotherapy protocol, calling Centrelink to claim some welfare and hopefully stay alert and well enough to receive my last batch of visitors for a while.

On the topic of visitors, those planning on visiting, please observe the following:

Please do not come with a flu/cold/sickness - I am very weak at the moment immune system wise!
Please do not bring flowers or plants etc - they carrier bacteria/pollen etc
Please do not come in big crowds - I know it is hard to keep away, but I need to avoid crowds, especially in my room!

That is all :-P Wait, no,

Donate blood and keep a C coder alive!

Time 11:33am

Dr Allison came in and reviewed my weekend activities :-) My body is responding very well to the oral chemotherapy drugs with wcc dropping to 0.8 today. Dad bought some excellent home food again, along with freshly made chicken dumplings! Nurse Lee got some samples from my father too :-)

Blood stats:

• wcc 0.8
• Hb 83
• Plt 11

They will starts giving me more platelets when my platelets drop below 10. As you can see my red blood cell count is lower, which means I will tire sooner these days. Dr Allison will come and discuss my protocol with me sometime today too.

I have also been informed that there will be a weekly Lumber Puncture... *sigh* I shall live :-) I am weight 67.5kg or so this morning too.

Time 1:56pm

Nick (B) came to visit at 12pm. We had a most wonderful conversation, one of the more "normal" ones I have had - talking about University, mathematics, physics :P He also sat in when Dr Allison came with my protocol explained it. Nick just left, after listening to my ranting for a good 30 minutes :-P Now I will write down some notes about my protocol before I forget them:

I am on a paediatric ALL protocol which means it is design for children and has much higher dosage and intensity, which is good! I will get the following drugs during induction:

dexamethasone - slows down cell turn overs by inhibiting cell division. Non-specific drugs which affects all system - mouth, hair, throat etc.
vincristine - same as above.
daunorubicin - same as above.
L-asparaginase - a drug which is leukemia specific, it slows and destroys leukemia cells.
methotrexate - another non-specific cell turnover slow down agent.
hydrocortisone - same as above.
ARA-C - leukemia specific drug.
tropisetron - nausea drugs.
maxolon - same as above.
decadron - same as above.

Once past induction most of the same drugs are given in cycles in lower dosages to continue killing leukemia cells. I was also told relapse occurs due to any residue leukemia cells... so faster and harder is better!

Kevin also just called. There is something unique about Kevin's character which really makes me feel better afterwards. There is something about Kevin :-P

Tired now as you can probably expect from my Hb count and the fact I been up since 6am. I will try to catch some sleep before some doctor in training comes in and quizzes me.

Time 4:34pm

First chemo drugs today. There is one which makes me get constipation.There is one which will give me pins and needles. Oh and there is one which makes my urine go red :-P There is only one drug which hurt, and that is a 3 times a week injection into my butt. It could be worst, it could be 3 times a day!

Anyways, now to wait for 30 minutes for the drugs to be delivered.