Velcade -- Word for the Day -- Friday, January 9, 2009

VELCADE® (bortezomib)

Definition: Chemo injection is indicated for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma.

Here we are -- got the port inserted at 8:00 a.m. today and had the chemo bags hooked up around 11:00 a.m. Four days of chemo - two bags, along with steroids and chemo by mouth. The Velcade shots will be Day 1, 4, 8 and 11. Velcade is a mamma jamma chemo.

His 24-hour chemo bag is changed tomorrow at 11:30, Sunday at 9:30 and Monday at 7:30… then on Tuesday he will be doing labs everyday at 7:00 a.m. Sometimes that will take a few hours depending if he needs a transfusion, platelets, magnesium or potassium. Blood takes two hours to run, platelets – 20 min and the others take five hours. They usually keep the last two hooked up to his port and he brings them home so I have to flush out the iv lines when I disconnect the bag. I have to flush them out with saline and heparin…

We have been informed that this round of chemo is not as harsh and that ChemoSabe will not lose his hair. I have my clippers ready, just in case. The girls in the Infusion Center were happy to see him and we acclimated the newbies. Are they in for a treat.

Before we arrived this morning I gave him an Ativan to take the edge off the port insertion. I haven't done that before, but I knew he wouldn't be driving. It helped tremendously, BUT... while we were in the Infusion Waiting he was very, very relaxed, calm and talking a mile-a-minute. The later was the Dex (steroid) he took this morning. I tried to read the paper and it didn't make any difference. It was like he was talking non-stop to himself. A lady across from him (must have been a chemo baby) looked at him strangely so I put my paper down and listened. Chat, chat, chat, chat, chat.... I was thankful the Atvian wore off by the time we got home at 1:00 p.m. and he went on in to work.. HA

The bag is a reminder of what the next four days entail. When he gets up he forgets his bag and the ivs tug. The nurses have a safety for that. They take a huge piece of tape and double it over the iv tubes. Then they take a big safety pin and pin it into the shirt area to prevent pulling the tubes out of the vein. Simple, but safe.

We are keeping Big E tomorrow night. Poppy called him and told him he would follow up with him in the morning. He explained he would really like for him to spend the night with us because he wouldn't be able to see him or be around him in a couple of weeks because of the treatments. Remember, Big E is five years old. Well, after that conversation Big E asked Poppy when he was going to heaven. Poppy explained to him it would be when God was finished with him. He told him God had plans for him and when those plans were finished then he would go be with God. He felt it would be a very long time and we had plenty of time to spend with him and plenty of nights he could spend the night if he didn't want to this weekend. WHAT A POPPY HE IS!

Well, Kids.... we have a long day tomorrow. ChemoSabe has LeafGard coming out to clean our gutters first thing in the morning. He forgot when he scheduled the appointment yesterday that he would be going to Infusion... Gosh, I think the chemo began before it was hooked up! ha

So, we are off to bed and on to our next journey. I believe this round will be easier. He has appointments with clients and prospectives lined up for the next month, so he has the will to keep going. I know he will keep each meeting he has.

Good night and Love -- Pepper