Half of Taxotere and Carboplatin treatments finished today!

So here's the short of it,
Today was my big chemo, and my Carboplatin dose was reduced. I'm halfway through the Taxotere and Carboplatin portions of my chemo.

And here's the long

I worked this morning and actually had a very productive morning. Since it was the official come back to work day for everyone, I had an opportunity to see several colleagues that I haven't seen all summer as well. That was really nice. Valdis came early to work and helped my load up stuff from Brown Academy where I've been housed to go to W. 40th street. The object of the move is to remove me from an environment with lots of kids because of the virulent strains of disease and just the presence of lots of colds, and childhood illnesses. During the days my blood counts are low, but I feel strong enough to work, I'll be able to work. My dear colleague Marilyn was also right there getting stuff boxed up before I even arrived and lending me space in her vehicle! And when we got to W. 40th street Katherine was right there to get my computer going!


So my chemo started at 1 this afternoon. I have a somewhat cranky port. It always does a nice job of letting the medicine go in, but I have to have blood drawn every week and it doesn't always cooperate with letting stuff out. Today was no different. Lori couldn't get any blood, so I had to have a vein stick in the hand where my veins are so nice - so big deal, but I just wish my port would cooperate! I ended up getting Carboplatin last today because the lab results had to come back in order to know what to do about the Carboplatin dose. Sure enough my kidney function supported my continued low platelet count and my dose was lowered. I finished up about 5:30 this afternoon.


I haven't started feeling horribly yucky just yet. I felt well enough to take Sophie out to meet some of the neighborhood dogs. That went very well. She is still awfully shy and timid, but she's really coming around. Since, in the unique mix of cultures that make up this household, Southern is a major one, we decided that Sophie needed a middle name - and now she has three versions. She was born on May 5th and was in the shelter with her Mom and her 9 siblings until she came to live with us. So one of the three will be Sophie de Mayo; another will be Sophie May; and sometimes we'll call her Sophie May Not. Some of you may not have a hard time knowing that Alan came up with Sophie May Not.


Thanks so much to Valdis, Marilyn, and Katherine for today! You guys are great.