Chemo #6, cranking things up a bit.

When I finally sat down with a calendar and figured out if I continued on the 1/2 dosage chemo every three weeks, I discovered I wouldn't be done until May 18 - GACK!!!!

That just won't work, we have too much to do around here, March starts calving season with heifers which means night checks. April the rest of the cows start coming in and Bruce is ramping up field work, weather permitting, we can't be spending entire days at Storm Lake and running the next week to Cherokee for shots.

Since I had been getting along so well with the chemo, I started thinking about asking Dr. Rao to ramp up the dosages to cut down the treatment time and discussed that plan with Bruce, who was all for it. Dr. Rao was on board, she said she would increase the Rituxin to a 3/4 dosage, then 1/2 of the Treanda today and 1/2 tomorrow. She said if all goes well, we will do two more treatments and then do a scan to see how things look and go from there.

As usual, my nurse, Sheri, settled me in the comfy recliner with a pillow and warm blanket, Bruce got the arm chair and TV. I pulled out my precious tablet with the hot pink cover and found the new book I downloaded yesterday and started reading. Then Sheri plugged in the Benedryl IV and it wasn't long before my eyes started getting heavy and the book made no sense. I gave up the fight and snoozed away the afternoon while Sheri increased the speed of the IV so we didn't have to spend the night there.

Bruce watched ball games, read some farm papers and even sneaked the tablet off my lap and was learning how to work it, he truly has the patience of Job. We were finally done, thanked everyone for their fine care, and there was still light to find the car in the parking lot. We decided to celebrate another day done by going to Hardee's for a Thickburger before heading home.

Tonight is going to be very cold, -15 or worse, so we were very pleased to find our appointment tomorrow isn't until 1 PM. Now Bruce does not have to get up before the butt crack of dawn and battle the bitter cold to get the cattle fed and fountains thawed. 

And it means that I can lounge in my pj's, build a fire and read a book, see previous blog.

I think I get the better deal.