Looking at his schedule, this next cycle of treatment (12 weeks long) is probably the most invasive and grueling so far. In fact, only the first 30 days of it seem to be the tough part. He's got two weeks of daily cranial radiation (yes radiation directly to his brain box!), and lumbar punctures every week for 5 weeks. With the lumbar punctures, they don't just remove some spinal fluid for testing. They also inject methotrexate (look it up on Wikipedia if you want a headache and a lot of technical info about that one). This is on top of a regimen of chemo pills.
He went back to the radiology department today to have a fitting. They customized a pillow for his neck and made a light-weight mask molded for his face. He did NOT like that experience at all. He's due back on Tuesday to start the fun. The radiation itself only takes fifteen minutes or so. Every day. For two weeks.
Oh and he's got to go the regular clinic for a lumbar puncture Monday. Oh, and Saturday (yes, tomorrow) he's got to go in to get a blood transfusion. Who is alert and mobile at 8:00AM on a Saturday? Not me :-P
He was thrilled to receive a package today of cool hats. I don't mean temperature, I mean stylishness. Of all things he's suffered so far, I think he misses his utter coolness the most. Now he can wear the Misfits and Dead Kennedys hats to restore some of that. Both at the same time if he's desperate.
At the moment he is neutropenic, which is where he's on the special diet of no fresh fruits or veggies, and has to be careful around sick people, animals, and anything with bacteria. This goes hand-in-hand with the need for blood. His immune system dips below safe levels because his bone marrow is suppressed. It'll probably rebound once he gets blood. Until then, keep your germs to yourself :-)
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