Hope In A Time Of Melphalan

Reluctant grazing best describes my diet. Water tastes terrible. I wear a hydration backpack carrying 1500 ml of saline solution. A battery operated pump feeds me 250 ml for each of six hours. This replenishes my body fluids. You would think I could drink eight ounces of water every hour, but well, forget it. To [...]

Balancing Act

As advertised, John is feeling “punier” by the day as the melphalan goes to work. Through yesterday he was able to eat sufficiently and drink the required 100 oz. of fluid per day, but by today he just can’t manage. So he will get a liter of fluid by IV today (at home), and probably [...]

Day Zero

Day two of the transplant procedure was much better than day one. We were at the clinic for seven hours. I handled the amifostine and melphalan with no difficulty. The most annoying part was having to suck ice chips for one hour prior to and during infusion of the melphalan and then for an additional [...]

Knocking On Wood

I consented to the clinical trial. The decision gave me buyer’s remorse. The worry was whether the increased chemo would burn a hole in my gut. As it is, I won’t receive the mega dose; I was randomized to the standard high dose. The study hopes to define a new maximum tolerated dosage of chemo. [...]