Today went okay. Josh’s is mildly anemic so he got an Aranesp shot. Since Josh is such a baby about needles he was complaining about another needle so the nurse who was new (she just moved here from VA Beach) talked to a few people and got them it okay it going into his port. She said that was a first for Blue Ridge Cancer Care, they had never given any injection into a port! Josh thought that was cool.
He is having some trouble breathing since we left the cancer center so if it gets any worse I will be taking him to the ER. It could be from a vast number of things from a reaction to the shot to his already diagnosed lung issues to the excess amount of fluid he got today. The Cisplatin can harm the kidneys so before and after the Cisplatin infusion, extra IV fluids is given to protect your kidney function. In fact, he gets 500mL of NS with a steroid to protect the kidneys and 2 anti-nausea medicines then he gets 1500mL of potassium chloride, then the Cisplatin, which is 600mL, and Etoposide, which is 400mL, then another 1500mL of potassium chloride. Then he gets flushed out with some normal saline and heparin. Isn’t is crazy that he gets so much fluid for only 1000 mL of chemo? Thats what takes so long…today we were there for 6.5 hours!
This post was posted on Tuesday August 12, 2008 at 3:57PM
