Back at Moffitt on 8-31-06

Heath is back in Moffitt for more chemo. They have changed his protocol again. Instead of getting the Ifosfamide by itself they are going to give him another type of chemo at the same time called Etoposide.

He will be getting 5 full days of chemo. They started him on fluids last night at about 9PM. They started him on the Etoposide around 10:30PM. They pump that through him in one hour. Immediately following that, they start him on the Ifosfamide and pump that through him in 23 hours. This process is repeated four more times. They also give him Mesna which is mixed in with the Ifosfamide. It is supposed to counter one of the side affects of the Ifosfamide which can cause damage to the bladder.

The trick as we have learned for treating this type of cancer as well as many others is to basically poison the body enough to kill the cancer but not enough to cause too much damage to the rest of the body. The fact is that it does cause some damage. Keep praying that the doctors find the perfect balance.

In my previous post I did not mention something that the doctors told us. They said not to worry too much about the protocol change. However, if some of his previous symptoms with the nerve pain in the leg or foot returned then he would be more concerned. Last Thursday night Heath told us that he started feeling numbness in his foot again. We told the doctors and they wanted him admitted on Friday for more tests. So after being out for one day, Heath had to spend two more nights at Moffitt. They did a complete MRI, with and without contrast, on his pelvic and spine region. We are still waiting for the Radiologist to give us a full report on the scans. The intermediate results did not give us too much cause for concern. Heath did tell us that the numbness has come and gone since the beginning so we don't know if it is related to the tumor growing or not.