2nd Dose of Round 3 Starting

 So tonight Brendan is starting his 2nd (of 3) doses of cisplatin.  As soon as his cisplatin is finished through his IV (should take an hour) they will start the etopocide (should take another hour). Then post chemo fluids will be given.  His 3rd dose should start 24 hours later.  After another 24 hours of post chemo fluids, then Round 3 (of 6) will be done.

  The afternoon was spent giving Brendan a specially formulated set of fluids made for his specific needs.  He was given more sodium than before since the cisplatin drops the sodium levels in his body and his hormones aren't regulating them appropriately.  

Earlier today an endocrinologist met with Brendan and helped the doctors develop a balancing plan so that Brendan could receive his chemo treatment and still manage his sodium levels with all the fluids he would need to be given.  While all this planning and brainstorming was going on with the doctors and endocrinologist, Brendan had a pretty chill day. 

He took a bed bath. . . 

 He did his physical therapy exercises. . .

He watched old movies, and played on the iPad.  He spent most of the day out of his bed and being up and about.  It's good to see him feeling better.  They started Brendan on antibiotics for C Diff again.  Hopefully, the nausea and his sodium levels will be managed so he will stay feeling good.

I've had a lot of questions lately about the difference between chemotherapy and radiation.  Here is a rundown of what they are and how they are used to treat cancer.

(Information copied from American Cancer Society website: cancer.org)

What is chemotherapy, and how does it work?

Chemotherapy is the use of medicines or drugs to treat a disease, such as cancer. Many times this treatment is just called chemo. Surgery and radiation therapy remove, kill, or damage cancer cells in a certain area, but chemo can work throughout the whole body. Chemo can kill cancer cells that have metastasized (meh-TAS-tuh-SIZED) or spread to parts of the body far away from the primary (original) tumor. 

More than 100 chemo drugs are used in many combinations. A single chemo drug can be used to treat cancer, but often multiple drugs are used in a certain order or in certain combinations (called combination chemotherapy). Multiple drugs with different actions can work together to kill more cancer cells. This can also reduce the chance that the cancer may become resistant to any one chemo drug. 

You and your doctor will decide what drug or combination of drugs you will get. Your doctor will choose the doses, how the drugs will be given, and how often and how long you’ll get treatment. All of these decisions will depend on the type of cancer, where it is, how big it is, and how it affects your normal body functions and overall health.

Sometimes chemo is the only treatment you need. More often, chemo is used along with surgery or radiation therapyor both. Here’s why:

• Chemo may be used to shrink a tumor before surgery or radiation therapy.
• It may be used after surgery or radiation therapy to help kill any remaining cancer cells.
• It may be used with other treatments if your cancer comes back.

When chemo is given after surgery to kill any cancer cells that may still be present, it’s called adjuvant therapy. 

When chemo is used to shrink a tumor before surgery or radiation therapy, it’s called neoadjuvant therapy.

What is radiation therapy?

Radiation (ray-dee-A-shun) therapy (ther-uh-pee) is the use of radiation to treat cancer and other problems. There are different types of radiation. One that you may know about is x-rays. If you’ve ever had an x-ray of your chest or any other body part, you’ve had some radiation. Radiation is used in much higher doses to treat some types of cancer.

How does radiation therapy work?

Your body is made up of trillions of normal, healthy cells. Cancer starts when something changes a normal cell into a cancer cell. This cancer cell can then grow and make more cancer cells until a tumor is formed. Tumors can keep growing and cause problems. If the cancer is not treated, it can spread to other parts of the body and form more tumors.

Radiation is used to kill cancer cells. Special equipment sends high doses of radiation to the cancer cells or tumor. This keeps the cells from growing and making more cancer cells. Radiation can also affect normal cells near the tumor. But normal cells can repair themselves and cancer cells cannot.

Sometimes radiation is the only treatment needed. Other times it’s one part of a patient’s cancer treatment plan.

Radiation therapy is not like chemotherapy (key-mo-THER-uh-pee, often called chemo). Radiation treats just the tumor. Chemo uses drugs to treat the whole body. So chemo might be used if a person has cancer in many places. Radiation affects only the part of the body being treated.