Chemo Begins!

Robin was admitted to the hospital at 2pm today. After a bunch of preliminary work they started by giving her anti-nausea medication at 5:15pm then Cisplatin at 6:30. At 9:30 the Cisplatin finished and they started FU5.

A cycle of chemo is 21 days. It starts with 3 hours of Cisplatin, followed by approximately 96 hours (4 days) of FU5. After the first 4 days Robin get 17 days off during which time she can go home. On the twenty-second day (September 5th) she starts the second cycle which simply repeats the four days of treatment, then 17 days off. If necessary, after another twenty-one days (Oct 26th) she starts the third course of chemo.

We haven’t met the radiation oncologist yet. The Oncologist (who prescribes chemotherapy) explained that typically radiation will start with the last course of chemo. He doesn’t know if Robin will have two or three cycles. If she goes for three cycles then the third cycle would start October 26th and radiation would start the same day. So that week while she’s getting chemo she will also start going to radiation each day. Radiation then continues until she has completed seven weeks straight. She simply needs to show up once a day and get irradiated for a minute.

We’ll confirm the actual course of radiation therapy when we meet with the radiation oncologist. He is the fellow who will recommend the type of radiation machine to be used and the dosage of radiation to be applied.