Day - 3: ALT recovery and washroom craziness

A short post as I only last about 10 minutes between bathroom visits right now! Melphalan requires loads of hydration and bladder medications to try to flush the drug out without too much damage to the bladder. I am also still doing showering for the Thiotepa from yesterday and sucking on ice for the next 6 hours (to avoid blood flow to the mouth for massive mouth sores) so it's BUSY! Little sleep last night as well between all the bathroom visits with my IV pole and showering, redoing my central line dressings, bloodwork, etc. Hopefully I can get in some rest after the super-hydration period is over. The (VERY) good news is that my ALT was actually LOWER than yesterday, down to just above 2 times the upper normal limit. Quite incredible. Anyway, good work for everyone and I gotta run again to the washroom!

Day - 4: Garlic, Lemon and Laundry

Well I am about an hour away from finishing the Thiotepa infusion. My liver function test yesterday had jumped pretty high, so the doctors consulted with the trial doctor in NYC. While my ALT (Alanine Transaminase) was over 3 times the maximum normal, they decided to continue with the chemo as planned. Apparently the other trial patients experienced even higher ALTs while in the conditioning phase. My forecast for today's ALT based on a trend analysis I did (yes, I used a spreadsheet) ended up being higher than the actual increase today, so that's positive. Maybe it was all the roasted garlic and lemon water I was guzzling over the past 2 days. Or the Qi Gong meditations for the liver...whatever, I'm happy it came in below my expectation. Only 3 more days of chemo to go and then it can take a bit of a rest.

I'll be showering after the infusion and then every 6 hours for the next 24 hours even through the night (so no more overnight passes). They also change my sheets and I have to change my clothes each 6 hour interval and not wear any creams, jewellery or tapes on my central line, as the Thiotepa excretes through the pores and can cause skin blistering. Talk about laundry! Otherwise I am feeling pretty good - fatigue and minor aching is about all I can complain about. Way better than I expected again. Keep that positive energy coming - you're certainly helping me!