Day 59: 1,069 doses of chemo...

Wednesday, November 7, 2007 - Shortly after we learned about Madeline's leukemia, we were given the book, a three-quarter-inch thick document, to quickly read, understand (?) and sign--granting permission for our daughter to be given very powerful drugs. The information spelled out her chemotherapy protocol and listed all of the medications involved, along with their potential side-effects, which were divided into three groups: Very Likely (these were no big deal), Likely (these caused some concern), and Unlikely but Possible (these were very very bad).

Each section in the book dealt with a particular individual chemo drug and its schedule. It was difficult to figure out what combination of meds Mady would be getting on any particular day. If we wanted to find out what she's getting on Day 9 of the Consolidation Phase (that's today, by the way), we had to look at each of the sections to see if that drug had day 9 listed. As we looked, we'd see all the side-effect disclaimers again--this was both unavoidable and unnecessarily scary (these drugs are dangerous, we got it).


A while back I made this chart in Excel (click on the chart to enlarge it). It shows all the phases down the left and all the chemo drugs along the top. Green means it's given orally (PO), Orange is intravenous (IV), and Red is an intra-muscular (IM) shot (i.e. the dreaded sub-cutaneous asparaginage). As you read across the line of each phase, the numbers tell you what day of the phase she gets that particular drug.

Mady thought the chart was interesting, but she took most of it in stride. What really caught her attention was the chemo she absolutely hates, the PEG-Asparaginase, which she will get on Day 15 (which figures to be November 13 as long as her ANC counts stay high enough for chemo to be administered) and Day 43 (December 11) of the current Consolidation phase. She was the one who suggested that it be colored red on the chart.

On a whim I summed the columns and found that during the 120-week duration of her treatment, she will get 1,069 doses of chemotherapy meds. That doesn't include all the other stuff: blood thinner, insulin, anti-nausea drugs, pain relief medications, calcium and other supplements, and more.

It sounds like a lot of drugs, but it's sure worth it for an 80 to 85% cancer cure rate.