I can hardly believe that this may be the last week we will ever have to spend in the hospital for chemo!!!! Autumn and I will head out early in the morning in anticipation of an 8am arrival at Cottage. We need to begin the day early because she has to have tons of hydration before she can even be given the chemo, otherwise it can destroy the cells in her bladder and other organs. I’ll try to give her as much juice and water as she can handle while we are driving down there, but it isn’t ever quite enough. Hydration is not a terrible thing at all, the only issue is being hooked-up to the IV machine for an even longer period of time. Everything is about timing once the chemo begins. Each day is dependent on the last, so the idea is to begin as soon as possible on Monday morning so as to finish at a reasonable time by Thursday afternoon.

Cyclophosphamide, Stopside and CARBOplatin are the drugs of choice this time around. Sounds like a crazy cocktail, doesn’t it? Worry about all that organic business at home but in the hospital the rules have all been changed, it’s all about hard core chemistry. I can say that I am still amazed at what we know today, and what we will continue to find out as the century unfolds. I had a frightful nightmare the other night about sweet little Autumn. I dreamt that she had lost all of her teeth due to chemo and I was crying desperately because I thought it had damaged her delicate little body forever and she could never again live any sort of “normal” life. Oh that was too painful!!

OK, back to what needs to be done…one more long week..here we go!!