Evening Post

Lots happened today...

Physical therapy came and worked with Matt. They are going to do PT five times a week.

The nutritionist came by and they are going to increase his calories and adjust his nutrition to include more protein (for wound healing)

The cardiologist came by and looked at him. Earlier, they did an echocardiogram on him. Cardiology's role is mainly to support Matt thru the chemo. They will try to figure out the cause of his heart rhythm problems also.

The surgeon came by and looked at his central line and declared it good to go. This is great news because it means that they can start the chemo tonight. Matt gave a big thumbs up when he heard that.

They weighed him today on a kind of a lift that raised him out of bed. He weighed 163pounds! That is a big improvement. Lolly is now a big fan of tube feeding (Is that on Facebook? If you don't know what Facebook is, ask a teenager.)

Matt asked Noel to stay in the room with him tonight so we are going to go back to RMD house and eat dinner and get her stuff.

Here is his chemo treatment plan:

Cycle 1
Carboplatin for 1 day
Etoposide for 3 days
G-CSF after the Etoposide is finished for 10 days (or until his white blood cell counts come up)

Cycle 2
Starts 22 days after Cycle 1
Ifosfamide for 5 days
Etoposide for 5 days in parallel to the Ifosfamide
Mesna for 5 days in parallel to the Ifosfamide
G-CSF after the Etoposide is finished for 10 days (or until his white blood cell counts come up)

Cycle 3
Starts 22 days after Cycle 2
Same as Cycle 1

Cycle 4
Starts 22 days after Cycle 3
Same as Cycle 2

Cycle 5
Starts 22 days after Cycle 4
Same as Cycle 1

Cycle 6
Starts 22 days after Cycle 5
Same as Cycle 2

Radiation, dose depending on how well the chemo has killed the tumors.