Chemo Round 3 Sept 3rd-Sept 9th

Sept 3rd. They do bloodwork and get the central line put in his arm, but do not start chemo because they are concerned he might have a sinus infection, so they do a catscan. All looks fine, so they say they will start chemo. A fellow of Dr Strair's comes to see him... and we discover that there is a totally different plan for this round of chemo. Chris is pretty surprised because no one informed us prior that there would be 2 spinal taps involved. Thats a lot to take in when you are expecting bags of chemo going in with IV... and nothing else. So, its some more citarabine... I should really remember the spelling. And some methatrxate (which is green liquid)-- there is an initial bag and then a 24 hour bag they start. They have to interupt the 24-hour bag to take him down to MRI.
Remember back in early August (before Lew's visit) they had admitted him when his counts were low. They wanted to do MRIs back then... then they decided it could wait a couple weeks. Yea, well, on August 25th, we got a call from MRI asking where Chris was. Apparently they scheduled it for August 25th and never told him. We were still waiting for a call .. They ALWAYS call the day before about all procedures and surgeries and scans. I wanted to kill this woman.. could barely understand her and swore she called him twice and mailed something. All of a sudden on the 25th, she couldnt reach him when he didnt show up and find my number.. Likely story. Ugh...
Anyways, they had rescheduled the MRIs with anastesia for September 5th, and now he is in-patient getting chemo.
So... they interupt the 24-hour bag and take him down to MRI. I go home for a few hours to get some stuff and i get back by 10pm.. he was supposed to be done by 9:30. He didnt get upstairs til 11 :( they had to put him all the way under (intibate). Poor Chris had a sore throat for a few days. Anyways... chemo continues and the first spinal is done the next day Sat Sept 6. (this is actually his 2nd spinal, cus he had one in June)
This spinal is done bedside by a fellow and another doctor. They numb you, have you bent over the hospital tray. They poke and get spinal fluid. Then after they retrieve fluid to test, they put some chemo in. Doesnt sound pleasant.
Sept 7th is his last day of chemo. He cannot go home yet because they have to test blood for certain levels.. make sure the green methotrexate chemo is out of his system. Sept 9th he is discharged. He will have to come back in 5 days or so for a 2nd spinal which is pretty typical with this course of chemo. But it will be outpatient