Plan of action

Shanean here :) Shayne has very kindly set me up with laptop and mobile internet here in hospital. Thought I'd share the immediate plan of action with you.

Tomorrow
1. Gated Heart Pool Scan at 10am, to make sure my heart is still strong enough to go ahead with this next round of treatment.
2. A PICC line will be inserted into my arm through which all the chemo, fluids and other meds can be delivered and from where they can take blood for the daily tests.
3. Then I will have an Xray to check that the PICC line was inserted correctly (should reach to just above my heart) and also another Xray scan to investigate a strange pain and numbness on the right side of my jaw and face.

Thursday
1. Bonemarrow Biopsy at 10.30am, to determine whether the cancer has moved into my bonemarrow.
2. Day 1 (of 16) chemotherapy. This includes a Lumbar Puncture to a) extract some spinal fluid to test if the cancer is present, and b) deliver chemo straight to the spine.

The treatment this time is called CODOX-M, a combination of IV (intra veinous) and IT (intra thecal / into the spine) chemotherapy. It's commonly used to treat high risk Burkitts Lymphoma, so should be a powerful punch to the tumour.

After a period of recovery the next round of chemo will start, lasting 8 days. It is called IVAC, yet another combination of IV and IT chemos.

Much further down the road will be more PET scans to track progress and also some full body radiation, before finally the stemcell transplant from Christene.

There you go - good to have a solid plan of action.

Thank you everyone for your support through all this xoxo