Still Down

Shanean is still down today - everything is still zero and will be for a couple more days apparently (end of easter)

They have just finished giving her about 10 needles of stuff which is for the following

1. The antidote for the methotrexate (chemo) - still getting this after 4 days
2. anti-nausea drugs
3. morphine - she gets this every four hours, but they have just given her a double dose top up so she is more comfortable now
4. paracetomol for her fever - which has been OK today, much milder
5. white blood cell stimulant to get her counts back up
7. antibiotics to prevent infection
8. antifungal and anti-shingles stuff due to no immunity

She has had a platellete transfusion last night and is scheduled to get a blood transfusion tonight.

The biggest cause of discomfort is her mouth ulcers which are now down her throat as well. The sores seem to have merged together on the roof of her mouth and are now causing the skin to fall off in big chunks which she then has to spit out onto a tissue - not for the squeamish. These sores will come back again after the transplant if she gets the graft vs host disease apparently


So on a positive note, she has had no nausea in this treatment due to a drug they are giving her called "emend". This drug needs special approval to administer (not sure why - must be super expensive and need permission from Canberra/PBS) but it works by blocking the actions of chemicals in the body that trigger nausea and vomiting. It has worked very well for her - the only time she has vomited this cycle was actually before anything was given to her due to her nervous apprehension