Round 1 Day 1

 June 8-

Dad got through the first day of chemo and it was a doozy.  They said it would be about 4 hours, but that didn't include the blood work before hand and the time it takes the pharmacy to mix all the drugs. He was there almost as long as I was! 

Blood draw was a lot smoother with the port in place so we are very grateful for that.  He got 2 chemo drugs, prednisone, and xgeva along with nausea meds and saline.

The chemo was Etoposide/Vepesid and that blocks an enzyme that cancer cells need to divide and grow.  The other one was Carboplatin and that works by damaging the DNA of the cancer cells so they can't multiply.

The prednisone helps prevent allergic reactions, suppress nausea and vomiting, and reduce inflammation.  He got a pretty heavy dose today to make sure they can get the first treatment in, but next time they will halve it.

And the xgeva was giving as a shot in the belly/tummy to help prevent skeletal complications. Since the Merkel cell is in the bone, this will help the bones not break down and prevent fractures.

It was a lot, but we got through it.  I don't know how dad feels but I find a small bit of comfort in the appointments because I feel like we are doing something. That might change as side effects creep in, but for now that's what's in my control. And, it doesn't hurt that I get to pop in and see them throughout treatment either.  But it still doesn't really feel fair and I know that life isn't fair (I tell that to Julienna 100 times a day), but this feels different.