So Treatment Has Finally Began

Well TBI was started yesterday and will continue through friday twice a day. Dawn is pretty exhausted and fatiqued from the radiation and she has had some significant nausea, but the nausea pills seem to be holding it all back. I have been giving her IV fluids at home between treatments for 5 hours everyday. Doing this and drinking lots of fluids will help "clean the deck of all the debris" which is all the dead cells being flushed from her body. If she doesn't do this on top of getting lots of protein everyday it could plug up her liver and kidneys and cause severe infection and other major problems. After fridays last TBI treatment we have to spend about 8 to 10 hours at the clinic on saturday getting her Etopiside(VP-16). This chemo and the other one to be recieved on Monday,cyclophosmamide, are said to be about 40 times greater than any chemo she has recieved previously. On Noverber 12 Dawn will recieve her own stem cells back in an infusion process taking about 6 hours or more. This is what is considered to be her NEW BIRTHDAY. From there it's hope I can keep her outpatient so she doesnt end up in the hospital. Everyday testing will follow and if all goes as planned with no more complications, we should be able to move back home around Dec. 22nd. She will still have to come to Seattle every week for a while, but it is better home than here everyday.