Finally the facts! And a little bit of fun...

First with the facts...

The drug I am taking is called ledimitamide.  It is a clinical trial, not yet approved by the FDA.  But it has been around for years and my doctor is confident that it is safe.  She is not 100% confident that it will work, but she already has a few other trials lined up just in case.  

I will be taking one pill daily.  Easy peasy!  I should have very few side effects, with fatigue being the most common (no biggie, I like to sleep!).  Like I said before, there will not be nausea or hair loss (thank goodness!).  

I will have blood work done each week for the first month to keep an eye on my blood counts.  On more extreme chemo drugs (like I was on in years past) it is very common for white blood cells to drop (the ones that keep you healthy) so they watch that closely.  It was very common for me to miss chemo treatments the first time around because my counts were low.  This resulted in them trying to pump my counts up by giving me steroid shots (hence the major weight gain!).  They do not expect that to occur this time around (Horray!) and I should be keeping a pretty healthy immune system. 

I will see the doctor every 4 weeks on the pill.  My doctor's plan is for me to take the pill for 2 months and then we will rescan from there.  If the tumors show growth we will scratch the pills and go to plan B.  If the tumors show zero growth but do not appear to be shrinking either, then I will continue to stay on the pill.  Some patients have been on the pill for years and years just as maintenance so their tumors do not grow.  Pretty cool and kinda annoying at the same time.  Now the awesome part - the drug company will be picking up the bill on most of this (HOLLA!).  

This all seems pretty simple, almost too simple.  But that's pretty much all that's to it... not too bad!

Now onto yesterday's events.... Siteman Cancer Center with the D Girls....
 
Instead of random on-online cross words printed off, my sister busted out an actual book of cross word puzzles.  While I was having an EKG completed, she completed the puzzle: The word BUTCHER in 26 different languages.... who exactly did you have in mind when you made this purchase, Kristin Jane?!  After the EKG it was time for the bone marrow biopsy.  Now I have had this performed twice before so I knew what I was getting myself into... GOOD DRUGS!  The nurse was a hoot to begin with so it made things much easier.  Krissy reassures me that both nurses were not making fun of me, but I do recall a lot of laughing on their end.  Then again, I accused them of having a dance party in my room when a male doctor came in (who I apparently explained my infertility history to - OMG I was a mess).  All I can say is THANK GOODNESS I do not remember much at all!


The Highlight of the day

If you are at all familiar with Barnes Hospital, they have a television station devoted to a fish tank.  Yes, a fish tank.  Fish swim around and old school soft rock songs are played.  This station was introduced to my sister and I when we would visit my mother in the hospital 20+ years ago.  For the 9 years she was in and out of the hospital she would always turn the fish on for us to watch.  It was calming and nice to have in the background.  This station is a Barnes staple and a favorite for my sister and I still to this day.  In my hospital room where my bone marrow biopsy was going to be performed,  I had a television so the first item of business was to find the fish.  As I laid in bed making fun of Krissy in her ity-bity chair finding the word BUTCHER in 26 different languages, we were interrupted by my mom's favorite song playing on the tv with the fish.  Immediately all bickering stopped and we found ourselves belting out Elton John.  It was comforting to know that she was there with us.