Day 4

Julian and Josie

HCT = 22.2 | PLT= 43 | WBC= 1.6 | ANC=320

Julian spent most of the day sleeping or feeling a bit nauseous from his first round of chemo. His current chemo meds are Daunorubicin (Daw-no-ROO-bi-sin), which is an antibiotic that prevents DNA from forming, thus preventing cancer cells from multiplying. Then there is Vincristine (Vin-CRIS-teen) it is an Alkaloid derived form the periwinkle plant. The Alkaloid types of chemo drugs are all from plants, evidently it interferes with the DNA of cell production - interesting stuff. The last drug is a steroid called Prednisone. This is the drug that had the most dramatic effect on Julian. It causes extreme mood swings. Julian's attitude headed south toward the border immediately. He became quite "short" with his words, and even shorter with his patience. You have one chance to answer his question. If you missed it he would glare and say something like, nevermind! We had one exchange where he barked something at me, followed quickly with "you know Dad, this isn't me" - just like the old Julian. Which was followed by a quick, not so nice "Please, leave alone!" Wow, there was a beautiful thin slice of cheese cake wedged in between the four day old broccoli. The other side affect of this Steroid is that you will eat. Almost crave certain foods. If you have read Marie's pieces at: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/julianlarsen she tells of Julian's food of choice - Cup of Noodles.

Unfortunately the "Common" side effects of Vincristine are:

• Severe pain in the jaw, face, neck, back, joints
• Foot drop (trouble lifting the foot)
• Extreme weakness and loss of muscle mass
• Hair loss
• and to top it off if the drug gets on your skin, it will blister

and those are the common side effects. Infrequent side effects:

• Headaches
• Seizures
• Paralysis

Daunorubicin common side effects are:

• Nausea, vomitting
• Mouth sores
• Hair loss
• Diarrhea

Infrequently, the side effects are:

• Blistering on skin from a spill
• Shortness of breath
• Heart damage

Reading of the effects, it reminded me of the late night drug commercials experimenting with their late night watchers. You know the drug that will "cure" your wandering eye, but the side effects are "blindness and possibly death". Hmmmm, I might avoid that one you say, but unfortunately Julian cannot
After reading this, and watching Julian accepting the effects of these drugs, very bravely, it brought him up even higher than before in my eyes.