Dad is currrently hooked up to his dancing partner and has received the usual pre-meds (anti-nausea medicine, stomach coating meds, and benedryl...oh, and steroids) so given the fact that he has had benedryl, he is currently zoned out in the recliner, sleeping. They are loading him up with 4 liters of fluids today (plus he is drinking lots of water) to flush his system out due to the fact that one of the chemicals today can be hard on the kidneys. So all is going well, he will be probably sleeping until lunchtime, unless his teeth start to float before that due to the fluids, then he can go dancing with his partner to the bathroom!
Ok, Shanna, this info is for you. Everyone else, you can read this until your eyes begin to cross...or maybe you might find it interesting...I do...even though I don't understand it.
The chemical that needs to be flushed out of the system as quickly as possible: it acts like an alkylating agent. It works by cross linking DNA in several different ways, interfering with cell division by mitosis. The damaged DNA activates DNA repair mechanisms, which in turn activate cell death when repair proves impossible. So there you have it.
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tell him hi when he wakes up!
ReplyDeleteHe's off dancing with his partner. I'll tell him when he gets back, Matt.
ReplyDeleteLinda, you know me too well!!! Thanks for geek-ifying it for me--sounds like a brilliant process to ensure apoptosis (controlled cell death) of the cancer cells!
ReplyDeleteEssentially cancer is just a bunch of cells that have gone out of control, and grow too much. Normally each cell dies a controlled death (apoptosis) and allows the new cells to take over for it. This is important because as cells replicate, they can mutate, so if they die on time, they are less likely to be mutated. Cancerous cells are mutated cells that are like little vampires, they circumvent the dying process, and take all the nutrients in order to do so.
So this drug kind of shocks the cells in to a "proofreading" process. Think this chemo as the body bringing in a brutal newspaper editor. If you've got too many mistakes in the important parts of the newspaper (or genes), you are not just fired, you're murdered. The little cancer vampires are the crappy writers.
Interesting analogy of the "editing", Shanna...that helps to put it into layman's terms. In fact, Sara, since you were once the chief editor of your university newspaper, I'll bet you can really identify with the need to destroy crappy writers!
ReplyDeleteMatt, back to you...when Dad got back I told him you said hi and he said to tell you he just got back from doing the 600 CC swirl...which I think refers to his "output" into the designated container! TMI, me thinks!
ReplyDeletehaha I can most definitely related to the need to destroy crappy writer's analogy! :-)
ReplyDelete600 cc's? is he doing chemo or century club?
ReplyDelete