Weekend Update

Sandy completed her first cycle of chemo on Tuesday. The regimen is two weeks of chemo (twice daily), followed by one week off, repeated for four months. If you saw the update earlier this week, you know that she was sicker than a dog (fortunately, she smells better).

I talked with her lead medical oncologist earlier this week. Those are the guys that deal with the chemotherapy side of cancer treatment. Radiation oncologists, as the name suggests, deal with the side of oncology that applies radiation therapy to cancer cells. With the discussion about her side effects, the medical oncologist concluded that Sandy was clearly overdosed. He directed us not to resume chemo until she returns to baseline. This should provide some relief, and she seemed to confirm that this morning when she said that her feet still hurt, but it is no longer excruciating. She may be off for a week or perhaps longer. I told her to just enjoy it, but she is concerned about being a good soldier and doing as she is told. To Sandy, this means that she shouldn’t have to change the course of treatment. To the doctors treating her, they often adjust dosages and this is a completely normal step. When she resumes, it will be at a substantially lower dose. The expectation is that Sandy should tolerate the treatment a little better at lower doses.

We have another big weekend aheaad of us—Hannah has a swim meet tomorrow, Sunday, and Monday. She will have to miss school for her morning events. She is swimming something like 10-12 events, as they usually do at these meets. It is well into the 90's as I write this (at 6:04 pm EST), so I am not sure how much time Sandy will be able to spend at the pool over the next three days. The heat and humidity are draining for anyone...and she certainly has a good excuse to not be there. Something tells me she'll find a way to be there for a lot of Hannah's events.

I never posted an update about last weekend lacrosse tournament. Lax Splash is the biggest lacrosse tournament in the world and both Hannah’s and Haley’s teams played in it. The weekend turned out pretty well- check back for an update on this...