Chemo Complete

Jo got her 4th and last dose of chemo this morning. We all know somebody that has cancer who maybe had chemo off and on for many months. This is a little different. Jo got 4 hefty doses over 4 days and we hope never to experience chemo again. A cancer patient has cancer cells potentially throughout their body that need to be killed. For the most part, Jo does not. Jo's chemo is designed to attack and kill cells in her body that are actively dividing and multiplying. This is primarily in the bone marrow.

Unfortunately, chemotherapy is a lot like sending a laser guided missile to destroy a weapons factory hidden in the middle of a residential neighborhood. No matter how good the technology, the neighborhood is going to suffer some damage. Jo is starting to feel that now.

I asked the doctor how the chemo knows not to destroy other things like our heart or liver. He said those organs don't have many cells that are actively dividing. Unfortunately, the stomach does. I guess this is why the chemo causes pretty significant nausea.

I asked Jo how to describe her current status. I gave her the options of "slightly unpleasant" or "moderately unpleasant". She smiled and came back with "rather unpleasant". We've seen a lot in the last 6 years including a few times where a smile was physically not possible, so I have to say we are doing pretty good.

Tomorrow and Tuesday Jo will get anti-rejection drugs to get ready for her new Stem Cells on Wednesday. A lot of people have asked for the date of Jo's "surgery". There is no "surgery" involved with any of this. Everything is done through Jo's blood stream.

Wednesday will be referred to as Day 0 as we count the days Jo has lived with her new Stem Cells. Every patient is different and there is no universal magic number, but 100 Days is the goal everybody keeps their eye on. At 100 Days, each patient is considered to have crossed over a fairly significant hump.