2010/09/03 - Day 3 of 63, Urine Factory!

Day 3, not much to say about day three really.  Looking at the schedule I could see only one infusion required so it was somewhat surprising to me that they said it could be 16 hours worth!!  How can this be I thought.  Well it's all down to fluids.  Don't forget that the drugs they put into you are not pleasant and have a whole host of side effects.  And one of the things the nurses are very keen on is just how well your body can get rid of the excess drugs.

I recall reading that Cisplatin (and I am pretty sure the others) isn't well absorbed by the body and most of the drug is expelled as waste - urine.  So what the nurses want to know, and take a healthy(?) interest in is how much urine you are making.  This is one of the reasons for all the saline - get the waste drugs out of your system, and fast.  Now when reading on http://www.tc-cancer.com one of the most important ways you can help yourself is to drink a lot, and then drink some more, and some more...  Just get those kidneys working.  Now I drink a lot as it is, so this is/was more of the same.

The funny bit for me today was that every time the nurse comes to take away your bottle/sample they replace it with another empty one.  Well I started the morning with a nice pyramid of empty bottles and then was pretty much left to my own devices.  So what are you going to do?  Being male, hooked up to saline and drinking water until it comes out of my ears, there's nothing to do but fill the bottles up - it's a personal challenge!  Because the nurses were busy I ended up with my own version of "6-grey bottles sitting on the wall".  The poor nurse who finally sorted me out was somewhat overwhelmed!

Joking aside - you have to help your body through this process.  Most of what goes on is internal so you can't "fight" in the traditional way, so just do what you can to help - make pee while the sun shines!!

Today's fusion:

1. 1 x Etoposide - 1 hour
2. 3 x Saline - 12 hours

Actually it could have been 2 - 4 x saline, with the two last infusions being "optional" dependent upon whether I'd been sick or not.  Thankfully I hadn't (the anti sickness drugs seem to be working) and so I could have dropped 3 and 4.  However given that I couldn't go home until Saturday they decided to give me the third bag, on the premise that more flushing is better than less.  That all said, it was very nice when my cannula was removed at midnight.