Week of Hell

Mon May 13, 2024
AML 3.0 treatment - Day 56 (Cycle 2 Day 6)

Any Star Trek Voyager fans remember the episode Year of Hell? Well, if the JazzFest week was an incredible week of heaven, this past week is the yang to that yin: Week of Hell.

Honestly, it's one of the worst weeks of treatment I can remember in a long time. I'm tired all the time and barely have enough energy to walk to clinic, let alone author this post or do much of anything else. And I guess part of it is that I just wasn't mentally prepared for it.

Even with the three weeks between cycles, I just wasn't ready for the ton of bricks that this Cycle threw at me. Look at the difference between Cycle 1 and Cycle 2.  In the first Cycle, I got Aza -- and nothing else -- for the first 7 days. Then the Zifto started and Ven ramped. 

This time? BAM! Everything all at once and man, am I feeling it. Fortunately, just two more days of Aza, then I get to go home (since Zifto and Ven are both oral).  Here's a visual of the difference between Cycle 1 and Cycle 2.

Hopefully once the Aza stops I'll feel a little better.  I'll ask Dr. Chai-Ho at our appointment. To save my arm veins, this time I'm getting the Aza in the form of stomach injections -- 3 per day. I'll spare you the pictures of the five irritated injection sites on my tummy. So far, no transfusions needed yet, but based on how I'm feeling, I'm betting I'll need red blood soon.

On the positive side, the Philly Bleeds Greene team had a great Climb at The Linc on Saturday and exceeded their $2500 fundraing goal for the Leukemia & Lymphoma society. If you didn't contribute and want to, here's the link. Thanks to all the Climbers/fundraisers.

And especially big thanks to Lauren "Bagel" Bacal Spike for Captaining the team and Ed Espino for joining the team all the way from California. Here's a Facebook post with his weekend recap along with a video he made.

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