Update – 02-11-2024 4:30 PM
We arrived right on time at 10:00 AM Thursday. Brandon cleared the labs and we were taken to the common area for outpatient chemo while we waited for a room. They got one ready and we moved to a room. In addition to clearing labs on the bloodwork, before they actually start the pre-chemo meds or the chemo, his urine has to clear. They are looking at the specific gravity because high dose Methotrexate can cause damage to the kidneys and other organs.
He did not clear the first try. If he doesn’t cheat soon enough they will do a bolus to get his levels where they need to be to start, but before it came to that he cleared and the pre-meds started. So we got a slightly later start than I was hoping, but not terribly late.
For the second time the Methotrexate made him feel pretty bad all night. But he was better by morning. He sleeps a lot for the first day and a half. But after some rest he got back to about normal.
I’ve explained before but they measure his Methotrexate levels every 24 hours until it’s low enough that he can leave. The target kennels for the Methotrexate is < 10.00 @ 24 hrs, < 1.00 @ 48 hrs and < 0.10 @ 72 hrs. Anything below 0.10 is when he can go home. He has never actually cleared at the 72 hour mark. It's usually been 96, 108, 120 or even longer.
Last time his levels were 17.22 @ 24, 0.67 @ 48, 0.15 @ 72 & 0.08 @ 96. We were really not expecting him to chat at 96. So that was a nice treat.
This time so far his levels have been 7.22 @ 24, 0.45 @ 48 and I’ll post the 72 hour level as soon as we get out about 7:30 PM this evening. It’s very very hard to predict based on these levels. I’ve seen it slow down to a crawl at the end. But it would be wonderful if we got to be discharged tomorrow. Depending on what it is tonight, they may test again tomorrow morning vs tomorrow night. We’ll see.
That’s all for now. Will update again soon.
Love you all!
Richard (aka Brandon’s Dad 😁)