Done with Round #2

I was released from the hospital on Saturday night rather than Sunday morning.  The pharmacy was able to mix all of my chemo drugs quickly all weekend, and the doctors sped up one medication to get me out a bit early.

I finally got disconnected from the IV for a while on Saturday and happily walked 12000 steps around the hospital before I went home.  In 4 days in the hospital, according to my FitBit, I walked 5K, 5K, 8K and 12K steps - those are thousands of steps, not kilometers.

My nausea was a little bit worse than last time, but it's been manageable so far.  I just have to remember to take Zofran or Compazine every 4 hours, and be careful what I eat.  I was able to eat dinner last night, but not the dinner I made for the rest of the family.  Some things just don't sound very appetizing right now.

I returned to the hospital this morning for a liter of IV saline and a shot of Neulasta.  I had no idea until this morning how expensive Neulasta is.  I get one injection after each round of chemo.  The average wholesale price per injection is about $5K, and the retail price can be almost $9K.  My wife told me that the Explanation of Benefits from the insurance company showed about $20K in expenses for the entire first round of chemo - all drugs and appointments lumped together.

Late this morning, I got confirmation of my appointment with Samuel Singer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in NYC.  I will be seeing him in January and he will probably perform surgery on me in late February or early March.  He has already been consulting with my oncologist on my chemo regime, so he is aware of my case.  He is widely considered one of the top liposarcoma surgeons in the US, if not the world, and I'm glad I can be treated by him.

For now, the goal is to recover from the chemo.  I will probably rest today, but start walking on the treadmill again tomorrow.  I need to catch up on my sleep.  The nausea will fade day by day.  My taste buds will start working again by the end of the week.

Then, over the weekend, I'll get to deal with some bone pain from the Neulasta, but that's just something I have to endure.  I've heard that the pain can lessen with each dose, which would be a welcome relief.

And then, if I recover well and the temperatures on Thursday don't melt all of the snow in Vermont, I'll be teaching skiing this coming weekend.