3/26: Day 8, Cycle 1: ICU Discharge

I have just a quick update for today. Kristine was discharged from the hospital. Although we were all hoping to have her home early, no one was more anxious to get home than Kristine. Early discharge was nearly in the bag until one of the head nurses brought up concerns with Kristine's port (the small IV port implemented under her skin). The inspection led to a several hour delay. Only after a visit to radiology to inspect the port under x-ray were we able to leave the hospital -- around 3pm. Getting out of the hospital did a lot for Kristine's spirit. She was really ready to get out of bed and move her legs. Even this short walk made her very tired.

This week is Kristine's second since treatment began and the one following chemotherapy. It will be a difficult week as she will feel very tired and weak. The next milestone is meeting with our oncology team on Wed. This is what is called the nadir point. It is around this time when Kristine's white and red blood cells will be at their lowest, which leaves her susceptible to infection and anemia, respectively. For this reason it is imperative that Kristine avoid visitors that show any signs of cold or infection.

To explain why her blood cell counts will be low, chemotherapy drugs work by attacking or mimicking rapidly dividing cells at various stages of the cell life cycle (i.e., resting, growing, or dividing (mitosis)). The key term here is "rapidly" dividing. Cancer cell division is different than most normal cell division in that cancer cells do not retain the "recognition" function to stop dividing when old cells are replaced like normal cells do. Cancer cells continue to divide out of control to form a mass of cells -- a tumor. The trouble is that while chemotherapy drugs can find cancer cells and stop their growth, there are other cells in the body that also divide rapidly. These normal, rapidly dividing cells include blood cells, cells in the mouth, stomach and bowel, and hair follicles.