After the amount of medical moments I’ve had in the last bunch of years I’ve become quite an educated patient. I almost have junior apprentice medical intern status. Almost. But I can only practice and prescribe for one patient. And that patient is patently difficult with his ever changing challenges.
But he’s the only patient I have so I do my best to take care of him. On Wednesday we had a decision to make about dosage. After much discussion on both sides of the equation we decided to hold the course on the dose of chemo I’m presently taking. The Oncologists are concerned that the 60 mgs x two days followed by a one day break may be too much for my body to handle. My skin is weak, my tongue is a mess (sores, sensitive and loss of taste), I have diarrhea , my head pounds, experiencing serious fatigue, my hands and feet are highly sensitive and about to go into that peeling phase where is gets sore and raw. In short the chemotherapy is almost intolerable. Almost.
So the question put forth was to see if I wanted a lower dose. One can only assume the efficacy deteriorates as you reduce - so on one hand I can feel slightly better but have less impact, or I can go for the theoretical high impact with increased side effects.
Tough question, with no right or wrong answer.
As the physician on call, and after consulting myself, I chose to stay the course and see what happens over the next week. If it gets too crazy I’ll tone it back a bit.
This was a tough decision to make when you are sitting in the office feeling all the side effects cause you just spent ten minutes reviewing them. But I’m happy with the direction and look forward to getting another junior beginner medical certificate in pharmacology.