The thing with my treatment regimen is eventually the dose gets high enough that it starts to attack your body as much as it does the cancer. For me, this limit was reached at the third cycle, or 160% the original dose. I started feeling pretty crappy Tuesday night and by Wednesday afternoon a call to my oncologist landed me an all expense paid vacation to the hospital (for neutropenic fever). This type of fever is brought on by neutropenia, or a condition marked by dangerously low white blood cell counts. The treatment is granulocyte colony stimulating factor (aka Neupogen) to stimulate white blood cell production, as well as broad spectrum antibiotics to protect against infection.
This is actually pretty common among chemo patients, although it is a serious condition. But it means that we've found the right amount of chemotherapy appropriate for my body and in order to continue progress. And speaking of progress, a CT scan revealed significant improvement of the metastasis tumor in my colon. So for now, onward, cautiously.
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