Without fail you can count on a fever on chemo week in our household, infact I can almost pinpoint exactly when it will happen now! It makes chemo week extra stressful and puts him at increased risk which scares me every cycle and I struggle to relax until the following week..
Dylan's chemo schedule is currently back to being.. Vincristine on a Tuesday alongside Cytarabine then further doses of Cytarabine on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday followed by a two week break. They had changed it to run Wednesday to Saturday but his community care has now moved over to Derby who don't work Saturdays.
The fever always starts on day two after the second dose of Cytarabine and peaks at around 4-5pm going as high as the 40's which is of course dangerous. He also gets very tachycardic for a few days. It has been this way since his steroid pulses stopped.. often steroids are given to counteract these sorts of symptoms. Dylan's had of course recently been stopped completely due to him having such high doses previously, as the body can then stop producing it's own which can also be dangerous also.
It's called Cytarabine Syndrome and it is when the body has an inflammatory response to the drug. It is treated with steroids of course, so after a meeting yesterday between the doctors, it has been discussed that he will have Hydrocortisone alongside his treatment now as opposed to going back onto Prednisolone. We are just waiting on the exact dosage information and plan from the Endocrine team but hopefully it will help us control his fevers. We will know more when the next round starts in two weeks time.
Dylan also had a follow up sleep study off oxygen last night so we are awaiting the results this week. He seems to be doing very well at the moment so hopefully it will continue and I can start to relax a bit more soon..
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