I decided to root though my old manila folders tonight, tucked away in bottom right drawer of the credenza upstairs. My 16-month wall calendar from 1989-1990 is there, too. I wanted to write down specifics. I’m coming to parts of the narrative where I don’t remember exactly when certain things happened, even though I have a pretty good feel for the times and dates, and I want to make sure I’m accurate.
Ended up writing out three different timelines. Variations on a theme: one with precise dates and milestones, from 02/19/1990 all the way through my last (non-chemo-related) visit to the hospital on 09/25/1990.
Another with the same dates but instead of milestones I wrote up date ranges.
Finally, the last timeline I put together is one I’m copying below. Took the same date ranges but instead of showing dates I wanted to simply show how long the main stretches of my spring and summer were. After fleshing out some additional details, I think there’s an interesting story quietly hidden within the numbers.
- 7 weeks in the hospital – “Round One”
- 1 week of chemotherapy (7 days daunorubicin with 3 days Ara-C)
- 1 week of observation
- 1 week of chemotherapy (3 days Ara-C with 7 days daunorubicin)
- 4 weeks of recovery
- 3 weeks at home
- 4 weeks in the hospital - “Round Two”
- 1 week of chemotherapy (7 days daunorubicin with 3 days Ara-C)
- 3 weeks of recovery
- 4 weeks at home
- 6 weeks in the hospital - “Round Three”
- 1 week of chemotherapy (high-dose Ara-C)
- 5 weeks of recovery
In other words, my first and last rounds of chemotherapy were not without their fair share of complications.
