Jan 31 - Hydration Week

So this week has been frustrating! Monday - Radiation facility having difficulties so I went over to chemo with a chance to come back later for radiation. At Chemo, it was discovered that my kidneys had not been functioning fully and we would not be doing chemo this week but I would be having hydration Mon - Weds. The key "marker" is Creatinine. Prior to starting on Jan 7, the level was 0.9 against a "Normal Range" of 0.76 to 1.27. On Monday of this week, this number was 2.23. After hydration, I returned to the radiation facility around 11:30am and received treatment around noon. (Someone skipped lunch to fit me in!) Tuesday - Radiation facility down again. Over to Chemo to for hydration. At 10:30, I went back to radiation facility as they said the technician had arrived, replaced the part and only needed to reboot and run diagnostics. At around 11:15 they came out and told me the machine failed the diagnostics and we'd reschedule. At this point, my frustration overflowed a bit and I asked to reschedule all remaining radiation treatments from 7:30am to afternoon. They were able to slide me into a 12:30 pm slot -- so at least if the machine is "down" first thing, I won't waste my time. Wednesday - Radiation at 12:30 without a hitch. Chemo for blood work, hydration, and a scheduled visit with the doc. Good news, the Creatinine is down to 1.97 after only two days of extra hydration. Doc says we'll do chemo on Monday no matter what. If the Creatinine is within range (below the 1.27), we'll do Cisplatin at a 20% reduced dose (due to Kidney and Hearing side-effects). If the Creatinine is not below the level, we will proceed with Carboplatin which is not as kidney toxic...but would require weekly treatments for the remaining 3 weeks of radiation. I'm pretty sure I'd prefer only one more chemo treatment. We talked about how much fluids are required, as I'd been told 64 oz a day and I'm certain I'd been hitting that mark. The doc said that 100 oz a day is a better mark to shoot for, but that number includes all fluids -- the "Ensures" I've been "eating", the clear soups, smoothies, etc. Thursday (Today) - will head down for radiation / hydration in a short while. Have already consumed 28 oz of fluids today. 8 oz of Ensure for "breakfast" and 20 oz of ice water here at the office. We see the Radiation doc after today's treatment and will try to be civil as we voice our frustration over the extension of the treatment caused by the unreliability of the treatment facility. In my mind, every day this drags on is more pain and suffering and it delays the start of the real healing after this treatment is over.