Drug Rotation

It's important to note that during my treatment -- from the chemotherapy to the stem cell engraftment -- you are put on a lot of drugs. These pharmaceutical delights keep your system in check while your immune system rebuilds. They also mess with your mind, causing sleeplessness, some anxiety, and a general 'numbness' which makes you feel like hell. But hey, nothing's perfect.

Upon engraftment, most of these drugs are stopped, which makes you feel like yourself again. But be sure that you'll still be on some regimen of drugs depending on the condition of your body as it tries to heal.

Now that I've set this up (without my first coffee of the morning, mind you), I can give an update that I forgot to bring up yesterday about my drug habit regimens. Spoke with the good Dr. Wright, who along with Dr. Fisher made some changes in the lineup.

• First, my abuse of Ativan as a sleep aid is over. They've told me to stop this precious drug, supposedly because it is addictive. I told them I can stop taking it anytime I want to. Yes, my precious Ativan, so sweet... Oh, sorry, got carried away. Anyway, they substituted in Ambien which is more suited for my usage.
• I protested about taking Lexapro, as I do not want part of the growing masses hooked on anitdepressants. I was only taking 10mg, so I questioned its usefulness. He took me off of it.
• If you recall, the nephrotic syndrome was causing my body to bring my lipid and trigylceride counts through the roof. The clinic performed a lipid extraction prior to the treatment to get them down to manageable levels. Well, they are back up again. To combat this, I am back on the Vytorin.
• My blood pressure has been closer to normal (for me), and as such my midodrine dosage has been reduced from 15mg to 10mg.

Add on the diuretic cocktail I've probably be prescribed today and you'll see that I'm still making frequent visits to the local CVS. I'm starting to get really good at opening up the caps on those things.