Last week someone mentioned to me in passing that there was a chemotherapy drug shortage and that they hoped that it wouldn't affect my dad. I listened to this information but didn't really process it and couldn't remember hearing anything about it myself online or on the news. Well guess what? It is a real serious problem, and my dad finds himself on the front lines.
The details are still fuzzy and I hope to get more details from his doctor on Monday. Yesterday, at my dad's chemo session, the pharmacist paid him a visit to let him know that they did not have any more of one of the drugs that he gets weekly. The pharmacist showed my dad a letter from the VA to the pharmacy about the shortage, and there was actually a line in it that said "we do not know the reason for the shortage". Great, he can't get the medicine he needs, but they don't know why. I feel like I want to go on and on about the drug companies but I don't really have the facts to back myself up, so I'll save my rant until then.
So my dad was unable to complete this cycle of treatment, and in fact has the next 18 days off. This is to clear the medicine out of his system so he can begin a different course of treatment. On the 30th he will meet with the doctor and will then begin taking the chemo in pill form. I don't know how I feel about this because we just got the information last month that the treatment he was on was really working, and it stinks to have to change to something new that we know nothing about! I'm trying not to stress until I get more information but that isn't in my nature!
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