Thanks, Sophia. Good morning.

RA's not the same as Crohn's but all of these auto-immune diseases are cousins. And the meds don't care what you're taking them for when they give you side-effects.

Crohn's has a heredity factor, but no one in our family (out to my son's great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, or DH and My aunts, uncles, cousins -- and that's a lot of people -- DH is one of 9 kids, his mom was one of 10, his dad was one of 6, my mom was one of 6, my dad was one of 4) has had it. DH has gout (as did his father, and a few others in the family). I think there's some RA on his side. On my side, it's just osteoarthritis.

Congrats, Maria! Relax and enjoy your time off.

As far as ginger tea goes, I use minced ginger in a jar from the Indian grocery store because I am lazy and it is tasty. Just maybe a teaspoon with some lemon and honey. Easy peasy.

So Laura, do I just pour boiling water over it, let it steep for X minutes, then strain it out (or use a tea infuser, which I don't think I have anymore)?

Cindy, methotrexate is one of the drugs they injected into my spine yesterday. (The fluoroscopy went fine, by the way, and they said that all spinal injections from here on out would be done that way, which is a huge relief.)

I will also be getting a high dose of methotrexate intravenously as part of Cycle 2 of my chemo, in a couple of weeks (Cycle 1 lasts 21 days, and day 5 starts this evening.) The hospital pharmacist on my oncology team came by for a consult last night and was so wonderful. He stayed for an hour and a half and went through every drug I'll be taking and when (which are many, and it's complicated) and what to expect from each one. I took three pages of notes. Here's what he said about methotrexate (keeping in mind I'll be receiving a very high dose):

Mainly for this drug, I should expect my blood counts to drop to almost nothing (which is paradoxically good, but means my immune system will be severely compromised (and this is a side effect of several of the drugs I'm taking), hair loss (also a side effect of several of the other drugs), turning my pee bright orange, and mouth sores, which are only a concern because my platelet counts are so low that they don't want me bleeding at all.

I'm going to post this now, because with all the interruptions here it took me 45 minutes to type!

As for anti-nausea, they give me a lot (don't know how many mg) of Zofran, a low dose of Zyprexa (an antipsychotic that is an anti-nausea med at a low dose) and a ton of steroids (which helps kill the blast cells and also helps with nausea, apparently) about a half hour before each chemo infusion. It's a lot, but I welcome it all. ::wide open arms:: If they can inject all of this stuff in me without me getting horribly nauseated, I will be thrilled.

Cindy, to answer your earlier question, I have been to London, Paris, etc. I would probably like to go somewhere more off the beaten path if we do Europe, like Scandinavia or Greece or somewhere else I haven't been to. I am compiling a mighty list from everyone's suggestions, though!

Ginger tea: you can just slice some off and steep it in the boiling water like anything else. Delicious!

In the therapists office waiting room. I typed up a big post of things to say, but lost it!

What Jesse said on the tea. I use an infuser from habit.

It sounds like you have an excellent medical team, amyth.

amyth, so much love to you. And to Sophia, and anyone else who needs it.

Teppy, you mentioned anti-nausea meds. Are these prescription or OTC? (Do any names come to mind?)

Like amyth said, the best prescription med is Zofran (generic name is ondansetron). But OTC meds like Dramamine might work well, too.

There is a sugar-free ginger beer, BTW (and when I say "ginger beer," I don't mean alcoholic; it's "beer" in the way that root beer is beer). Tim, who had the biggest sweet tooth I've ever encountered, has cut his sugar intake back significantly, and if he eats too much, he gets a flare basically the next day. The amount of sugar in a ginger chew doesn't bother him, though. (He also reminded me that he only eats a half of a ginger chew at a time.) There's definitely been a learning curve with how much sugar is tolerable.

Obviously every patient is different, but Tim's dose is double your son's dose, and he's never gotten mouth sores.