The red chemotherapy agent is Adriamycin. It's the one that nearly guarantees hair loss exactly three weeks after the first dose. One oncologist told us that this substance was first noticed in Italian sewers; whatever it was, nothing would grow on or around it. So, some clever scientist thought, "Hmmmm. I bet I could kill cancer with this."

I learned the hard way to ask what drug is being administered each time the nurse comes around to start something new. Rituxan is one of those new cancer drugs that really knock out lymphoma. We had just come from an appointment with the oncologist who had said that Rituxan was what gave Corinne the advantage in beating her cancer. I asked the nurse when the Rituxan would be given and she told me that it wasn't on the order. It was only because I was there, taking an interest, that Corinne got the Rituxan at all. A similar thing happened to Linda when a new nurse improperly mixed some of the IV medications; we only were able to correct the problem because I noticed that the color seemed wrong and questioned it. The Caregiver is the last line of defense.