Clive has adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). This means that his stem cells produce large numbers of abnormal (cancerous) myeloid cells which accumulate in the bone marrow, preventing the production of other normal blood cells.
http://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancerinformation/cancertypes/leukaemiaacutemyeloid/aml.aspx & http://leukaemialymphomaresearch.org.uk/information/leukaemia/acute-myeloid-leukaemia-aml
Clive is neutropenic. This means that he has far too few neutrophils in his blood. Neutrophils help fight off infection and this is why we have to wear rubber gloves and an apron when in the room with him as an infection could be very dangerous. This may also affect his chances of coming home between cycles of chemo.
More information can be found at http://www.medicinenet.com/neutropenia/article.htm#what.
In order to minimise the risk of Clive getting ill, he has to avoid certain foods which are deemed to contain a higher level of bacteria. These include unpasteurised milk, pate, soft cheese, McDonalds ice cream etc he should also avoid easting or drinking something which has been in an open packet for a few days - as this heightens the risk of bacteria forming. therefore, any squash, fruit juice etc should be from small cartons so that they are not left open more than a day.
More information on neutropenic diets can be found here http://www.1in3.org.uk/neutro1.htm
The doctors expect Clive to be in hospital for four cycles of chemotherapy. http://www.chemocare.com/whatis/what_is_chemotherapy.asp
So far the chemo drugs he has been administered are Cytarabine & Daunorubicin. These drugs are administered via the Hickman line for relatively short periods of time during the 11 day period. For the rest of the period, saline is passed in through the line to keep his body hydrated and minimise the effects of the chemo drugs on his kidney. After the chemo period ends, antibiotics are administered and the saline is used to keep the line open.
Daunorubicin http://www.chemocare.com/bio/daunorubicin.asp & Cytarabine http://www.chemocare.com/BIO/cytarabine.asp