14 December 2006, Oncologist Appointment

Had a follow up appointment with Dr. Atienza yesterday, he's my oncologist. This was basically just a routine appointment to see how I was recovering from the chemo and to check my white blood cell count. We got to the appointment on time, but ended up waiting for an hour and a half to finally get seen by the doctor. Guess they had some walk-ins and just got behind during the day. The nurse took a couple vials of blood and by the time we finally got to see the doctor, we forgot to get the white blood count from him. I'm currently waiting on the place to open up this morning so I can get that information.

The appointment went good. I did most of the talking and Dr. Atienza did most of the listening. I basically reiterated how I was feeling and how I felt right after the treatment. We discussed some of the side effects I've been experiencing and he was concerned about the issues I brought up in regards to my hearing. I've been getting some ringing in the ears for about the last week and certain noises/sounds have changed. It's hard to describe what's going on, but things like the beep on my GPS unit really bothers me when I drive now, and talking on the cell phone with the ear bud is bothersome, and yesterday, when I was at the store, all the background noises really seemed weird.
Anyway, he seemed pretty concerned about those issues and wants me to keep him informed over the next week to see if any other changes in my hearing happen. He suggested I talk to Dr. Debo, the ENT doctor and possibly schedule a hearing test this week. He also said if the ringing in the ears doesn't clear up by the 26th of December, then he was not going to give me the Cisplatin chemo during my next session. He said that one of the side effects associated with taking the Cisplatin is that the nervous system can be affected and ringing in the ears or difficulty hearing high pitched sounds can occur. He says that not giving me the Cisplatin wouldn't be detrimental on my progress as I've already had two doses of the stuff and that during the radiation therapy I would be continuing to get chemo therapy once a week during that process. About the only good thing associated with the radiation therapy is that my chemo dose will go way down. He said that during that portion of the treatment, I would not be getting the same chemo that I'm receiving now and instead of it taking 8 hours to get all the chemo, the lower dose he would be giving me would only take about an hour to get.

So what I got out of all that is that if I'm still having issues with my hearing, I won't get the Cisplatin this time. Not getting this next dose of Cisplatin shouldn't have too much of an effect on me getting rid of the cancer???? Does that make sense?

We also noticed where the PICC line goes into my arm, there is some redness and a little bit of discharge that's appeared in the area. This was very concerning to me because of the fact that this PICC line bandage MUST remain sterile. If it gets infected, I could have serious issues due to the fact my immune system is down and t that the other end of the line goes into the large vein just above my heart.
Since Dr. Hollis, the PEG doctor had placed me on some antibiotics for the same issues I am experiencing with the feeding tube, Dr. Atienza decided to "lets do a wait and see" thing and see if the antibiotics I'm taking might clear it up.
If no results by Monday, I'm to call him.

Marjie and I decided to go ahead and call the home care people and see if they could come out today and change the dressing instead of waiting till Saturday when it's scheduled to be changed. I'll feel better if that happens and for a nurse who works on these things to get a good look at it.

Other than that, Dr. Atienza thinks things are going well with my treatment and says that 95% of the stuff I'm telling him is to be expected. He's seems like a very good doctor to me and has made it known to both of us that if we want to try other types of nausea medicine or mouth sore medicine or diarreaha medicine that there out there and if I don't feel like I'm getting the results with what he's given me that we can try other alternatives. Sounds good to me, seems like things are working ok. I haven't thrown up yet, and the nausea medicine makes me tired, but maybe that's a good thing.

That's about it for now, I need to call his office and get those white blood cell counts, reschedule an appointment with him, call Dr. Debo about the hearing stuff, call the home care people and then mail some packages off.

Take care out there and thanks for all your prayers and well wishes!

12 December, 2006

Don't laugh too hard!


Not much to update tonight. I'm feeling better and better and the nausea is all but gone. Went for a long walk with Coho which did me good. Weather has been awesome around here for the last week and since it's supposed to rain a little tomorrow I figured I should take advantage while I can.
Changed the name of the blog and decided to post another picture to document the changes in me.

Re-read some of my older posts to compare how I was feeling after the 1st round of chemo compared to how I'm feeling after this round and was astonished how different it was this time. Guess it goes to show that you cant' expect it to be the same with each dose.

That's about it for now.

11 December 2006

Wow! Do I ever feel better today. Marjie had to go to work this morning and take care of Department Head stuff and submit the paperwork for the HUMS transfer, so she figured she'd get up at 0400 and head out the door by 0500. I had been tossing and turning most of night and had woken several times with bouts of diarrhea, so I went ahead and got up with her. Had about a half a bowl of oatmeal and some grape juice which went down fine and my stomach was actually feeling a little better. Made some coffee later in the morning and that also seemed to work just fine. Ate a half of a chicken sandwich and some yogurt later, then had a tuna fish sandwich and some chips later on.
One more bout with the diarrhea and now my gut seems to have calmed down. Time will tell, but I figure, now that I've been able to get some solid food in my stomach, and the Nuelasta shot is working, maybe this diarrhea crap will be over or at least contained to once a day instead of 6 o 7. I know this is probably TMI (Too much information), but I'm telling it like it is.

Other side effects I'm experiencing: Ringing in the ears! Big time! Seems it comes and goes all day long. It just kind of starts and goes on and on. Stops and starts again? I've also noticed some changes in my hearing??? Hard to describe, but some noises are just different and really bother me. More to follow on this as I'll be monitoring this closely.
Another is a really funny feeling in my mouth. The roof of my mouth feels like sandpaper as well as the inside cheeks of my mouth. My taste buds almost went back to normal a week or so ago, but now seems like things are tasting funny again. I have to ask Marjie and David how things taste just to make sure it's not me thinking something tastes funny.
As far as how I feel on a scale of 1-10, I'd say I'm up to a 6-7 right now. Definitely have more energy and really haven't felt too nauseated for most of the day.

Had another doctors appointment with Dr. Hollis to check on the feeding tube. Marjie and I have noticed this past week that I'm getting some more drainage/snot looking stuff on the bandage when she changes it. We think, this might be caused by the chemo drugs that I'm getting and possibly it's getting a little infected. Dr. Hollis looked at it this afternoon and didn't seem too concerned, but went ahead and put me on another batch of antibiotics to combat it. He prescribed a different drug this time called Levaquin and I'm supposed to take this for 7 days. He also wants us to not put the bandage on and see if a little air might help it out????? He told us what to look for as far as an infection and sent us on our way with another follow up in a month if all clears up. Guess we'll see!

Went back Naval Hospital to get the prescription filled....thought I learned my lesson last time....there were 50 people ahead of us and it was going to be at least an hour wait....screw that! Left there and went to the civilian pharmacy, got the prescription filled as well as another dose of the Emends since we were already there. 15 minute wait here so we sat in the little lunchroom there and I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. Didn't quite taste like I was expecting, but at least I ate it and didn't feel sick.
That's about it for now, not much else going on, just trying to deal with this situation and get healed.
Marjie is back to work for the time being but able to leave work around noon so as I see things, it shouldn't be a problem with her going to work and taking care of Navy business and then coming home in the afternoon to help me out. Hopefully this HUMS deal will pan out for us.
Thanks again for everyones support and prayers. They are much needed.

Sunday Night

Well I'm back! Barely. Thanks to Marjie for keeping this blog going. If it were up to me you all would have been in the dark for the last week. This has absolutely been the roughest so far. I haven't had the energy to even get up off the couch and have spent most of the days sleeping and being queasy. Went for a walk this morning which did me good. Felt good to stretch my legs, but after the walk spent the rest of the morning and afternoon dozing on the couch and watching football. This round has posed many changes such as even less energy then before, weird tastes in my mouth, more queasiness and it seems like everything tastes awful. Water even tastes like poison sometimes. Meat is almost out of the question...just had my first today.....Uncle Dick, thanks for the suggestion on using plastic utensils, they seem to work better than the metal forks and spoons...I've finally begun to eat a little bit. Had some macaroni and cheese and tried some mashed potatoes and gravy. Both went down ok and tasted alright. I've lost about 8 pounds this week, but seem confident that I'll be able to get back to normal this week.
So here it is 5:26 and watching the San Diego game and finally not laying down on my back. I'm actually sitting on the couch and feeling a ton better than this morning.
Jane Jett, thanks so much for card, it's nice to know someone who's been there!
Thanks to ALL for your comments and prayers. I need em'.....and last but not least, if weren't for Marjie, I don't think I'd be able to do this.
That's all for now.

Dec 10 - Sunday

Good morning to all, it's Marjie again. Just as I had started writing a blog for yesterday morning - Dave got up and I thought that he would have the energy to update it. As we can tell - he did not. He is doing better. Friday, we had to go to the Lake Wright office to turn in the IV pump. Dave was feeling like crap - really very little energy, nauseous, achy, but very glad to get the pump removed. The nurse there gave us another medication for the nausea, Kytril. To take one tablet every 12 hours to control the nausea, and shouldn't make Dave feel funky and tired like the Phenegren does, and Dave really doesn't seem to like taking the Phenegren. The bottom line is that it was good to get the pump off - no more sidekick or pump whirl every 90 seconds. Even though it was hard for Dave to get out and move - it actually did him some good. He did go to bed early though - 1930, and ended up sleeping until almost 0900.

Yesterday (Saturday) was better - still nauseous, achy, and tired, but it seems to be subsiding. Went in for the Neulasta shot, again Dave still not quite up to par. We talked with the nurse again, and she brought to light a couple of items. 1) He needs to get between 10-12 cups of fluids a day (we've been in the 8 range) - this will do two things, help to flush the drugs through his system, and keep him hydrated (which will keep his energy level up). 2) The nausea is most likely from the Cisplatin and Taxotere he got on Monday, and that the metal taste in his mouth is from the Five FU. It was nice to get again which symptoms are associate with which drug.

Overall things are improving - Dave is moving more and more..hopefully he'll update this today. David and I are headed to the commissary - so Dave gets a couple of hours to himself. Thanks again for all the comments and emails. God Bless