It's Saturday morning here and I'm sitting downstairs with the dog having a cup of coffee. I'm feeling much better today and feel like I'm on the road to getting back to normal. All the feeling of nausea is gone and fortunately the sore throat I was experiencing the other day has also diminished.
I do have a couple other side effects that are really bugging me, but it appears I'm just going to have to deal with them till they subside or finally clear up. The ringing in the ears thing is back and loud noises and such really bother me. If you read in some of my other posts a few weeks ago, I tried to describe it, but it's really weird. Seems if I'm in an enclosed space like the inside of my truck, noises really bother me. And when I'm in a shopping center, all the background noise that is going on tends to become an issue. Again, it's really hard to describe, but with the ringing in the ears and the background noises being amplified or something, it can really screw you up.
Another issue I continue to struggle with is the fact that most food tastes like crap! Again, I'm confident that in the near future this will clear up and food will taste like it should, but in the interim, it's frustrating smelling all this good food and anticipating that it will taste good only to discover that it tastes awful. I'm sitting here trying to think what I've had in the last week that even tastes good and about the only thing that comes close is soup and popsicles. I so want to dig into a steak, chicken, burger, burrito, potatoes, sandwich.......Sheesh, I'm making my mouth water thinking about it.
It must really seem like I use this platform to complain a lot, but you just can't imagine what it's like until you've experienced this. I'm trying to keep a positive attitude through this whole experience but it's tough! I'm having nightmares about this upcoming radiation treatment that's glooming on the horizon. I spent hours and hours yesterday researching websites and reading page after page of data and other peoples tales of what to expect. And the bottom line is that it's out of my hands! What's going to happen is going to happen. I just have to sit here and take it and try to make the best of a bad situation.
One of the good things about reading and re-reading all the information yesterday is that it's reminding me of some of the things that I need to prepare for like drinking plenty of water and finding out what foods other people found that tasted better to them and such.
The nurses keep telling me that everyone reacts differently to the treatment and it's easier for some than others.
Back to a positive note here....I'm really looking forward to getting back to normal and feeling good for the rest of the month. Don't have any major plans, but hopefully sometime next week will be able to get some water under the keel of my boat.
This morning is going to be the first day in a long time that I'll be able to take a shower without saran wrap!!!!!!!!! I just have a band-aid on the PICC line hole now and after my shower, I might just be able to put nothing on it all.
That's all for now. Hope everyone has a nice weekend. It's supposed to get to 75 degrees here. Can you believe that for January!
Saturday, January 6, 2007
Thursday, January 4, 2007
1st Battle complete! :]
We'll, the first battle is complete and I'm in the recovery mode.
Had an appointment with Dr, Atienza yesterday afternoon to discuss how I was making it through the third round of chemo and if there were any issues that we needed to work thru. We talked about all the side effects that I had been experiencing and he basically said that from what I was telling him, he'd expect most of what I was experiencing. He looked at my lab work and said that my white blood count and platens were at the levels he would expect. I brought up the fact that I was concerned about the sores on the corners of my mouth and the fact that I was getting some mouth sores. He looked at them and also said that this is what can be expected. He asked if I was experiencing any diarrhea this time, which I am, and said that as soon as the diarrhea cleared up, that the mouth sores and the cracking on the corners of my mouth would also clear up. He said it's one big gastrointestinal tract that's being affected that starts at the mouth and ends up "you know where". He said that if they looked inside my intestines, they'd probably be all torn up too.
He said that overall, he was pleased on how well I was making it through this and that everything was looking great!
What I meant about the 1st battle being complete is because I've now completed the three initial doses of chemotherapy and the next battle will be radiation.
I asked if it was going to be necessary to keep the PICC line installed and he said that his plan was to have the nurses look at my veins to ensure they were good enough to withstand the rest of the chemo I'll need, and if they were, they'd remove it.
That put a smile on my face. No more having to have Marjie wrap the thing in saran wrap every morning for me to take a shower, no more having the home health care providers come out and change the dressing weekly and no more walking around looking like some kind of science experiment.
We went over to the nurses station after the appointment and within 5 minutes the nurse took the thing out. Unbelievable!! I thought this was going to be some big to do operation at the hospital weeks down the line. Didn't even feel any pain whatsoever. I sat in the recliner while she did her magic...Marjie was watching what was going on and I had my head turned waiting for some serious pain to happen. I had to ask a few minutes later if it was out or not. So this is a good thing!!!!
I think I'm experiencing some kind of acid reflux and that might be the sensation I was talking about earlier when I said I could taste my stomach in my throat. I'm taking Prilosec for it now and Dr. Atienza said if I felt that wasn't working, then he'd prescribe something else for me.
Dr. Atienza's plan is to give me about a 4 week rest period this time before we start the radiation. The radiation doctor is Dr. Sinesi who works in an entirely different office. He actually works in the Cancer treatment center for Chesapeake General Hospital. Dr. Atienza's folks set up an appointment for me to have a head, neck and chest cat scan done on the 22nd of January, and follow up appointments with all concerned are supposed to be being made today. The purpose of the cat scan is to ensure there is no other cancer showing up anywhere and I guess this will give them the green light to start the radiation. I'm not a 100% clear on all this, but once we begin with it all I'll know more and more.
Sometime after the cat scan is completed and results known, I'll be set up with an appointment to have the mask made which will be screwed down to the table holding my head in place so I can't move when they apply the radiation. From what I understand at this point, is that the radiation treatment will be for 6 weeks, Monday thru Friday, 25 minutes a day..weekends off. One of those days, probably Wednesday, I'll go back over to Dr. Atienza's office for a round of chemo. The chemo that I'll get this time is a different type then what I was getting in the past, and a much lower dosage. From what I gather, the side effects like I've been experienced from these other ones will be much less. The big issue with this second battle is going to be the radiation.
The feeding tube was put in place just for this. They say my mouth and throat will get so sore and screwed up that I won't be able to eat or drink and will have to be nourished via the feeding tube. I don't even want to think about this right now!
Goal now is to get better, and try to enjoy the next 4 weeks before I go back into battle. David and I are planning on taking the boat out and doing a little fishing and just basically try to keep my mind off what's coming up.
Right now, I'm not even at 100%...I'd say I'm sitting at 50%. Last night I began to develop a sore throat and here it is 1232 the next day and it hurts to eat, drink, swallow and talk. I'm a little worried about this and if it doesn't get better by tomorrow, I'll call the doctor and see what they have to say.
My muscle soreness/joint soreness has mostly gone away. Cracks in the corners of my mouth are getting better but are still painful and will bleed if I open my mouth too wide. Sores in my mouth are gone, sore throat now present, but the inside of my mouth is still rough and feels funny. Food tastes horrible. I'm having a hard time finding anything that tastes good. Meat and bread type products seem to be the worst. About the only thing I can tolerate right now is yogurt and Top Raman...even though the noodles taste funky. No more nausea or feeling as run down as a few days ago......So I'm healing....think it's just a matter of time now. Seems like every day, I feel better and better, so I should be good to go here shortly and be able to enjoy the rest of the month before all hell breaks loose again.
That's about it for now. My mind is mush! I started out this morning on the blog at 9am. I must have had 6 pages typed up and accidentally deleted the whole damn thing and was unable to recover anything but the title. Sheesh!!!! Took Coho for a walk and started typing again.
This version is is much different and I know I don't have all in this that needs to be here, but there's always tomorrow and it's not like I have much of anything to do anyway.
Thanks again to all for your support!
More to follow..............
Had an appointment with Dr, Atienza yesterday afternoon to discuss how I was making it through the third round of chemo and if there were any issues that we needed to work thru. We talked about all the side effects that I had been experiencing and he basically said that from what I was telling him, he'd expect most of what I was experiencing. He looked at my lab work and said that my white blood count and platens were at the levels he would expect. I brought up the fact that I was concerned about the sores on the corners of my mouth and the fact that I was getting some mouth sores. He looked at them and also said that this is what can be expected. He asked if I was experiencing any diarrhea this time, which I am, and said that as soon as the diarrhea cleared up, that the mouth sores and the cracking on the corners of my mouth would also clear up. He said it's one big gastrointestinal tract that's being affected that starts at the mouth and ends up "you know where". He said that if they looked inside my intestines, they'd probably be all torn up too.
He said that overall, he was pleased on how well I was making it through this and that everything was looking great!
What I meant about the 1st battle being complete is because I've now completed the three initial doses of chemotherapy and the next battle will be radiation.
I asked if it was going to be necessary to keep the PICC line installed and he said that his plan was to have the nurses look at my veins to ensure they were good enough to withstand the rest of the chemo I'll need, and if they were, they'd remove it.
That put a smile on my face. No more having to have Marjie wrap the thing in saran wrap every morning for me to take a shower, no more having the home health care providers come out and change the dressing weekly and no more walking around looking like some kind of science experiment.
We went over to the nurses station after the appointment and within 5 minutes the nurse took the thing out. Unbelievable!! I thought this was going to be some big to do operation at the hospital weeks down the line. Didn't even feel any pain whatsoever. I sat in the recliner while she did her magic...Marjie was watching what was going on and I had my head turned waiting for some serious pain to happen. I had to ask a few minutes later if it was out or not. So this is a good thing!!!!
I think I'm experiencing some kind of acid reflux and that might be the sensation I was talking about earlier when I said I could taste my stomach in my throat. I'm taking Prilosec for it now and Dr. Atienza said if I felt that wasn't working, then he'd prescribe something else for me.
Dr. Atienza's plan is to give me about a 4 week rest period this time before we start the radiation. The radiation doctor is Dr. Sinesi who works in an entirely different office. He actually works in the Cancer treatment center for Chesapeake General Hospital. Dr. Atienza's folks set up an appointment for me to have a head, neck and chest cat scan done on the 22nd of January, and follow up appointments with all concerned are supposed to be being made today. The purpose of the cat scan is to ensure there is no other cancer showing up anywhere and I guess this will give them the green light to start the radiation. I'm not a 100% clear on all this, but once we begin with it all I'll know more and more.
Sometime after the cat scan is completed and results known, I'll be set up with an appointment to have the mask made which will be screwed down to the table holding my head in place so I can't move when they apply the radiation. From what I understand at this point, is that the radiation treatment will be for 6 weeks, Monday thru Friday, 25 minutes a day..weekends off. One of those days, probably Wednesday, I'll go back over to Dr. Atienza's office for a round of chemo. The chemo that I'll get this time is a different type then what I was getting in the past, and a much lower dosage. From what I gather, the side effects like I've been experienced from these other ones will be much less. The big issue with this second battle is going to be the radiation.
The feeding tube was put in place just for this. They say my mouth and throat will get so sore and screwed up that I won't be able to eat or drink and will have to be nourished via the feeding tube. I don't even want to think about this right now!
Goal now is to get better, and try to enjoy the next 4 weeks before I go back into battle. David and I are planning on taking the boat out and doing a little fishing and just basically try to keep my mind off what's coming up.
Right now, I'm not even at 100%...I'd say I'm sitting at 50%. Last night I began to develop a sore throat and here it is 1232 the next day and it hurts to eat, drink, swallow and talk. I'm a little worried about this and if it doesn't get better by tomorrow, I'll call the doctor and see what they have to say.
My muscle soreness/joint soreness has mostly gone away. Cracks in the corners of my mouth are getting better but are still painful and will bleed if I open my mouth too wide. Sores in my mouth are gone, sore throat now present, but the inside of my mouth is still rough and feels funny. Food tastes horrible. I'm having a hard time finding anything that tastes good. Meat and bread type products seem to be the worst. About the only thing I can tolerate right now is yogurt and Top Raman...even though the noodles taste funky. No more nausea or feeling as run down as a few days ago......So I'm healing....think it's just a matter of time now. Seems like every day, I feel better and better, so I should be good to go here shortly and be able to enjoy the rest of the month before all hell breaks loose again.
That's about it for now. My mind is mush! I started out this morning on the blog at 9am. I must have had 6 pages typed up and accidentally deleted the whole damn thing and was unable to recover anything but the title. Sheesh!!!! Took Coho for a walk and started typing again.
This version is is much different and I know I don't have all in this that needs to be here, but there's always tomorrow and it's not like I have much of anything to do anyway.
Thanks again to all for your support!
More to follow..............
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Slowly recovering
Holy Sh*t has this been an ordeal. This round seems to have been maybe the worst with different side effects than I've experienced in the past. As you know, I did not get the chemo drug Cisplatin this time and after the first couple days was thinking that this round was going to be alright or at least without some of the side effects that I had experienced in the past. It's hard for me to even think clearly at this point, but it must have been two days after the 3rd dose that the nausea and run down feelings began. I've spent up until today on the couch or in the bed. Still haven't puked, but have this horrible feeling in my stomach, it's almost like I can taste the inside of my stomach in my throat??? I don't know how to really explain it, but nothing sounds good or tastes good to eat; don't have much of an appetite, so I basically lay there, knowing I should eat, but unable to, horrible taste in my throat, forcing myself to drink, which by the way is difficult because everything I drink tastes like poison to me. I'm taking some anti-nausea medicine which works but makes me tired, so I end up sleeping/dozing all day. I really only feel good when I'm sleeping and dreaming, but it seams that that only happens for 15-30 mins at a time because I'll eventually wake up, look at the clock and realize I've only been out for a short amount of time.
During all this my bones and joints are getting painful. And when I say painful, I mean PAINFUL. All of them; toes, ankles, chins, knees, elbows, fingers and shoulders. We were thinking that it might be caused by lack of not moving them enough, but that can't be it, because they feel a lot better today and I wasn't moving around much yesterday either. I think it's just one of the side effects. But to give you an idea of how bad they hurt, just to traverse the stairs in the house, it would take me holding on to both of the handrails, and taking each step one at a time with both feet on the stair before I could go to the next one. Marjie would massage my joints which would help temporarily and put heat on them which also helped a little.
I guess it must of been about two days when I noticed the corners of my mouth bleeding. They are so cracked and sore it's difficult to open my mouth. This has been going on now for at least 4 days with no relief gained. I've been applying chapstick, vaseline and Carmex...nothing really seems to help...maybe just time. About that same time, I started getting some mouth sores. It looks like white stuff all over the inside of my mouth. So now my mouth feels all nasty. I've been using this mouthwash rinse called Biotene which works so so. I had my Nuelasta shot on Sunday, and talked to the nurse about the problem I was having with my mouth and she ended up having the doctor on call there prescribe some sort of mouth rinse/medicine stuff that works so so also.
So I guess the bottom line is that this has been a week of hell. I'm feeling better today. Joints are doing a lot better and it doesn't hurt to walk or move around. Don't feel nauseated, but the corners of my lips/mouth are still cracked and bleeding. I think most of the mouth sores are gone, but the inside of my mouth feels like sandpaper. Still don't have much of an appetite, but just ate a bowl of soup and it tasted ok so at least my taste buds are intact for the day.
I feel like all I'm doing in the blog today is complaining and I guess I am, but you just can't imagine how bad this sucks!
I saw this guy in the chemo room while I was in getting the pump removed last week with white cream all over his neck. He was carrying what looked to me like a popcorn bucket lined with plastic, and using it to hack spit into. The guy looked miserable, and my assumption is that he also has "head and neck cancer" and is currently undergoing his portion of the radiation treatment. Boy oh boy am I so not looking forward to that.
So here I am, recuperating slowly, feeling much better than I did yesterday and even better than the day before. Have two weeks to heal up. End of the first treatment. Radiation is next, but will cross that bridge in a couple weeks. Thanks for everyone's thoughts, prayers, comments, emails and cards. I read them all or they get read to me. They do help!
That's all for now, I'm gonna get my arm wrapped in saran wrap so I can take a shower and then attempt to take Cohomojo out for a walk.
During all this my bones and joints are getting painful. And when I say painful, I mean PAINFUL. All of them; toes, ankles, chins, knees, elbows, fingers and shoulders. We were thinking that it might be caused by lack of not moving them enough, but that can't be it, because they feel a lot better today and I wasn't moving around much yesterday either. I think it's just one of the side effects. But to give you an idea of how bad they hurt, just to traverse the stairs in the house, it would take me holding on to both of the handrails, and taking each step one at a time with both feet on the stair before I could go to the next one. Marjie would massage my joints which would help temporarily and put heat on them which also helped a little.
I guess it must of been about two days when I noticed the corners of my mouth bleeding. They are so cracked and sore it's difficult to open my mouth. This has been going on now for at least 4 days with no relief gained. I've been applying chapstick, vaseline and Carmex...nothing really seems to help...maybe just time. About that same time, I started getting some mouth sores. It looks like white stuff all over the inside of my mouth. So now my mouth feels all nasty. I've been using this mouthwash rinse called Biotene which works so so. I had my Nuelasta shot on Sunday, and talked to the nurse about the problem I was having with my mouth and she ended up having the doctor on call there prescribe some sort of mouth rinse/medicine stuff that works so so also.
So I guess the bottom line is that this has been a week of hell. I'm feeling better today. Joints are doing a lot better and it doesn't hurt to walk or move around. Don't feel nauseated, but the corners of my lips/mouth are still cracked and bleeding. I think most of the mouth sores are gone, but the inside of my mouth feels like sandpaper. Still don't have much of an appetite, but just ate a bowl of soup and it tasted ok so at least my taste buds are intact for the day.
I feel like all I'm doing in the blog today is complaining and I guess I am, but you just can't imagine how bad this sucks!
I saw this guy in the chemo room while I was in getting the pump removed last week with white cream all over his neck. He was carrying what looked to me like a popcorn bucket lined with plastic, and using it to hack spit into. The guy looked miserable, and my assumption is that he also has "head and neck cancer" and is currently undergoing his portion of the radiation treatment. Boy oh boy am I so not looking forward to that.
So here I am, recuperating slowly, feeling much better than I did yesterday and even better than the day before. Have two weeks to heal up. End of the first treatment. Radiation is next, but will cross that bridge in a couple weeks. Thanks for everyone's thoughts, prayers, comments, emails and cards. I read them all or they get read to me. They do help!
That's all for now, I'm gonna get my arm wrapped in saran wrap so I can take a shower and then attempt to take Cohomojo out for a walk.
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