Week by Week Updates - Weeks 1 & 2

It's a bit late to start this. But, better late than never. I thought a short summary at the end of every treatment week might be worthwhile. I'm almost at the end of week 3 now. So I need to play catch up.

Week 1
Totally uneventful. Chemo went over without a hitch. The entire procedure includes 3 different drugs to help deal with possible side effects, especially nausea. Then I get a half liter of saline with magnesium and potassium to help protect my kidneys from the ravages of the the cisplatin, which is followed by another half liter of the saline Mg+ K+ solution. Total time for the complete infusion is about 4.5 hours. Then I hoof it down to radiation for my 20+ minutes tied to the carbon fiber table.

They sent me home with a couple of different anti-emetics and told me "don't wait til you feel sick to take them. Just do it on this schedule and you should be fine." I did as I was told and had no ill effects all week.

Week 2
Same routine as week 1 with similar results.  Only took one anti-emetic the morning after chemo and didn't suffer at all from nausea.  Still no effects from radiation early in the week. But then came Thursday. Suddenly, tap water tasted slightly brackish. Not bad... just "off".  Later that day I was at a neighbor's home drinking beer and snacking on cheese and crackers.  The beer tasted wrong and the cheese and crackers were pretty flavorless.

For Friday morning breakfast I had grits with onions and hot Italian sausage.WOW!! That sausage was really hot! My mouth burned a lot more than it had when I ate the other links in that package. And as the day progressed, I noticed that many other foods irritated my mouth and throat.  By mid- afternoon it really hurt to swallow anything.  This triggered my first funk. It's not even the end of week 2 and it already hurts this badly?!? I've got 5 more weeks of this shit to endure! I allowed myself to wallow in a shallow puddle of self pity for a while.

Saturday morning after 8 solid hours of sleep I felt pretty good. I got up; fixed myself a nice, big (if bland) breakfast; checked my email while drinking a cup of coffee and then took a half hour nap. Afterwards, I puttered around the house for a while and then took a full hour nap. Apparently, the promise of chemo lethargy has now been fulfilled. Meanwhile, most food tastes like nothing. Hard to explain, but it really has no flavor at all. My nose still works great. Everything smells normal. But nothing at all tastes right.  Few things taste bad, but absolutely nothing tastes really good. Unfortunately, beer is one of the few things that taste really nasty. I haven't had one since Thursday afternoon and have absolutely no desire to try another one any time soon. The only thing I crave is (get this) chocolate milk. I downed a half gallon this afternoon and would have had more if there was more to have. In fact, that's about all I consumed all afternoon and evening.

Sunday was a one nap day filled with more chocolate milk. My throat was still sore, but I was kind of getting used to it. So much for week 2.... on to week 3.

The Infusion Chronicles

I finally remembered to take a few photos to share from my one LONG day at the cancer center. Leave home about 8:30. Arrive at Cancer Center by 9:00. First step is a visit with the phlebotomist to give a blood sample. Nothing unusual there except that I don't get stuck with a needle because I have my PICC tube. Next up is a visit with my chemo oncologist. I REALLY like this guy. When he asked me today about any changes I'd noticed, I pointed at my lymph node and mentioned that it appeared to be swelling.  His reply was "It's pissed off and fighting back because you're trying to kill it with radiation." Didn't know that "pissed off" was an accepted medical term, but I do now.

Next, it's upstairs to the infusion room. I wish I had a good photo of it for you, but, I wasn't sure how all the other infusees would react to someone taking photos. It's a large, high-ceiling, 2nd-story room with two walls of glass facing south and west that offer pretty good views of Pilot Butte and the Cascades. Very bright; even welcoming. There is a balcony off to the south side with lots of shade. Since the temperature was perfect today, I chose to spend most of my time outside. Here's a shot of me and Pilot Butte...

Without the IV tree it's a pretty normal picture, verdad?

Chemo is a 5 hour affair. It starts with a dose of steroids, followed by a long action anti-emetic, then a shorter duration anti-emetic. Next is a full hour of saline with additional magnesium and potassium to flush my kidneys. Then comes the actual hour of chemo (85mg of cisplatin) and finally another hour of saline with magnesium and potassium.  Somewhere in the middle of all this is lunch. Today I had chicken and veggie soup.

It isn't as boring as it looks. With a bit of added salt and pepper it's actually pretty tasty.  Lots of more filling items are available, but I'm not much of a lunch eater. This was perfect.

And no chem day is complete without a visit to radiation. I finally remembered to ask the techs to take a few photos for me. You've seen the shroud photo before. Now you can see me actually penned to the table and ready for radiation.

Although the the shroud does a great job of securing me to the table, the instrument does a quick scan to make sure the table alignment is correct; makes adjustments as necessary and then starts the real work. 

This gizmo moves around me shooting radiation from a number of angles. All the while I get to listen to the music of my choice. Today was a David Byrne day. 

Finally, I retire to the restroom to do a concentrated fluoride treatment on my teeth. And that's where I encounter this sign.

After hours of infusion and a few cans of fruit juice I'm glad I can and pee anytime I want. It's 4:15 and I can go home now. Guess I'm one of the lucky ones.