Now, with background (mostly) taken care of, let me get on with why I started this blog. Sharing with everyone how cancer, and it's treatment, is treating me.
I'm already 8 radiation and 2 chemo's into my "protocol." (That's the medical name for "treatment" I've learned.) So, let me tell you how it's been.
First day, Tuesday, September 1, I received both radiation, 8 AM, and chemo, 9:30 AM. Let me tell you, after waiting a over a month to get started I was already ready to get it over. Needless to say, with all that pent up emotion I was exhausted at 1:30 when I walked out of chemo, but, I'm moving too fast.
Radiation, it turns out, only takes about 15 minutes. You lay down on a table, they set up the machine that "zaps" you about 6 or 8 places in less than 10 minutes. You get up thinking, "Is that all there is to it?" Well, it's not!
I go have breakfast and then to chemo. Well, it's not just "me" that goes, it's a mob! Lynda has decided that I'll never go to chemo by myself and then about 10 of our "closest and dearest friends" decide she can't go by herself, so it's party time! Finally, the girls "go to the hall" (so as not to distrurb my fellow patients) and the guys hang out with me. But finally, I have to bid them adieu (and tell them to keep the girls out) and I go to sleep.
Bit of info: One gets chemo thru a "mediport" that has been placed in your chest. It transports the chemo directly into a major vein of your body. Sleeping is a good thing while it's going on!
Well, this is to be my "routine" every week for 6 weeks with a total of 6 chemo's (every Tuesday)and 28 radiations. Scheduled finish date, October 9, which, incidentally, would have been the fourth day into a wonderful Mediterranean cruise that Lynda (and 18 of our friends) and I had planned until this "deal" came along.
First week, after the start trauma, you kinda believe it may not be as bad for you as it is for others, but then you realize that we all "an experiment of one" so it's gonna get you! The first week, let's describe as "tired." I learn that I don't waste energy walking and/or working out. I save it for thinking. (Thank God I've got work to plan. It keeps my mind off the cancer, of which I can't do a damn thing about other than what I'm doing!) Let's also say "thirsty." Can't get enough liquid. You should drink water but it doesn't taste good, but you try anyhow. Gatorade tastes good. Now, you pay the price if you don't hydrate. By the second week, the obstruction in my esophagus returns. (When it was orginally found the doc did a "balloon" procedure that "spread it out" and allowed me to eat.) Now I start having a problem getting enough solid nourishment down. That gets partially solved by my daughter Debbie who is juicing for me. But I still want to eat! Sometimes I can, sometimes I can't.
Second week: Chemo on Tuesday. Come home and feel great. Hey, I'm coming back with all my energy! Go great all that day. Go great that evening. Think about going to bed, but still going great! At 5 AM the next morning I'm still "going great" but know that sometime I'm gonna collapse. Finally do that evening. Sleep about 11 hours the next night. Turns out there are a bit of steriods in with you chemo. Now I'll be prepared for tomorrow! Another side effect, which I alluded to earlier, is if you don't drink enough and you don't excercise one "stops up." Well, on Thursday of the second week the radiation people weighed me and decided I was "low on water" so they sent me for a "unit of hydration." That meant going back to the chemo place and have them hook you up for an hour and run liquid into you. Well, let me tell you, that will "loosen you up." On Friday I had my worst day. Had cramps and nausea for 6 or 7 hours. Think it was tough on me? Not as tough as it was for Lynda to watch me! Let me tell you, it would be tough without wonderful care givers! I give thanks every night for Lynda and all my caregivers! My family and all my friends. The are there for support every hour of every day. Calls, cards, emails, visits and, best of all, prayers. Oh yeah, the liquid worked it's way thru my body and I became "new" again! Remember, if you go down this road, drink! Alright, that sums up the the first two weeks. Here it is Monday morning and it's that time again!