Pour me another chemo cocktail, Bartender, put one of those little umbrellas in it, its been snowing...

So chemo treatment number 5 is in the books. All went well. The day started with a visit to Swedish to have the port looked at. It was a scheduled 2-week followup to see how the healing is doing and to see if there is or was any complications. Everything checked out. The swelling is completely gone so now you do see the lump from the port just under the skin.

I got to the Wellness clinic at 1:30 and it was quiet. Soon after turning in my weekly paperwork, George whisked me away to do vitals. I weighed in at 197 lbs, my pulse was 92 bpm, and my blood O2 levels were 99%. I figured I lost a little weight after the hospital episode last week and the follow up meds. The meds killed my appetite a little bit and the antibiotics messed up my stomach as they usually do. However, my pulse has been a little high which is a result of the buildup of fluid. I am guessing that I will need to have it drained off within the next couple of weeks. I will be asking about doing it well before Christmas so that I don't have to get caught in the hospital at the wrong time.

I got a private room since it was so quiet. I think there was about 4-5 patients total for the afternoon, much different from the lead up to Thanksgiving. My nurse took my blood samples and left Beth and I to our reading until the report came back. The blood cell counts were all good, however my platelets were at their lowest point since starting. Must have been the steroidal anti-inflammatories and the one and half vicodins I took during the week. So I got hooked up to the premeds with the benadryl getting me sleepy. Not long later, Dr. Chen came in. He asked about the chest pains and how things have been going. He noticed I haven't called him after getting out of the hospital so thought all went well. But I did note on the paperwork that I still was having some discomfort. I ran everything by him and he decided that after 3 more treatments, we will get the next round of scans going. If I continue to have some discomfort over the next week, he will put me back onto the oral steroids. He checked the lymph nodes in my neck and found they haven't shrunk anymore than the last time. They did feel a little more tender with his touch. I did ask him to confirm if I was doing fractionated chemo doses and he said I was. There are a couple different approaches to fractionated doses. There are real small doses 3 times a week every week or a larger, but small weekly dose. Straight doses are something like 3 big doses a week for 3 weeks then 4 weeks off, but I am sure there are couple different approaches there as well, especially with the different types of cancers. While talking to Dr. Chen, the nurse hooked me up to the Taxol and a few minutes later, started me on the Carboplatin. Dr. Chen felt that with my pulse as high as it has been, he doesn't want me over exerting myself on the excercise bike. He hasn't received the report from Dr. Olsen from Monday's ultrasound and was getting concerned with the fluid buildup. He would like me to start following up with Dr. Sytman (I think I spelled his name Sytoman in one of the earlier posts). Dr. Sytman was the cardiologist who saw me while in the hospital last week. Dr. Chen seems more comfortable with him and said he has quite a bit of experience in these cases and has performed a lot of the paracardial window installations. That is putting a window into the sack that surrounds the heart allowing the fluid to drain into the abdomen so it doesn't build back up. In my opinion, if the fluid buildup is my body defending the heart from the cancer, do I really want it just draining away? I surely don't want to experience the draining surgery too much, it was painful and it takes me off my healing process, but I don't want to take away one of my body's defenses either. I will need to investigate this a little more before proceeding. I am also a little split on changing to Dr. Sytman at this point, I have become comfortable with Dr. Olsen, Dave Panther and their staff. However, Dr. Sytman was a real nice guy and I won't have any problems with him either. I will check to make an appointment with him this next week and see if my insurance will cover him.

A little while later, Dr. Gignac, the clinic naturalpath, paid a scheduled visit. We went over the herbs and supplements I have been taking, the symptoms I have and have not been feeling, my diet and excercise, sleep patterns, the regularity of the plumbing, and the chest pains. He asked if the amount of herbs and supplements are overwhelming and I said a little. Having to take approximately 85 pills a day is a bit much but I was doing the best I can. I told him I have missed a few from sleeping in or napping or simply forgetting them at home when going into the office. He said I was no different from all the other patients in similar circumstances. Fortunately, the herbs and supplements stay in the body for a while and so aren't as dependent as meds for a regular dosage. I did discuss the shakes I have been having and told him I thought it was a lack of protein. He thought it might be more related to the chemo. He did say I should be getting about a 100 grams of protein a day and I told him I estimated I was getting 50 to 75 grams. He agreed that was low and that I should keep it at least between 80 and 100. I said I was way ahead of him and already bought a soy protein supplement from PCC that morning for evening time consumption. I want more protein from tofu during dinner but Beth isn't into the texture of the softer tofus. We will experiment with it more. Dr. Gignac and I discussed the importance of plant based protein over animal based protein. We both are on the same page that plant based protein feeds my body but doesn't feed the cancer where as animal based protein feeds both, doesn't have the fiber and is therefore harder to digest. He said I was doing right by going vegan, ahead of most other patients, but that I can't miss out on the protein and amino acids, as well as the B vitamins and iron that comes from animal based protein. However, with supplements and a diverse mix of plant based proteins, I will be getting what I need and the cancer will be sitting at an empty table. I won't get on a soap box and preach to all of you, but when feeling ill, any kind of illness, a vegetarian diet will get you back on track quicker and your bowels will thank you. There are so many benefits to a vegetarian diet, thousands of books have been written including a few best sellers by Dr. Andrew Wiel. Dr. Gignac said a book called the The China Study written by T. Colin Campbell, is a pretty definitive guide to diet and nutrition. However, from what I know of the book, I still of yet to get it and read it, it is more of a balanced approach that doesn't rule out animal protein, just limits it to its optimal proportion. Dr. Gignac has recommended the book a few times now to me so I need to just buy it and add it to my growing library.

Finally, after some research, some conficting and a little controversy, Dr. Gignac has recommended I back off on the curcumin during the day of chemo and 2 days after. The reasoning is that curcumin, which is the color pigment of tumeric (curry to some), is so good, it could be limiting the effects of the carboplatin. Dr. Sodhi has me on high doses, about 1.5 grams a day, and this might be a little too much. Dr. Gignac wants me to discuss this with Dr. Sodhi on Monday to get his input. Both have a lot of respect for the other so I think Dr. Sodhi will lean to Dr. Gignac's recommendations. However, both parties agree, based on scientific research, curcumin increases the effectiveness of Taxol by 50%. Wow, what to do? Based on what I have been told and what I have read/researched, the carboplatin, a platinum based chemo, maybe the most effective against lung cancer with the Taxol coming in a close second. Hence, hit it with both. Based on Dr. Gignac's concern and the recent events with the chest pain, I have stopped the curcumin for the weekend and will discuss with Dr. Sodhi on Monday, I will also resume the curcumin on Monday until Thursday night. On the bright side, that reduces the amount of pills I take from 85 to 76 over the weekend, woohoo! But, I have felt from the start that curcumin is one of the most important herbs that I am on. If you suffer from arthritis or simple joint pains, you may want to look into curcumin, I have been taking it for the high uric acid and gout for a few years now, when a gout case explodes, it does seem to take the edge off, but so does the 100% natural cherry juice. It does seem to actually do me better than ibuprofen and it doesn't have the effects on the liver that ibuprofen has, plus its beneficial to blood platelets and white blood cells, which is very essential for me. Ultimately, I don't see the harm of reducing the curcumin to see if it will improve the effectiveness of the carboplatin.

So I didn't have any problems with the chemo this time. No reactions that required another shot of benadryl. While sipping on the last bit of carboplatin, Darin, the acupunturist, stuck about a dozen needles into me. Boy that felt good and put me into deep relaxation. We again worked on the immune system and the returning pain in my neck and left shoulder. We also discussed the chest pains so he stuck a needle or two in to some spots to open up the chest. Afterwards, I couldn't get off the table, I felt so much better and relaxed, I really needed that. If I could get daily acupunture, I would do it in a second. Even the best narcotics don't measure up to what a few needles can do. Between chiropractics, acupunture, and massage therapy, I just don't see much need for major pharma other than the major, life threatening illnesses. Sore back, stiff neck, headaches, joint pain, see a chiropractor. ADHD, ADD, colds, flu, depression, sleeping or sexual disorders, see an acupunturist. Stress, anxieties, muscle aches, pissed at the world, see a message therapist. So I will start seeing Darin weekly now. I already have him scheduled out through Christmas.

I can see a lot developing before Christmas so getting in some good days will be challenging. I will keep up with the meditations and prayers so that bad days won't have a chance to develop. Beth and I are strongly considering going to California for Christmas but there will be many obstacles trying to prevent us as a result of my health, healing process, logistics, and all the unforseen issues life will throw at me. We have a solid backup plan of spending the holidays with her family so it will be a win-win situation. The biggest goal will be to avoid the hospitals, but this heart of mine will need to be drained soon. Regardless, I will get through this and will continue fighting this cancer with everything I have. And, I have a couple of new tools coming down the pipeline...