Back to Chemo...2.7 is down, 5 to go to finish cycle...
My chemo free week of feeling pretty good came to an end on Thursday when I went back to the clinic for the 7th treatment of this second cycle. At least I was able to get a lot of work done at the office and be a part of something. I nearly had a full week, around 32-34 hours. It felt pretty good even though there was a little bit of that stress. I had a presentation to make to the client and wanted it to go just right. In between, I was fighting restles nights as I continue to deal with the seasonal allergies on top of a complicated right lung. I can't lay flat for a few minutes before it wants to start gurgling and fizzing. It gets annoying to hear it in my head!
So I checked into the clinic at 1 PM and had an appointment with Darin for some acupuncture before getting jacked in. So without pulling along an IV pump, I was able to jump onto the table and get fillled up with needles. I told Darin about the gurgling and fizzing lungs as well as a pinched nerve in my left arm and he went right to work. I laid flat on the table for nearly an hour and the gurgling and fizzing never developed. How about that for immediate results? No more pinched nerve either!
After I was finished, I checked in at the front and George took me back for vitals. Due to the relaxing acupuncture treatment, my bp was 117/74, pulse 82 bpm, blood O2 98% and wieght was at 201 lbs. Steady as they go. The clinic was busy but there was a spot for me in the lounge, next to chatty Judy. I sat down and she went to talking. It took awhile to get blood out of my port, it wasn't playing fair. So it took 30 minutes before it would yeild anything slowing things down a bit. Finally it came and off to the lab it went. It was mostly busy since Jessica and Huang both had the bug and stayed home sick. There were only 2 nurses covering all of us, it kept them on their feet! Daravan helped me out today. The blood counts came back all looking good and we got started on the premeds. Yeah, here comes the benadryl. About that time, Dr. Chue came in to see Judy and I thought I would get a little quite time to do some emails and make a call. Unfortunately, since I was sitting right next to Judy, I could here the results of her recent PET scan and even found myself being pulled into the conversation. For Judy, she is doing chemo to shrink a breast tumor before having it removed by surgery. However, she was completing her 12th treatment and found her tumor hasn't shrunk. So Dr. Chue recommended switching up chemo agents and going for another 12. It was pretty disappointing to Judy because it not easy doing this chemo. However, she took it in stride and Dr. Chue reaffirmed her by discussing other similar cases that went well when chemo was switched up. In the end, everyone in the lounge was supporting Judy and helping her to feel better. It soon developed into how women handle these things much better than men. Judy went as far as saying men get breast cancer but would never know since they never check and are too stubborn to go see the doctor rountinely. Then everyone looked at me and I said, "hey, one cancer at time now!" But really, who is handling things well here? My hair is growing back and I now have carved out a goatee once again. I am handling it well and looking good too! But I knew what they were trying to get at.
So the rest of the chemo treatment went well. I got my doses. Krystina came into to visit me at about the time Beth got there. It turned out my insurance once again rejected my request for another PET scan. Apparently they only want to pay for one once a quarter and the last one was on January 4th. So I will have to wait till April 4th and make anothe request. That's health care for you, no care for your health, just the cost. Dr. Chen would like to know if we needed to switch things up for the second half of this cycle. The insurance did approve of just a CT scan, but it hasn't been effective for me, as Dr. Chen told them. So in a couple of weeks, we will start the process again. Krystina and I finished the exam at the time my chemo was done and it was time to head out. Nothing real new to point out in this post. Still just chugging along waiting for the latest progress scan. Besides the allergies, my body seems to be feeling alright. I do have the occassional aches and pains, but Darin seems to control many of those with well placed needles.
With spring in the air things are seeming more optimistic. It was a long, cold winter with many uncertainties of the future. In 3 days, it will be 6 months since my diagnosis. That tends to be a bench mark so I guess I can say I am a 6-month survivor of stage 4 lung cancer. Next milestone will come at the end of summer when I hit the one-year mark. Keep the positive thoughts and prayers coming...
My chemo free week of feeling pretty good came to an end on Thursday when I went back to the clinic for the 7th treatment of this second cycle. At least I was able to get a lot of work done at the office and be a part of something. I nearly had a full week, around 32-34 hours. It felt pretty good even though there was a little bit of that stress. I had a presentation to make to the client and wanted it to go just right. In between, I was fighting restles nights as I continue to deal with the seasonal allergies on top of a complicated right lung. I can't lay flat for a few minutes before it wants to start gurgling and fizzing. It gets annoying to hear it in my head!
So I checked into the clinic at 1 PM and had an appointment with Darin for some acupuncture before getting jacked in. So without pulling along an IV pump, I was able to jump onto the table and get fillled up with needles. I told Darin about the gurgling and fizzing lungs as well as a pinched nerve in my left arm and he went right to work. I laid flat on the table for nearly an hour and the gurgling and fizzing never developed. How about that for immediate results? No more pinched nerve either!
After I was finished, I checked in at the front and George took me back for vitals. Due to the relaxing acupuncture treatment, my bp was 117/74, pulse 82 bpm, blood O2 98% and wieght was at 201 lbs. Steady as they go. The clinic was busy but there was a spot for me in the lounge, next to chatty Judy. I sat down and she went to talking. It took awhile to get blood out of my port, it wasn't playing fair. So it took 30 minutes before it would yeild anything slowing things down a bit. Finally it came and off to the lab it went. It was mostly busy since Jessica and Huang both had the bug and stayed home sick. There were only 2 nurses covering all of us, it kept them on their feet! Daravan helped me out today. The blood counts came back all looking good and we got started on the premeds. Yeah, here comes the benadryl. About that time, Dr. Chue came in to see Judy and I thought I would get a little quite time to do some emails and make a call. Unfortunately, since I was sitting right next to Judy, I could here the results of her recent PET scan and even found myself being pulled into the conversation. For Judy, she is doing chemo to shrink a breast tumor before having it removed by surgery. However, she was completing her 12th treatment and found her tumor hasn't shrunk. So Dr. Chue recommended switching up chemo agents and going for another 12. It was pretty disappointing to Judy because it not easy doing this chemo. However, she took it in stride and Dr. Chue reaffirmed her by discussing other similar cases that went well when chemo was switched up. In the end, everyone in the lounge was supporting Judy and helping her to feel better. It soon developed into how women handle these things much better than men. Judy went as far as saying men get breast cancer but would never know since they never check and are too stubborn to go see the doctor rountinely. Then everyone looked at me and I said, "hey, one cancer at time now!" But really, who is handling things well here? My hair is growing back and I now have carved out a goatee once again. I am handling it well and looking good too! But I knew what they were trying to get at.
So the rest of the chemo treatment went well. I got my doses. Krystina came into to visit me at about the time Beth got there. It turned out my insurance once again rejected my request for another PET scan. Apparently they only want to pay for one once a quarter and the last one was on January 4th. So I will have to wait till April 4th and make anothe request. That's health care for you, no care for your health, just the cost. Dr. Chen would like to know if we needed to switch things up for the second half of this cycle. The insurance did approve of just a CT scan, but it hasn't been effective for me, as Dr. Chen told them. So in a couple of weeks, we will start the process again. Krystina and I finished the exam at the time my chemo was done and it was time to head out. Nothing real new to point out in this post. Still just chugging along waiting for the latest progress scan. Besides the allergies, my body seems to be feeling alright. I do have the occassional aches and pains, but Darin seems to control many of those with well placed needles.
With spring in the air things are seeming more optimistic. It was a long, cold winter with many uncertainties of the future. In 3 days, it will be 6 months since my diagnosis. That tends to be a bench mark so I guess I can say I am a 6-month survivor of stage 4 lung cancer. Next milestone will come at the end of summer when I hit the one-year mark. Keep the positive thoughts and prayers coming...
posted by Beth @ 3/25/2006 06:44:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home