Chemo treatment 2.9 and You have probably wondered where I have been...
Last Thursday I completed treatment 2.9 and just have a couple more to go to finish this cycle. Due to a combination of nothing much new to report and still getting hammered by these allergies, I wasn't motivated or quick to get the blog updated. However, I am sure none of you lost as much sleep as I did over the weekend!
The chemo treatment went us usual. There was a blip in the vitals, heartbeat was at 104 bmp, an indication of mounting pressure in the chest from the lung fluid buildup. The rest of the vitals looked good, 124/82 bp, blood O2 97%, and weight was 201 lbs. The fluid pressure in my chest is causing my heart to compensate a little. Besides that, allergies were making breathing difficult so I was taking faster, shorter breaths. I took a seat in the group lounge, it had been a while since I was there. It was a quiet day but there were a couple of familiar faces. Nurse Jessica, freshly back from her nightmare honeymoon trip to Belize, came in and hooked me up to the fresh chemo lounge juices. While plugging me in and drawing the blood, she told me how her American Airlines flight left Seattle only to have an engine go out and therefore immediately return to Seatac. A few hours later, they took off again and had to connect with a few other flights totaling a 13-hour flight to get to their destination, the next day! Oh yeah, they did this with bad colds! As she was telling me this, I couldn't help but to think about the reality in this room and how we were feeling really sorry for her situation and the lost money and time as a result of some bad luck. While a ruined honeymoon sucks, cancer sucks worse. Yet, we patients in the room had wished it would have been better for her, she deserved it. The focus was not how bad we got it, it was how bad it was for Jessica. So even though none of us should have cancer, a young bride should not have her honeymoon wrecked! It was nice in some sense to keep it in that kind of perspective as opposed to, "I have nothing to complain about, you all have cancer!" So for a few minutes there, we felt for her and not of ourselves or each other. Maybe it had something to do with me being the only male in the room, which is often the case unless Dr. Chen or Dr. Chue is seeing a patient. I get the occassional, "How is the wedding planning going?" I usually quickly respond, "ohhh, I dunno, you'll have to ask Beth. She's the planner, I am the yes man!" It typically responds with some nodding and "yeap, he know's how to handle this." Sometimes I will elaborate more, but it depends on where the benadryl is in the blood system.
While waiting on the blood results to come back, Dr. Chen came in to see me. I told him the breathing and allergies were still a pain in the butt and pointed to some other aches and pains that have developed in the abdomen. I also told him about some severe abdominal cramps I dealt with the night before. They were pretty painful and I had to recline in the easy chair for a few hours until they went away. I told Dr. Chen I took a Claritin-D earlier in the day to help with the allergies at work. The Claritin-D did seem to open up my breathing and dry up my sinuses. However, Dr. Chen warned I should avoid it since it contains quite a bit of pseudoephedrin, he thought it may have contributed to the cramps. He gave me some Singulair samples to try. Finally, he said to double up the water pills each day and we will further evaluate the lung fluid next week. If that doesn't help, I am sure I will be in to have it drained surgically soon after. The rest of his exam went normal. My blood counts came back fine and so Jessica got me started on a chemo cocktail, minus the Belizan umbrella. I didn't sleep much this time so I spent the time watching the San Francisco Giants play the Atlanta Braves on ESPN Gamecast. I was pulling for Barry Bonds to hit one out only because I know I have more chemicals in my body than he does including a nice dose of steroids! And according to my insurance statements, this is some top dollar juice!
Beth and I spent some time this weekend getting the medical bills and insurance statements organized. It was quite an adventure and I will save it for a post later this week...
Last Thursday I completed treatment 2.9 and just have a couple more to go to finish this cycle. Due to a combination of nothing much new to report and still getting hammered by these allergies, I wasn't motivated or quick to get the blog updated. However, I am sure none of you lost as much sleep as I did over the weekend!
The chemo treatment went us usual. There was a blip in the vitals, heartbeat was at 104 bmp, an indication of mounting pressure in the chest from the lung fluid buildup. The rest of the vitals looked good, 124/82 bp, blood O2 97%, and weight was 201 lbs. The fluid pressure in my chest is causing my heart to compensate a little. Besides that, allergies were making breathing difficult so I was taking faster, shorter breaths. I took a seat in the group lounge, it had been a while since I was there. It was a quiet day but there were a couple of familiar faces. Nurse Jessica, freshly back from her nightmare honeymoon trip to Belize, came in and hooked me up to the fresh chemo lounge juices. While plugging me in and drawing the blood, she told me how her American Airlines flight left Seattle only to have an engine go out and therefore immediately return to Seatac. A few hours later, they took off again and had to connect with a few other flights totaling a 13-hour flight to get to their destination, the next day! Oh yeah, they did this with bad colds! As she was telling me this, I couldn't help but to think about the reality in this room and how we were feeling really sorry for her situation and the lost money and time as a result of some bad luck. While a ruined honeymoon sucks, cancer sucks worse. Yet, we patients in the room had wished it would have been better for her, she deserved it. The focus was not how bad we got it, it was how bad it was for Jessica. So even though none of us should have cancer, a young bride should not have her honeymoon wrecked! It was nice in some sense to keep it in that kind of perspective as opposed to, "I have nothing to complain about, you all have cancer!" So for a few minutes there, we felt for her and not of ourselves or each other. Maybe it had something to do with me being the only male in the room, which is often the case unless Dr. Chen or Dr. Chue is seeing a patient. I get the occassional, "How is the wedding planning going?" I usually quickly respond, "ohhh, I dunno, you'll have to ask Beth. She's the planner, I am the yes man!" It typically responds with some nodding and "yeap, he know's how to handle this." Sometimes I will elaborate more, but it depends on where the benadryl is in the blood system.
While waiting on the blood results to come back, Dr. Chen came in to see me. I told him the breathing and allergies were still a pain in the butt and pointed to some other aches and pains that have developed in the abdomen. I also told him about some severe abdominal cramps I dealt with the night before. They were pretty painful and I had to recline in the easy chair for a few hours until they went away. I told Dr. Chen I took a Claritin-D earlier in the day to help with the allergies at work. The Claritin-D did seem to open up my breathing and dry up my sinuses. However, Dr. Chen warned I should avoid it since it contains quite a bit of pseudoephedrin, he thought it may have contributed to the cramps. He gave me some Singulair samples to try. Finally, he said to double up the water pills each day and we will further evaluate the lung fluid next week. If that doesn't help, I am sure I will be in to have it drained surgically soon after. The rest of his exam went normal. My blood counts came back fine and so Jessica got me started on a chemo cocktail, minus the Belizan umbrella. I didn't sleep much this time so I spent the time watching the San Francisco Giants play the Atlanta Braves on ESPN Gamecast. I was pulling for Barry Bonds to hit one out only because I know I have more chemicals in my body than he does including a nice dose of steroids! And according to my insurance statements, this is some top dollar juice!
Beth and I spent some time this weekend getting the medical bills and insurance statements organized. It was quite an adventure and I will save it for a post later this week...
posted by Beth @ 4/10/2006 02:36:00 PM
1 Comments:
At 4/18/2006 10:12 AM,
Anonymous said…
I have not been following the blog regularly and the "getting married" line really stood out for me. Congratulations to you both! That is very exciting!
Scot Weeks
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