Chemo III Update and Last Radiation Treatment

Final Radiation Treatment!

Yesterday was my last radiation treatment. 35 out of 35 completed right on schedule. Yippee! After the treatment they gave me the mask to take home as a souvenir along with a certificate showing I completed treatment. I have to say again that everyone at the radiation facility were great to work with. Their positive attitudes and the overall environment of the place definitely helped me during the treatments. According to the radiation oncologist I will experience some of the incremental negative impact of the radiation for the next week or so. That is due to the lag time between treatment and the impact hitting me. After that I should start to feel better. I won't miss going in for the daily treatments but I will miss the people at the radiation medicine center.

I think I should start to see some improvement soon. I know that when I had 2 days off on the weekends Sundays were generally good days. Also I don't need to work the timing of the lotion for my neck or feedings around the radiation appointments. BTW on that note I can't imagine having to coordinate all of this if I had to drive up to some place that was an hour and a half away for treatments.

Chemo III Update: Not A Hurricane, More Like A Tropical Storm

Yesterday was a bit rough regarding the chemo. Nothing like the first time but I did have a persistent indigestion. Enough so that I scaled back the amount of food at each feedings and increased the number of feedings during the day. I think part of the indigestion comes from the support drugs that you get put on for the 3 days after chemo. I am finished with those now so hopefully today will be a better day. All I ended up doing yesterday was feedings and then manage my body position in between feedings. I think I mentioned that right after a feeding I feel best if I sit back at a reclined angle. That was definitely true for yesterday. Even standing upright let alone leaning over to wash hands or use a keyboard would cause problems. Fortunately I was able to keep everything down and was able to get in all the various drugs and such that were required. Just doing so became a full time occupation.

Whats Up Next

The next several days are clear of any appointments. I have to have some blood work done after Christmas and then meet with the medical oncologist to go over the next steps for the follow up chemo treatments. Based on what the radiation oncologist has said I have responded very well to the radiation treatments. I will be interested to get the medical oncologist opinion on how the treatments went and the what the rest of the game plan is when we meet next week.