I Sip Therefore I am...

Not a lot of changes in the last week. The most noticeable thing is that I have been testing out taking sips of water each of the last few days. I haven't been drinking regularly but testing out the waters so to speak, pun intended. :-) Basically just seeing if I can choke down some water through a straw. It has been a mixed set of results. I can do it about half the time but some times it has caused me to have things come right back out. What I can say is that my throat is slowly getting better.

One think I have learned is timing is everything. For example don't try right after having two cans of the liquid nutrition stuff and a cup of water. (I learned that one the hard way. :-)) While I am still taking everything through the PEG tube I can see the path to where I will be able to start drinking water on a regular basis and from there moving towards some food. I really can't wait for that. I have to admit that at this point using the PEG tube is getting to be a bit of a chore. The problem is that with the PEG tube there is a process just to getting started. I have to clean the syringe that attaches to it and the entrance with an alcohol wipe, then run some water through it, add an medicines that need to be taken (I grind up the pills) then pour in the food. When I take in 2 cans and the water at a time I then need to sit pretty still for about an hour to let it settle. I really miss the days when I could just graze on food and consume way more calories than I should. :-) Right now my schedule in some respects is dictated by the PEG tube. Fortunately I seem to be maintaining my weight the last few weeks. At this point I am down about 30 pounds and really don't want to drop any more.

What's Coming Up

Tomorrow I meet with the medical oncologist. At this point things have settled down and I am slowly getting better. My guess is that I will start the next round of chemo this Friday. This round is a bit different than the last. It starts with another course of the main chemo drug, Cisplatin, only 80% of the amount that I got last time. Then they hook a pump to me and give me another drug, 5FU, over a period of 4 days. A semi permanent IV line called a PIK line will be put in on Friday and then taken out 4 days later. The pump will be in a fanny pack of sorts and I will have to wear it continuously over the 4 days. Yep, this is where I become even more like the Borg. I do hope they green light this to start on Friday. The chemo treatment isn't going to affect my throat or cause and delay in it healing. There will be some side effects of course but they will be separate from the radiation. I would rather get this started and over with as soon as possible.