The Final Assault Is Over!

The visiting nurse came down today and removed the PIC line. This signifies the end of the assault! Yippee! Unfortunately I can't celebrate with champagne but I can add that to my recovery food list. (Feel free to have a glass for me if you want to. :-)) Just to recap I have had 35 radiation treatments and 6 chemo treatments divided into two sections. All in there were a few delays in the chemo due to the side effects but nothing that significant. The assault on the cancer is over and now its time for recovery. Yippee!

I waited to report on this weeks chemo because it always seems that right after I report nothing major is going on something crops up. This week was probably the best of the first weeks for the final three chemo treatments. (For those that may not be aware the first 3 chemo treatments were getting a single large dose of Cisplatin in a day every three weeks running in parallel with the radiation treatment. The last three treatments were a lower dose of Cisplatin on one day followed up with a 5FU infusion that was administered by an IV pump at home over the course of 4 days. That is the treatment that just ended.) Fatigue increased throughout the week and the mouth sores started to appear at the end of the week. (I think I could set my watch by the way those things show up on time. :-))

I am anticipating that the same trend as the previous two at home treatments will continue with this one where things get a bit worse for the next 4-5 days or so and then I start to come back out of it. Already my voice, just today, has gone from being able to say a sentence or two to not talking at all. Fortunately having been through this twice already I have some idea what to expect and based on last time have the proper medication levels set to help offset the side effects.

The difference this time around is that once I do bottom out its all recovery from that point going forward. It has been odd I think for people to see the whiplash speed that things change. As I get farther away from a chemo treatment I start to improve, can talk a bit and the energy level starts to get better. Then once the chemo starts its like going back to the beginning. One day I could talk the next one I can't. As I said a sentence or two ago the nice thing this time around is that once I start on the recovery part there aren't any more treatments to set me back. I should be getting better day by day. As for how long that is going to take is any ones guess. It could be two months and I am eating again or it could be 6 or longer. There really isn't any way to tell. One thing I have noticed is that the week before chemo treatments, the third week after a treatment ended, the recovery seemed to pick up the pace a bit. Of course then another chemo treatment was administered and that put me back to the beginning. It will be interesting to see where I am at 4 weeks from now.