Friday, February 1, 2008
Battle Plan Delayed By 3 Days Due to Weather
Sometimes the best laid plans get side tracked and that is what happened today. I woke up to help get our oldest son ready for the bus when about 10 minutes before the bus was to arrive Sue said to check for closings on the TV. I hadn't paid attention to the weather outside but apparently there was a pretty bad ice storm. Sure enough the schools were closed and they were recommending no unnecessary travel. With that in mind I rescheduled the next chemo until Monday. Time for the troops to stand down for the weekend, get some R & R and prepare for battle on Monday.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
The Second Phase Of Operation Overlord Commences Tomorrow
I met with the medical oncologist yesterday and while my progress recovering from the primary treatment phase is still going slow we decided to proceed with the next phase. At this point the primary side effects I am feeling are from the radiation treatment. This next round of chemo shouldn't make that any worse, it will just introduce a different set of side effects. (Fun, Fun!) My view on this is its better to get it all out of the way now rather than delay any longer.
The purpose of this phase of the treatment is to get any stray cancer cells that may be hiding that didn't get caught up in the initial round of treatment. From what I have been able to read this second phase of chemo helps reduce the chances of the cancer coming back. The first phase with the radiation treatment leading the air assault was targeted at the identifiable tumors. The chemo that went with the radiation helped make the radiation more effective and also helped get any stray cancer cells in the body. This next round is a reduced dosage of that first chemo drug, Cisplatin, combined with a second drug F5U. According to the medical oncologist the use of a combination of chemo drugs has been one of the more significant advances in chemo therapy in recent years. Apparently the two working together are more effective than doing them separately.
The Cisplatin will be delivered the same way it always has been. I will go to the hospital and they will deliver that via an IV. It takes about 6 hours or so because of the support drugs that go along with it. The 5FU is delivered in a bit different way. Rather than use a regular IV they will install a PIK line tomorrow. This is a semi permanent IV that runs through a vein up my arm and into my chest. This is to make sure it doesn't come out. After the delivery of the Cisplatin they will give me a special pump that is in a fanny pack. I will have to wear this continuously for 4 days as the pump slowly delivers the 5FU. This method is referred to as an infusion. (I have a few other names for it that I won't go into here. :-)). Apparently one of the reasons for this method of delivery is that it reduces the impact of the side effects of the 5FU as opposed to delivering it all at once.
I must admit with my needle phobia I am a bit apprehensive about getting a PIK line installed and wearing this pump for 4 days. I am told it is no problem but one thing I have learned as I go through this process is that the people telling you it is no problem most likely have never had to go through the procedure. Still for 4 days I can endure anything. After the 4 days I go back to the doctors office and they will remove the PIK line. All together I have three more chemo treatments including this.
There is one possible side effect from the 5FU that will cross over the the side effects from the radiation treatment. 5FU can cause mouth sores. Once again my view is that it is better to experience both sets of side effects simultaneously for a shorter period of time rather than drag this out.
Now that the treatment regime has started back up I will be doing more frequent posts to the blog and reactivating the hurricane measuring system for the chemo. Hopefully I don't hit anything more than a tropical storm. :-)
The purpose of this phase of the treatment is to get any stray cancer cells that may be hiding that didn't get caught up in the initial round of treatment. From what I have been able to read this second phase of chemo helps reduce the chances of the cancer coming back. The first phase with the radiation treatment leading the air assault was targeted at the identifiable tumors. The chemo that went with the radiation helped make the radiation more effective and also helped get any stray cancer cells in the body. This next round is a reduced dosage of that first chemo drug, Cisplatin, combined with a second drug F5U. According to the medical oncologist the use of a combination of chemo drugs has been one of the more significant advances in chemo therapy in recent years. Apparently the two working together are more effective than doing them separately.
The Cisplatin will be delivered the same way it always has been. I will go to the hospital and they will deliver that via an IV. It takes about 6 hours or so because of the support drugs that go along with it. The 5FU is delivered in a bit different way. Rather than use a regular IV they will install a PIK line tomorrow. This is a semi permanent IV that runs through a vein up my arm and into my chest. This is to make sure it doesn't come out. After the delivery of the Cisplatin they will give me a special pump that is in a fanny pack. I will have to wear this continuously for 4 days as the pump slowly delivers the 5FU. This method is referred to as an infusion. (I have a few other names for it that I won't go into here. :-)). Apparently one of the reasons for this method of delivery is that it reduces the impact of the side effects of the 5FU as opposed to delivering it all at once.
I must admit with my needle phobia I am a bit apprehensive about getting a PIK line installed and wearing this pump for 4 days. I am told it is no problem but one thing I have learned as I go through this process is that the people telling you it is no problem most likely have never had to go through the procedure. Still for 4 days I can endure anything. After the 4 days I go back to the doctors office and they will remove the PIK line. All together I have three more chemo treatments including this.
There is one possible side effect from the 5FU that will cross over the the side effects from the radiation treatment. 5FU can cause mouth sores. Once again my view is that it is better to experience both sets of side effects simultaneously for a shorter period of time rather than drag this out.
Now that the treatment regime has started back up I will be doing more frequent posts to the blog and reactivating the hurricane measuring system for the chemo. Hopefully I don't hit anything more than a tropical storm. :-)
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
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.
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.
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