The CT on Monday was uneventful. It's so much easier to go to the Mission office where the tech Mark is on time, efficient and pleasant. I did get a massive bruise on my hand from the IV. The Mission offices have lab services and scans, and although parking can be a pain (walking more so) it's a good 20 minutes closer than the main hospital.
Tuesday I had a nice morning on the river (minus the drizzle that wasn’t in the forecast), and Wednesday I did a little field work nearby.
The usual anxiety about unseen test results hit on Thursday. It only took two calls to the nurse and one to my cancer advocate to pry the results of the CT out of them before Friday’s Dr appt. If the Dr said I couldn't have the results then I would have had to go to medical records, which I have done before.
Fever every day and still some nausea but other than shortness of breath I feel ok.
The CT showed no change, like the last several scans. The good news is the tumors didn't grow, the bad news is they didn't shrink either. So that's three strikes for my former Dr 7, three chemo regimes that had basically no effect. Onwards.
I really enjoyed meeting Dr 8(d), who had much the same plan as Dr 8(c). I like agreement. We are going forward with the next new plan. I learned it was Dr 8(d)s last day as a temporary oncologist at DHR, but only after my appointment. It's back to Dr. 8(c) next month. At some point they will get a permanent Doctor, but they haven't yet.
I am looking forward to recovering from chemo exhaustion, as much as I can; having my blood counts normalize, and getting away from injections/infustions/IVs and side effects. And going birding. Mostly going birding, with friends.
Friday, February 14, 2020
Thursday, February 13, 2020
Yick, Uck, ugh
Well, it's been an interesting if useless week (last week). I spent the week feeling exhausted, feverish, short of breath, and intermittently nauseous. I ended up taking anti nausea meds for the first time. They were prescribed back in April but I didn't need them until now. I should have started taking them sooner, dry (or productive) heaves leave my stomach sore with muscle aches, which can make sleep hard.
Blood tests this week show the white count and platelets OK (one too high as usual, one too low as usual). The hemoglobin is low as it was last cycle, but the Dr on call (Dr 8(d)) is not recommending transfusion. He would prefer an injection to support production of red blood cells, but not this cycle. So I am still tired, panting if I forget something in the kitchen and have to walk back and forth. I have always hated not being able to breath.
I've also felt mentally slushy, though that's gotten better as of yesterday. It is so hard to get traction to do anything, from picking up the phone to sending an email.
I'm not looking forward to this week, with a scan on Monday and results due on Friday with the same Dr 8(d). No warm fuzzies from the phone call from the Dr, but it is the very first time any doctor in the practice - temporary or permanent - has called me personally over tasking an admin or nurse to do it. So he gets brownie points for that.
I had hoped to go to Laredo for the Laredo Birding Festival but the nausea and fever kept me home. It was fun seeing the bird lists come in but not the same as being there.
Blood tests this week show the white count and platelets OK (one too high as usual, one too low as usual). The hemoglobin is low as it was last cycle, but the Dr on call (Dr 8(d)) is not recommending transfusion. He would prefer an injection to support production of red blood cells, but not this cycle. So I am still tired, panting if I forget something in the kitchen and have to walk back and forth. I have always hated not being able to breath.
I've also felt mentally slushy, though that's gotten better as of yesterday. It is so hard to get traction to do anything, from picking up the phone to sending an email.
I'm not looking forward to this week, with a scan on Monday and results due on Friday with the same Dr 8(d). No warm fuzzies from the phone call from the Dr, but it is the very first time any doctor in the practice - temporary or permanent - has called me personally over tasking an admin or nurse to do it. So he gets brownie points for that.
I had hoped to go to Laredo for the Laredo Birding Festival but the nausea and fever kept me home. It was fun seeing the bird lists come in but not the same as being there.
Saturday, February 1, 2020
Drug 3, Round 4... Done!
Well, it was an interesting week. I had chemo on M/W/F after meeting with the Dr (8c) last week.
On Monday, the infusion center shifted to using the pharmacy at the main hospital while the one across the street is being expanded. This resulted in a longer delay for meds for all the patients. My appointment was for morning so I would have time to have a blood draw if needed. It wasn't needed, but I kept the earlier time so I could get out earlier (ha!).
After 2 hours my chemo showed up, but the premeds hadn't. There's a storage cabinet in every suite, so the chemo drug went into the cabinet on hold until the premed showed up. I need the premed to keep from reacting to the chemo. The nurse started the premed as soon as it showed up, and switched to saline to flush when it cleared the IV. Then comes the excitement.
A big batch of drugs were brought from the pharmacy and the nurse came in with "my chemo" and hooked it up to the IV, using a different port on the multi-port line. I was tired, but looked at it and said it wasn't right, it was much too large. My regular chemo is 53 mls, this was a larger bag and FAT with liquid unlike mine. The nurse went and read the name on the bag. It wasn't me. Good thing the drug hadn't started dripping yet. She pulled my chemo out of the cabinet and got that started but oh my, it was so close to my getting the wrong (unknown) chemo. Yikes.
Too much excitement.
In contrast Wednesday and Friday were routine, which is a good thing. The pharmacy was quicker, they trust I'm coming in and order the drugs early. Same nurse, sharp on getting things hung up quickly and run promptly. I was only there an hour and a half total on Friday, where Monday took over 4 hours.
Little side effects so far but not really expected.
On Monday, the infusion center shifted to using the pharmacy at the main hospital while the one across the street is being expanded. This resulted in a longer delay for meds for all the patients. My appointment was for morning so I would have time to have a blood draw if needed. It wasn't needed, but I kept the earlier time so I could get out earlier (ha!).
After 2 hours my chemo showed up, but the premeds hadn't. There's a storage cabinet in every suite, so the chemo drug went into the cabinet on hold until the premed showed up. I need the premed to keep from reacting to the chemo. The nurse started the premed as soon as it showed up, and switched to saline to flush when it cleared the IV. Then comes the excitement.
A big batch of drugs were brought from the pharmacy and the nurse came in with "my chemo" and hooked it up to the IV, using a different port on the multi-port line. I was tired, but looked at it and said it wasn't right, it was much too large. My regular chemo is 53 mls, this was a larger bag and FAT with liquid unlike mine. The nurse went and read the name on the bag. It wasn't me. Good thing the drug hadn't started dripping yet. She pulled my chemo out of the cabinet and got that started but oh my, it was so close to my getting the wrong (unknown) chemo. Yikes.
Too much excitement.
In contrast Wednesday and Friday were routine, which is a good thing. The pharmacy was quicker, they trust I'm coming in and order the drugs early. Same nurse, sharp on getting things hung up quickly and run promptly. I was only there an hour and a half total on Friday, where Monday took over 4 hours.
Little side effects so far but not really expected.
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