A Sunny Day

It was a cold but pleasant day, once I got up. 

The snow is starting to melt into ice as the temperature rises and this afternoon we went out to clean off Mary's Car so she can drive out and run errands during the remainder of the week. It was a little bit of effort and exertion which was wonderful.  I wore my new LL Bean wool pullover hat which kept my bald head very nice and warm.

We ran the car out into the road so we would have tire tracks to come back to whenever we decide to go out over the next few days.

I'm feeling pretty good, my blood sugars are a little raised and it looks like I have to get back to the old diet, but it's a bit difficult when I can't get outside and exercise.  But I'll be able to do that in the spring; which is something I look forward to.

I wore my orange "39" baseball cap today

I spent five hours working today, and had a pretty good time at it. But the simple fact of the matter is I get tired even though I sleep late.

It was a good day.

The physical symptoms are improving with constipation having a day of relief; and my digestion working a bit better than yesterday.  I feel almost normal.

But at the end of the day I had a pretty bad headache so I had to stop working and rest; whereupon my headache went away.

Life goes on...

It was overall a quiet day which I spent trying to get my new project done which is due on Friday. I think I'm over the really bad stuff from this infusion (hoping I don't jinx it here). Now I'm into kind of a slow constipation and getting tired early; which when you think about it is a great improvement on last week.

So life goes on and I begin to forget about how bad it feels to have poison poured into you. About two more weeks and I'll have another dose which will surprise me with it's sickening feelings; as I take prednisone after prednisone, have my blood sugars go crazy and get strange and unusual cravings for different kinds of food.

My hair has for the most part left me and I feel fortunate that I did the buzz cut about a week ago; it prevented quite a mess.

It was a nice day today and got up to the mid 60's. I took a walk and noticed that the wind whipped under the hat and chilled the parts of my head that used to be protected by hair.

My hair will eventually grow back.

I'll just take more pills....

I felt pretty good today. I overate, but I didn't overeat the bad stuff so my blood sugars were only slightly elevated.

I almost feel as if the food got to first base (read: stomach) and stopped; almost as though there were a plug there and it couldn't go any further.

Quite a change from "hurry right through".

I took some fiber capsules and magnesium oxide tablets to keep the flow going but right now it is not working. This will last a few days and the plug will give way to relief (that's what happened before).

I put in nine hours at work (from my desk) and generally felt pretty good.

I wonder if I'll always be obsessed with my digestive process.

Post Script:

Mary just finished reading this and she says "Yes!".

A day without diarrhea is like a day without...

Thank God for small favors.

On the other had I don't feel well: too warm, too cold; sweats and chills. Not terribly nauseated.

I am tired of seeing Jean-Luc in the mirror instead of me. Maybe a wig? No, I wouldn't want to sink that low. I'll stick to a hat.

I find my orange baseball cap from Berkeley very comfortable for inside work although whenever I look in the mirror I wonder what the "39" above the bill stands for. It keeps my head warm.

The diarrhea has stopped, but the constipation has begun and I wonder if I should start eating large numbers of magnesium oxide pills. To go, or not to go, that is the question?

I did not test my blood sugars today, assuming them to be close enough to normal.

Relief at Last

Today was the first good day: no nausea in the morning; although I did have the single bout of diarrhea; a beautiful day outside and we were able to open the windows. I put in almost a full day of work and had some success in my projects.

My blood sugars were much lower today: 114 early in the AM and after breakfast 115. Around noon I had some onions and raw tomato with cottage cheese and a slice of whole wheat toast and my blood sugars only went up to 170.

I noticed that I had lost more hair and my beard was thinning.

I took the garbage and recycle out to the curb and brought in the mail, and as I walked back to the garage I felt like a weight and darkness had been lifted from me. Since it had been with me for so long, it was a noticeable change. I hope it sticks around.

I would suppose the sunny and warm day might have had something to do with the pleasant feeling.

Wasting Away Again in Diarrheaville

I had a blood sugar of 124 this morning; and after breakfast had a session to purge my insides of all good things.

Thank goodness I haven't vomited yet.

I wonder if the food gets digested before it is dumped?

I looked in the mirror hatless and found Jean-Luc Picard looking back at me. Strange.

I took my last prednisone this morning and will see how much it makes my blood sugar go up. I had two 500 mg tablets during breakfast, and my blood sugar has been stable so far. Of course that was several hours ago. I have since eaten again. I find it interesting that in order to keep my stomach from feeling too bad, I have to eat.

And while I'm going through this misery and looking in the mirror at Jean-Luc Picard more than me (he was bald, remember) I am having moments where I think of the beach and how much fun it will be to go there this coming summer.

Maybe I can convince my doctor to up my metformin prescription so I can eat like a pig when I'm there.

Early this afternoon I had a spike in blood sugar to 348 and it lasted an hour before it came down to 328 after I ate enough to take some metformin.

I had formerly kept my diabetes under control by eating fats and proteins and occasionally other things but not that often; and taking one 500 mg tablet of metformin in the evening. Prednisone threw that all out the window and I am now trying to control my blood sugars by taking 3-4 metformin a day and it is not working very well.

I will be calling my doctor and talking to him about my prescription tomorrow.

The Third Day is perhaps Charmless

There is nothing quite so engendering of contemplation as a good bout of nausea.

When I had some yogurt for breakfast I noticed that it seemed flavorless; or maybe it would be better to say not really flavorful. Creamy, white and smooth but missing taste.

I ate it anyway seeing as I was going to the store with Mary.

My blood sugar this morning was 138 and after coming back from the store, taking some prednisone and waiting around a while was 158.

Prednisone can make the blood sugar go up without food - simply amazing stuff.

So for most of the day I have had nausea a bit of the previously mentioned Excessive Defecation Syndrome (for the innocent, I made that up) and cramps.

Naturally I didn't eat much which had something to do with my blood sugar being so reasonable for so long.

But I did eventually have some chicken broth and vegetable broth which may have had some carbohydrates in it because the next time I tested my blood sugar it was 251.

Ah yes, I had some turkey in there and I would suspect that is what raised my blood sugar.

Stuff that would normally not bump my blood sugars at all raises them a lot.   This is the curse of prednisone.

It is a good thing that tomorrow is my last day on that drug.  My blood sugars will hopefully normalize.

Ditto!

I'm certain that my colon emptied itself yesterday and the only reason I'm not suffering from Excessive Defecation Syndrome today is that the food I ate since has not worked its way to the end of my small intestine.

I continue to be nauseated although I took anti-nausea pills.

My memory about which pill to take when is a bit of a problem, and yes I have a daily pill pop plastic container with the days of the week in big bold single letter abbreviations on each little box.

I'm on prednisone, please don't expect me not to be confused; or disoriented.

I've made worse mistakes, I noticed today that for over a week I have been drinking French Roast Decaf instead of Dark Sumatra. Well they're both dark roasts and I filled up my coffee container with the one when I meant to fill it up with the other.

Please consider the seriousness of this mistake, occasionally missing a dose of my medicine or getting too much pales in comparison.

With the possible exception of the prednisone.

I am beginning to recover a bit, although I'm also a little bleary eyed and cold. Not from the lack of caffeine, but from the chemotherapy infusion a couple of days ago.

Whoops, I jinxed it. I said I was getting better about an hour ago and now the cramps have come back.

I am not eating for multiple tumors today, I had a light two egg breakfast and snacks of yogurt, yogurt and wild berry preserves, yogurt and multibran cereal with wild berry preserves.

And just now chicken broth with low-carbohydrate pasta cooked in it. And a more than sensible guacamole, provolone, onion tomato sandwich.

I am being so circumspect in my diet today it hurts.

And I haven't seen my blood sugar spike to 300 either, only a reasonable 200 something.


But I am not feeling well, so I will close this up early and do something other than write.

Yuck and Double Yuck!

Even with the prednisone, I managed a pretty good night of sleep.

This is very different than how I felt and what I had to tolerate after the first infusion. Sleeping in a chair because I hadn't been able to breathe laying down because of all the back of the throat swelling since the biopsy. The prednisone keeping me awake until almost five in the morning.

At that time when I did sleep night sweats were leaving me soaked every morning.

A good night's sleep and waking up dry in the morning is a very pleasant surprise. Although Mary said she pulled some of the covers off me when she felt that I was hot in the night. It was still pleasant.

But I also awoke this morning with the runs. Yes, pleasant subject, and cramps and pain like I had the flu. No nausea though presumably because I took my anti-nausea drug.

I'm also just feeling generally crappy.

After the runs passed, at least for a while, I was blessed with a ravenous appetite which I indulged. I made a lovely three egg omelet into which I put a combination of green olive tapenade and four day old guacamole.

This was after a breakfast of assorted Spanish olives.

I decided to have some whole wheat bread (with cream cheese), and then I had some more bread with cream cheese.

I did take the precaution of taking double my metformin dosage with that excessive amount of food but my blood sugars are still up to 301.

The prednisone doesn't help.

Several hours later the blood sugars came down to a more reasonable level - 160 something and I ate some vanilla ice cream (full fat) and peanut butter.

My appetite has taken some strange turns in the last month or so. I stopped dieting when I found out that I had cancer - it started with dumping the can of tuna and olive oil and demanding a lunch of Jason's Deli Russian Rubin.

I started writing this early in the day so I wouldn't miss the joie de vivre of the stomach cramps and rather devolved into the joie de vivre of eating lots of food. I'm not real clear on where it goes from here.

But it sounds like a good place to call it quits. I have sleeping pills and I will use them tonight.

Infused with Pleasure

It has been a long day and I am tired. 

Again no reaction to the infusions - even the spinal canal infusion with whatever that drug is.  It begins with the letter S or C not F.  Shucks, I can't spell.  Can't remember either.

The port worked very well, although it bled after they pulled out the needle.  I could use both hands so I didn't feel so confined even though the line ran from the infusion devices and bags to my chest.

It works for me!

A little scary that chemo goes so quickly to the heart, but it would get there after damaging a vein otherwise so I guess it's a good thing.

Once again the prednisone sent my blood sugars up but they are on average 100 points higher than they would be otherwise.  I hope the extra metformin I took will bring it down to a reasonable value.

I had about an hour after I got home that I was able to work and get that project done that I thought I could never do.

I am simply amazed at how my mind woke up a couple of weeks after the first chemo when I started to recuperate from the pain and pressure from the various tumors in my neck, spleen, liver and God knows where else.

Two out of four final spinal infusions done (they took less out than they put in this time).

Two out of six or eight R-CHOP infusions done.

I will try to enjoy the days I can in between the infusions but it is such a relief to have the problem being dealt with and the infusions are effective since my really bad headaches and stiff neck have gone away.

I wish to sleep, but being on prednisone I don't know if I can (but I do have sleeping pills).

Good Night

Function Over Vanity

My hair was simply falling out and thinking that I would plug the drain I just took the clippers to it and did the proverbial buzz cut. 

It doesn't look great and a professional would have done much better.  Come to think of it it wasn't great the way it was anyhow.

I think I'll cover it up with a hat.

My infusion is tomorrow and I'm trying to figure out which hat to wear.  I have an orange baseball cap with the number 39 in brown numerals on the front that I picked up in Berkeley; I have an Alienware  hat with a big silver alien on it that Mary got with her PC, and I could use that or if it's cold enough I could go with my ancient tweed from the 80's.  

I was never the height of fashion and I just want to cover my head so what am I to do?

All in Anticipation

As I nurse my wounds (asking myself if I should take that little pill or a small shot glass of whiskey) or contemplate the sadomasochistic pleasures I take in my headache, I ask myself again which way to the lumbar puncture (in the basement) and which way to the next R-CHOP infusion (3rd floor).

All in a days dosage.

I never did catch the name of the drug they're going to inject into me via lumbar puncture (which I am tempted to abbreviate LP, but why should I put my readers through that confusion) except that it begins with the letter F.   I can think of any number of letters to add to it, but I wouldn't have the name of the drug.

I believe that the R-CHOP will stay the same, but for the fact that it will take (or is it supposition) 4 hours instead of 7 and a half.

I will only get stuck in my little port thing-a-ma-jig not in a vein, so one small bit of sunk costs pays dividends.

But I shall have to deal with feeling totally crappy for the next several days, but that's a small price to pay for having my life given back to me.

A Port for any Storm

Ports are a great idea.  Avoid all those sticks which we all hate and lessen the pain.

I had one put in just the other day: it's under the skin and I can feel where it is (mine is double barreled ) and up close to my neck I can feel the catheter that runs up from the port also just under the skin until it goes inside into a vein that goes down to my heart.

It still causes some pain in late evening.

When I think about it I start to ask myself how I was ever convinced that this was a good thing?

I had to get poked twice to get this and when I add up the pokes on the one side and the fact that this thing had to be surgically implanted in me I wonder if I made the right choice.

All the medical staff say it's such a good thing and I'm thinking, but was it for me?

Decide in haste, repent at leisure.  And I am definitely at leisure now.

Hair and Other Inconveniences

I still have a considerable amount of hair on my head, considering that a lot came out in my comb last night.  The question is how do I efficaciously remove the rest so that it does not become a problem.  Like that hair I noticed on my plate at lunch.

I have considered taking a clippers to my hair (yes, that's how I trim my beard) and perhaps shaving the rest. But that sounds complex, and I'm not sure I'd like the result.  I haven't quite gotten to the point where I would consider shaving my head.

Although I may get there soon.

Several days ago, since it was haircut time again, Mary made an appointment with our hair guy and I will get a haircut on Monday.  I'm going to see if I can just get it clipped down to the nub. 

Kind of like basic training.

At least if it falls out then I won't notice it after it lands on my plate.

It hath returned! From the Crypt it hath Come Forth!

My little friends are back, I can feel them.  Creeping around in my neck and other places, pressing up against muscles and nerves. I had thought I had put them to rest because I felt so relieved after my first infusion.

But they are here, rather seductive, if they weren't mindless little shits causing me pain I would feel far more affectionately towards them.


I'm actually looking forward to another set of infusions so that my little shits will once again be vanquished.  It is less than a week away and I'm in much less pain than I was before my first infusion, so I'm hopeful that this next one will get rid of even more my lymphoma.

Otherwise I'm feeling pretty good; work is working out and I can take my bandages off and shower and change them tonight.

All is right with the world.  I have enough pain med to cover the odd horror.

Sweet Dreams....

The Great Unwashed

I wouldn't anticipate things growing in various crevices where I wasn't able to do the kind of due diligence that I normally do, but I don't own a microscope and probably wouldn't look anyway.

I am unwashed because the bandage must stay dry.   I do wonder if a layer of skin will come off with it when I pull it off in another day or so.

I managed to clean myself to some extent, but there are limits when you can't get yourself bodily into the shower.  And don't want to dirty something that will need to be washed later.

Otherwise I've had a bit of a headache for the last couple of days and I took some of the serious pain med last night to deal with the post-surgical pain small though it was.

A little tired today, and joyfully anticipating next Wednesday when I get the full R-CHOP and spinal infusion.  Kill that cancer.

The whole point of the port is to reduce the damage to peripheral veins from the chemotherapy and multiple needle sticks from blood draws; but although I feel grateful that my life has been saved by this anti-cancer medical technology that does not change the fact that I am left with a series of unpleasant and bad choices.

Rather in the way a sadist might ask you: where you would like the pain?  How much pain here vs pain there; and risk here vs risk there?  You can almost see the cold surgical instruments at the ready.

In the ultimate pursuit of the preservation of my life I lay myself open to one thing or another that will cause me fear, trepidation and pain.  Ultimately the cancer would have given me that anyway, so I guess I have been proactive.  It is fear, trepidation and pain that I facilitated.  Whoopee!

And I don't Bathe for HOW MANY DAYS?

Sample port products were shown to me while I was appropriately undressed waiting to get taken in and worked on.

I was struck by the length and circumference of the dangling line that would drop from up close to my neck down a good sized vein directly into my heart so that full strength infusion could be distributed throughout my body.

This scheme prevents the kind of damage to my veins that chemotherapeutic chemicals can cause.

I only paused for a moment to think: and now they're going right into my heart next to my sensitive little valves?


As the procedure started I was given a double port because I have lymphoma. There must be a reason for that but like many truths: questions may lead to conclusions that I'd rather not hear.

It had been a long day already what with seeing my oncologist and working through some paperwork issues with his "nurse navigator". It seems that I will be merely quasi functional for a definitely longer period of time than I had anticipated.

By a couple of months.

Naturally I had wanted to revel in workaholic passion in a mere several or so months, but I shall have to rest and retire from the day to the diverse entertainments available to the hapless couch potato.

It seems that the R-CHOP chemotherapy regimen has a deeper cumulative effect with each cycle that wears on a person. I suppose that means that my hair will fall out even though it made it through the first cycle intact.

My next lumber puncture and infusion has been scheduled for next week Wednesday. My next R-CHOP infusion (via port) has been rescheduled for the same day.

On a lighter note I will enjoy the next couple of days unbathed since I have a bandage that cannot get wet. I get to change it Friday and a couple of times more.

A' La Porte Placement?

My hair is starting to feel a bit more normal after I take a shower.

I managed to actually get a few things done on my project today and I am beginning to feel that I am on the mend.

My tumors may be on the mend too, I think the lump at the corner of my jaw is feeling it's oats and plumping up a bit.

After the success of the first infusion I am beginning to see the necessity of multiple infusions. Which reminds me we have to schedule the second infusion into the spinal column. I imagine two weeks from tomorrow.

Tomorrow the port will be put in and I wonder if I underestimated what it will be the same way I underestimated the biopsy. Somehow I had minimized the biopsy in my mind and was a bit shocked when it involved being put under and having what seemed to me major surgery done to the back of my throat. I didn't need that tonsil anyway.

I know it can't be major if it's the back of my throat but my need for grandiosity pushes me to make the most of that most horrible of sensations: Waking from surgery and finding that I'm not quite all there.

I still miss my tonsil.

Well, right I don't need it. Would you feel the same way about yours?

There is something to be said for being intact.

But tomorrow is the port placement and I will be amended with plastic or whatever.

I know it's a useful thing to have and simplifies the infusions and blood draws. I will enjoy it immensely. I will take pleasure in my port. It will be a part of me, metaphorically speaking.

I will cherish it like my tonsil.

Woik Makes Me Happy

I'm supposed to be into "low red cell count" territory but I spent the day working anyway.

I was energetic and alert this morning and that started to deteriorate into a tiredness around 11:30; a couple of hours later I was more tired.

Now I am truly exhausted.

Note the lack of humor. The thoughtlessness. The cheerless sense of the necessity of slogging through the work even though I should simply sleep. Maybe I'm sleeping now and this blog has become my nightmare. Maybe I don't love my blog, I secretly despise it!

Yes I'm doing well.

The hospital where I will have the port installed in a couple of days called today and gave me directions for what not to do the night before and that morning.

Ouch! They're going to put me under for this little procedure.

The port is probably bigger than I thought it was. It was talked about so casually, I think I simply was put to sleep by the boredom of it. Easily done these days.

It's too late for cold feet now. But I avoid all those pokes into my arm with this. Well, most of them. Is it worth it?

This is the week when both red cell and white cell counts are low. Immune system, where did you go? I need you now. I feel trashy.

Speaking of which I do have to take the trash and the recycle out so I will abruptly terminate this stream of consciousness with a grunt!

Ugh!

Another Day, Another Onion...

Mary and I ventured out into the world today to get the remainder of my anti-nausea drugs and some for diabetes.

She tells me I should wear a mask on Wednesday when I go to see my oncologist and get my port put in. I will feel silly, but I suppose a cold would really throw things off schedule.

Speaking of a cold, when I paid the co-pays on the drugs the young lady behind the counter had watery eyes and was sneezing. She said she had allergies.

To mask or not to mask, that is the question.

I'll obsess more about this later.

Just before we went out I felt what's left of my immune system click on. Kind of like you feel when you feel a cold coming on. Sinuses get funky, throat and chest feel that light tingly feeling. Phlegm, about to take hold.

What you've never felt any of those things?

It's been a pretty good day, not much nausea except for feeling that I should come down with something although nothing has shown up.

I had a conversation today that reminded me how good I feel now compared to how I felt a little over a week ago. I complain about the nausea, but even that isn't bad compared to what I felt then.

Thankfully I was utterly oblivious to how bad I felt. But I'm not oblivious to how good I feel now.

Guten Abent meinen Freund und Freundin...

And welcome to the extent of my German.

Next week a port will be put in somewhere on my chest so that needle sticks can be minimized. They might want to check my red and white cell count too as they should be dipping over the next several days; if I did my math right.

Then the following week it's infusion number two.

I've had the usual upset stomach, but it isn't as bad as it usually is probably because I ignored my tummy's usual complaints about not having enough.

Of course it helped that the video on my PC was not broken and I could pleasure myself in not too old episodes of Dollhouse. Everything else, except that fancy wireless mouse that I bought from the company that sold me the computer seems to work OK.

So I will take some pleasant anti-nausea medication and go to sleep. At least until the next round of R-CHOP.

Once upon a time I thought about the tawdry ....

Yes, well it is Friday night after all, isn't it. And I am having more frustration trying to watch videos on my PC than with my tawdry little lymphoma. I'm actually doing pretty well although I am having a bit of a rough patch trying to get in the groove to get back to work.

It seems I've forgotten all about my project.

I have to ask if this is a side-effect of the chemo, or do I just want to forget my work?

The nausea and upset stomach has shifted from morning to evening. I get hungry, make dinner and then get an upset stomach. My stomach then tells me to give it a little of this or that and it promises that it will feel better, but it just gets sour, full and joyless.

Well, what can you do?

I am beginning to think of Windows 7 as a bowl full of barf. I can't watch my videos, or watch on the web or download Netflix or talk to people with Skype.

I am very unhappy, but feeling reasonably well.

Nothing much tonight...

I was quasi-functional today. Actually got some work done but had to rest and go out and get more anti-nausea drugs which weren't ready. I had a lot of feeling tired and when I washed my hair it still feels dirty afterward. I should be going into anemia sometime this weekend or soon after. And low white cell count.

My blood sugar was at 321 this afternoon - a result of an overeager eye at breakfast no doubt. A walk brought it down to 214 and soon after to 134 which is sort of tolerable.

My stomach has been upset since dinner although much of the edge came off with the (generic) Zofran. It's like my stomach is saying it needs something to right itself but whatever I eat doesn't do the trick. If I wait and get hungry again I'll try a little yogurt.

That walk, by the way is the first one I've had in weeks and it is cold here (well 32 degrees). Otherwise parts of me feel very good, but I think I really have to be careful what I eat.

The R-CHOP is potenitally damaging to the heart, and feeling way too full can't be good for that.

PS: Yogurt worked.

I hate to be so serious but I have good news!

We visited my oncologist today and he gave us the good news that there were no bits of metastatic cancer found in the sample of spinal fluid taken or in the bone marrow.

Of course that doesn't mean that I won't be treated to three more lumbar punctures and accompanying injections of methotrexate. The bone marrow can take care of itself.

The schedule is to do the tests (PET/CT scan) after the third cycle of chemotherapy and if I am cancer free at that point, continue until all six cycles are complete. The lumbar punctures and methotrexate infusions would take place while this is going on.

Naturally, I forgot to ask the really important question that was on my mind. When is my hair going to fall out?

Tomorrow it will be one week since I had my chemotherapy, bags of drugs that forced me to eat an enormous hamburger that night, and consume massive amounts of food over the ensuing half dozen days.

It turns out I lost about five pounds. This was something of a shock to me, I had been anticipating gaining about five pounds.

My blood pressure had dropped too, and I feel healthier.

Did I lose five pounds of tumor?

Let's consider some of the other side effects from this infusion of chemotherapy: my foot fungi died.

Does that make this treatment a weight loss, anti-fungal?

It seems to have done a pretty good job on the tumors too, but I might have considered doing it just to get rid of the foot fungus.

My appetite abates and I am plugged up!

I must have taken an insufficiency of little magnesium oxide pills. First there was the blood sugar and appetite of the evil prednisone, and now I'm not hungry.  I am also incapable of leaving appropriately sized  deposits in the local commode.   A sad state of affairs.

The prednisone has left me feeling that I've gained five pounds.  Today was my first day without.  I loved the food and it tasted better than food has tasted in years, but I feel depleted. And my waist feels bigger.

I've managed to work the last couple of days at home but it is difficult to focus.   The mind says work, and things are done in the wrong order.

Since I did not have any prednisone today (my five days are done) I should be able to sleep tonight.

When will the bottom fall out?

Here I am feeling relatively good wondering when the bottom will fall out. I've taken my last dose of the EVIL prednisone and prepare for the days to follow.  I have two anti-nausea drugs and I'm down to three pills of the good one.  Boo Hoo!

Otherwise good things are happening.  Stomach doesn't feel too bad except that I will be the one patient to gain weight on chemo. I have developed a taste for peanut butter and ice cream; and discovered that the right kind of hummus could do wonders for some cottage cheese and olive oil.  I've rediscovered bread; and wonderful high fiber crackers and Philadelphia Cream Cheese. And many more things diabetics only dream about.

It may sound strange, but it goes down and stays down!

Another Day Under the Influence

I think I am on day 3 with the Chemo itself as day one.

I'm not feeling half bad.  I haven't had a lot of sleep so far (about two hours a night), but the nausea is largely under control although I seem to have the sniffles a lot.

The swelling under my jaw is going down and I have not had to take much in the way of pain medicine at all; and then hardly in desperation as before.

My hair is still on my head, although I am toying with the idea of having Mary take the clippers to it so when it does fall off it won't plug the shower. I thought it might be a good idea to have it professionally trimmed, but if it's coming off by it's own to complete baldness why bother.

Do I just wake up one morning with my hair scattered around me where I slept, like all the cat hair scattered around the house?

This mystery will be answered in due time.

PS:

When Mary went over the path report from the PET and CT scans, she noticed that some really significant areas had no cancer: heart, lungs, colon.

Since I've had chemo, and through the sleepless nights one song has been going through my head: Bad Romance by Lady GaGa.

The day after the day before subdued by the drugs

I think I fell asleep sometime after 4:42 this morning.  I walked into the kitchen and noticed that Mary was feeding the cats and looked at the clock.

Evil prednisone.  I woke up a little after 8:00 and heard the shower upstairs.  Eventually we went out and got the drugs.  I don't remember all of what they were but two were anti nausea (one for drowsy, one for non-drowsy) and these are wonderful.

One of the drugs is normally used for gout but in my case, the little tumors may die and spill their guts out into the blood stream and add large quantities of things usually kept in low quantity.  


I've actually been sleeping in the big stuffed leather chair because I have a hard time breathing though my nose when I lie down due to swelling in and about my sinuses since the biopsy.  But if I fall asleep in the chair it doesn't bother me.

This problem is improving a bit.

I've been nauseated off and on and have woven my diet in such a way that it seems to alleviate it.  Mostly bland stuff - cottage cheese is good.  I made a mistake when I had the hummus with garlic.

My neck is definitely feeling better. I took one Tylenol today and that was enough until now. The usual strained muscles are just fine.

The prednisone is a bit of a problem and I have been taking a bit more of the metformin but that doesn't get them (blood sugars) quite down to normal.

I have 4 more days of prednisone, but since I take it in the morning I should be able to sleep. Well, sure maybe.

I look forward to sleep.