Certainly Certified

Look Out! Radioactive Man!

The past month has held both the good and the bad, but as we all know...you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life.

The last chemo just plain sucked. The only saving grace was that it was my LAST one. I managed to upchuck three times during it, which is the first time I had that problem during treatment. Anyway, I'm glad the hard part is over early. Another four chemo treatments might have really affected my football watching this fall.

The second phase of my treatment began on July 25th when I had my first radiation blast. I receive radiation on a daily basis Monday-Friday at 8:15am for a total of 17 sessions. That wraps me up on August 16th. After that I'll have one more minor procedure to take out the mediport in my chest and then I won't see doctors again until mid-November when I get a PET scan. I'll continue to get PET scans about every six months for the next five years. Assuming I'm clean at that point, I won't have to do any more follow-ups.

Getting the radiation is a breeze compared to chemo. I'm not even at the CTRC long enough to have to pay for parking and the only suffering I've been through was when I forced to listen to Michael McDonald anger my blood with Ain't No Mountain High Enough while I was helplessly strapped down to the table. It's very similar to getting an x-ray and is painless. I lay down on a table, two people lock a hard mask down on my head, they align me with the machine, they leave the room, the machine buzzes, rotates, buzzes again, the people come back in, they unmask me and then I get up and leave.

The only downer has been some slightly irritating side effects regarding my throat. After treatment #8 it became painful to eat due to the inner lining of my esophagus eroding. Since then I have switched to a lot of soups and mushy-esque foods. It's not too bad though since it's helping me drop some pounds. Also, the radiation makes me tired. I haven't gone to sleep at 9:00pm on such a regular basis since I got grounded two years ago for ruining my own Halloween party.

One last note. After the last two chemo treatments it was very difficult to see, smell or taste anything that reminded me of the CTRC and getting treatment. Even things on the car ride set me off. This blog fell smack into that category as well which is why I haven't updated in so long. Just looking or thinking about it put me in a place I did not want to be. Thankfully most of that has gone away and the road to recovery is much shorter now.

Getting Better

The PET scan I took on Monday came back completely clear which means most of the cancer is gone. To make sure it gets the "Finish Him!" treatment I have two more chemo sessions (one after today) and then I will switch to 4-6 weeks of radiation. It should be much easier than chemo and will consist of getting a "laser" shot at my neck 5 times a week for 10-15 minutes. Throat swelling will be the side effect, but that's a trade-off I'm more than willing to make.

The Summer of John

The Good: I'm halfway through.

The Bad: The aftermath from #6 has been rougher than most.

The Ugly: I've spent so much time on the couch there's a Homer-esque indentation that spans the length.

Seriously, I feel like George after the Yankees blew him out when all he did for the summer was sit in his recliner, eat, watch TV and repeat. I even noticed some lack of leg strength today when I arose to make the mighty hike from the couch to the kitchen for yet another H2O infusion. The hair follicle count is beginning to match up too, but I can't complain about that because it has held out way longer than expected. Needless to say I haven't been spending much time on my feet the past week and I'm pretty sure "Christine" means "Bringer of Whatever John Asks for" in some type of Indian (feathers not dots) dialect.

Tuesday night finds me having sat upright most of the day and able to walk up a whole 10 stairs without having my heart pounding for 10 minutes afterwards. It's wild how much the chemo poisons me, but as I've said all along, the week I feel good is enough to make me forget how much I felt like crap. It's get me through. Well, that and NBA Championship rings (coming this November).

In the meantime I get to catch up on my TV (the Wonder Years is on ION twice a night people!) and stay out of the South Texas summer heat. Hopefully I'll be back scaling mountains and having late nights again with all of you real Topeka people in the fall.

Chemo #6, Christine's perspective

Well, that wasn't wonderful, but to be fair it wasn't horrible either. We had a new nurse, Cindy. She seemed very competent and nice enough, but she wasn't Rosie. Sigh. Rosie was super wonderful and made us all feel better through the last 5 chemos. She switched locations to be closer to home and is no longer with the CTRC. Anyway, Cindy's been a chemo nurse for 24 years and I'm sure we're in good hands.

Our appointment was for 9, but John didn't get his first chemo drugs until 11:45. He, and the rest of us, were very antsy. He was all hooked up with no drugs to put in the port. Apparently the chemo room has 23 chairs but only one hood to mix chemicals under. Which means the poor pharmacist can only go one patient at a time. We have the first time slot of the day, and since we were so late the afternoon patients were VERY backed up. Susan said the waiting room was standing room only. Susan packed good sandwiches and we had lots of snacks. Food makes things more bearable .

John had a rough time today. Because of the late start, there was a HUGE lag between his Emend (anti nausea meds to be taken an hour before chemo) and when he actually got the drip started. He looked bad from the beginning of treatment and halfway through he put away the laptop, pushed the seat back and tried to sleep. Cindy the Nurse said that the treatments begin to hit harder around #6. He seemed to be very nauseous but refused meds to help. What didn't help was the poor gentleman who walked in the clinic and immediately started vomiting. His IV wasn't even hooked up! He, not surprisingly, continued to yak off and on throughout his treatment. I felt bad for him but I also felt bad for the rest of us who were listening to him. The nurse didn't blink, she said that's what he does.

John got home and went straight to bed. I hope he sleeps off some of the "ick" and feels good enough to watch the Spurs game tonight. Traditionally Thursday and Friday aren't that bad, however, I think it might be a little rougher this time. His WBC count was low (I think 3.3) and he had a Neulesta shot to make new white blood cells grow. That usually equals miserable headache and a miserable weekend for John. We'll just wait and see. GO SPURS GO

Five Alive

I am exhausted today. The Spurs kept me at work until after 3:00am and we got to the CTRC about 8:45am for chemo. It was close to a 16 hour work day followed up by little sleep so if none of this makes any sense I apologize.

Encouraging news from the doc today. She says that if my next PET scan is clear, I will stop chemo and switch to radiation. The scan will happen the last week in June. I don't want to get my hopes up just yet, but that possibility does brighten my day.

I'm in right now for treatment #5, which leaves some deadtime between treatments to talk about. The pattern that had begun to develop is feel decent on Thursday and Friday and then bad on Saturday and Sunday. Monday I begin to feel better and Tuesday is usually the first day that I make an office appearance. Wednesday I declare my "Game Night" worthy and then I feel good for a week which is just enough time to forget that I ever felt bad. Through all of it though I still manage to stuff my face with a considerable amount of food.

Four On The Floor

I'm back home and resting after having treatment #4. This session has gone way too easy so far and I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Some of my white blood cells counts were down, which meant I got another Nuelasta shot. That really killed my sleep that last time I got it, but I fear no more since Ambien CR came into my life.

More to come later.