I hope that light I see at the end of the tunnel isn’t a train . . . .

28 March 2010

Terry has started driving me to the hospital for my daily treatments. She says I’m taking too many pain killers to drive. (I respectively disagree) (but she still drives).

The new radiation treatment has resulted in a sore throat more down towards my chest and what seems to be a serious sun burn around my neck. We did raise my pain meds, but stayed with Percocet. I now take 8 pills a day (2 every 6 hours). I’m never totally pain free. I’ve gotten real good at crushing pills.

Tuesday was a full day. I missed an appointment with my chemo Doctor on Monday morning. I called and apologized and they set me up with a walk-in appointment on Tuesday, because I was going to be there for my regular chemo treatment. I showed up at my regular 7:30am and the doctor was waiting for me. We had a very good discussion about my case, how treatment was going, how I was feeling, the usual stuff.
Dr. Richard has taken a real interest in my case and asks a lot of questions. We talked about our decision to have the PEG (feeding tube) installed prior to treatment and we both agreed it was one of the best decisions ever made. I can’t even think how uncomfortable I would be if I didn’t have the PEG. I’m sure I would have been admitted to the hospital for lack of nutrition and hydration by now. He keeps telling me I’m doing better than expected, due to my age and physical condition. I’m probably 20 – 30 years younger than most of his patients.

He sent me on my way and I checked in with the staff at the chemo clinic, they drew labs and set me up for the days treatment. About half way through the treatment Dr, Richard came in with a copy of my lab results and was concerned that my potassium level was low. Potassium is both an electrolyte and a mineral. It helps keep the water (the amount of fluid inside and outside the body's cells) and electrolyte balance of the body. Potassium is also important in how nerves and muscles work. Potassium levels can be affected by how the kidneys are working, the blood pH, the amount of potassium you eat, the hormone levels in your body, severe vomiting, and taking certain medicines. (WebMD) So, he prescribed a dose of potassium and a prescription for me to take home and administer during the coming week. Just my luck the dose of potassium he prescribed was going to take 4 hours via IV. We finished up my regular chemo treatment and I trundled off to the dungeon for a radiation treatment. Once that was finished, it was back up to chemo to be hooked up to the potassium bag.

Earlier in the day the plan was for Terry to drop me off at the hospital and for my niece to pick me up at approx 1:30pm and take me home. Well this low potassium thing threw a wrench in the works for that schedule. I called Lissa, my niece, and told her I was going to be late and that I would contact Terry and we would work out a solution to picking me up later in the day. It all worked out ok, Terry had a late meeting and didn’t finish up until after 4 o’clock. She came and picked me up on her way home from work. Needless to say, none of this would have been an issue if they had let me drive.

On Wednesday Terry drove me to my radiation appointment. She had never seen what goes on during a treatment. I brought along my camera to document the event. The below pictures are of me and the treatment mask that attaches me to the treatment table my dislike of the tongue depressor thingy, (you can also see some of the radiation burn) and me lying on the treatment table., None of the pictures are very good, but they give you an idea what the treatment is like. That large disk above my head in the last picture rotates around my head stopping at specific points and dispenses a timed dose of radiation. It takes about five minutes per treatment.

On Wednesday I also met with Dr. Atkins after my radiation treatment and we discussed raising my pain medication. We decided to keep me on the 8 pills a day, because I only had 3 treatments left. If I could manage on that level of pain relief for another week or so, my pain relief requirement should start to drop the farther I got a way from my last treatment. I run out of pills on Monday the 29th, we’ll discuss it again.

He turned me over to his nurses to get my vital signs and weight and to dispense some more moisturizer. Being as Terry was with me, they ganged up on me and decided I wasn’t putting enough moisturizer on and they would show me how it’s done. The nurse took out a new glove and a new tube of super duper moisturizer and proceeded to slather me up real good. By the time she was done, from my chin down to my collar bone and completely around my neck, it looked like I was covered in mayonnaise or lard (you choose). They both agreed that was the way it should be done. I was not impressed. I have agreed to slather up real good in the future. I won’t leave the house looking like that, but when I’m at home and just prior to going to bed I do slather up.

They also decided I wasn’t taking in enough nutrition. I needed to up the amount of protein supplements (boost, ensure, protein drinks etc.) or I was going to loose too much weight. The nurse gave me a case of boost plus. I now drink at least 3 of those a day and an 8 oz portion of the vegetable/sports drink stuff. It smells like Hawaiian Punch and V8 juice combined. Argh! I also eat some kind of breakfast and usually a bowl of soup for dinner.

That was Wednesday, I was starting to feel pretty good. Treatments were almost over; pain seemed to be under control. I had enough moisturizer to last any one man a life time or two. Maybe I was going to get through this ok.

Thursday – maybe not so much. I woke up with a serious sore throat, thick stringy mucous flowing like that nasty beast from Aliens, and a very tender neck. It got better as the day went on and Friday was somewhat better. Fridays always call for celebration, end of the week, two day break, only 2 more treatments to go.

Sunday, Terry has been nursing a sore shoulder all weekend. She has somehow aggravated an old injury and she trundled herself off to the emergency room at the break of dawn. She woke me up and through both of our pain, we managed to agree she needed to go to the emergency room. Some hours later, she woke me up again and explained her situation. Old injury, lots of pain, lots of pain killers, take it easy on the couch all day. What a pair we make.

I won’t discuss food this week, needless to say meal time sucks. I will get better, eating will become a pleasure. SOOOOON !!!!!!

Next weeks report will be better.