End of week report

 Not a lot of news this time so I'll just get on with it.

Thur. Morn.

Up 3 times last night to pee. That's one of the things nobody talks about until you ask about it. Right after chemo and for about 3-4 days you will be up every 2-3 hours to pee. During the day you really don't think about it that much, but at night It gets a little irritating. Thankfully this week is almost over and I'll get a chance to recover.

Aft.

They've decided to change my chemo due to what the current stuff is doing to my kidneys. My creatinine level is way higher than it should be. This seems to be the thing that concerns them the most. I'll start the new stuff Monday. I am also going to have a PIC line put in Monday. I asked about it today and it's a day surgery procedure so I'm lined up for that Monday morning. That will eliminate ANY more needle sticks till this mess is over. It is a day surgery though, so it's not to be taken lightly. But ALL of the draws and all of the infusions will go through one port. ( Update ) I have since talked to a fellow patient who has just had a PIC line installed and he said there was nothing to it. Whew !! I was glad to hear that. It seems lately that everything is a simple procedure until its my turn. He also reports that it's no big deal getting chemo or labs, mostly you just have to show up for them to plug you in.

And now on a very good note the lump in my neck has gone down visibly and is about half the size it was when we started. The actual treatment began March 21^st, that's 25 days ago as I write this. The staff of the VA as a whole ( DDS excluded ) has been a great, focused and caring group of people. Chemo is a team of people, usually 3 RNs and a PA with a pharmacist working closely with them all. They work together in a room just big enough for 12 chairs with the ability to get a wheelchair in between, barely. Today I had to get restuck and given a bag of saline on an infusion pump and told I was going to have to go out in the waiting area, find a wall plug near a seat, plug it in and sit down and come back when it's empty. As I left someone else came in and sat down where I just was. And that's how it was in there all afternoon. When I checked out I did it standing up. They unplugged me, wrapped up my infusion line and the pharmacist walked us back to the pharmacy to make sure that we got the right meds. Someone in that organization needs to take a hard look at who is doing the work AND where they are having to do it. There are plenty of office space downstairs that could be used to much better ends. As it is both chemo and heart patients must wait in a common area that holds over 200 people of all ages and health levels. Two of the most affected types of people due to their lowered immune status and you're putting them in that brew. I really would like to believe that if someone actually thought about it they would act very quickly to fix this. And if you are reading this and you can do something about this I can show you the areas to convert. Chemo needs more help and more chairs, but first they need more space. Please take notice that I am not making a blanket statement about huge problem areas, because I only know of one. The nurses always apologize when they hurt you even though there's nothing anyone could have done any different to keep it from hurting.

Fri.

Up 4 times last night. After the first one I moved to sleep on the couch so as not to disturb Teresa quite as much. That should be the last night for that kind of thing. At home I don't bother her as much when I get up because I don't have to crawl over her to get out and the bed doesn't wiggle to wake her. Last night was the 3rd night since chemo and the kidney wash generally settles down after that.

P.J. *

P.J.* Means Puddle Jumping. If you go back far enough in the blog you'll find that it means I'm completely changing the subject and this is the only warning you're going to get.