More about round two

   Today was the first day of the latest round of chemo. It went quickly and well, which was a nice surprise compared to the last time. I have very few complaints about the VA and only one of which I haven’t published for the world to see. Chemo today started at 10:35 and was over by 1:35, giving us just barely enough time to work our way back through the hospital in time to catch the shuttle back to the trailer. It was quite a different experience from the VA. I was put in a private room, which except for the lack of extra equipment, looked like an intensive care room. They put me in a bed and hooked me up to my IV, adjusted the bed until I was comfortable, and asked if I wanted a blanket. When I said no, they brought me one for just in case.  At 11:30 a food service person came around and gave me a menu to pick several items from, and about 45 minutes later brought back what I had picked. I hadn’t finished eating when the nurse came in, disconnected me from the IV and told me I was free to go whenever I was ready. All of the time, Teresa was able to sit with me while I was getting treatment. Quite a change from the VA where I was in a room with 8-10 other people and you might or might not have a place to sit down. I’ve mentioned the near hopelessness of the facilities before at the VA so I’ll leave it at that.

Afterward, when we had finally gotten back to the RV park and I was walking the block or so to our trailer, I was feeling a little lightheaded. This was probably due to the heat, since we had been in nice dry cool air all morning and were suddenly thrust back into the Houston warm muggy air. After getting back inside and cooling off a bit I felt fine again. This was one of the side effects I was told to watch for. I guess I’ve been lucky with the side effects. The first chemo wasn’t terrible for side effects other than the permanent kidney damage. They have come back a little, but very little. My creatinin level has come back from a 1.7 to a 1.5. This is still higher than the average 1 to 1.3 but the only real side effect of this is I have to stay hydrated due to my kidneys working harder to eliminate the creatinin.

   4-24

   Today I get a shot of Neulasta, which will stimulate my immune system. One side effect of the chemo is that it tends to knock down your immune system. The VA never mentioned that, but in all fairness they were doing blood tests all of the time. My next blood test with MD won’t be until I come for another round. I tend to feel like the Brady Bunch when someone was always saying Marsha, Marsha, Marsha only for me it’s side effects,, etc. I’m constantly asking myself if what I’m feeling is normal or a side effect. My face feels flushed, I’ve got an itch, I have the hiccups and so forth.

   4-27

   A few days now and seems like the worst side effects so far ( knock wood ) have been minor nausea and some hiccups. I had been warned about the side effects of the Neulasta shot which would be bone pain, but thankfully it has been very mild. We drove back up from Houston Saturday morning and stopped in Austin to visit with Teresa’s sister and brother in law. This wound up being a late night music fest since her brother came up and a couple of neighbors came over. Three guitars, one bass fiddle, and a keyboard and it was pretty much a jam session for about five hours. We got to see a bunch of the relatives, their kids and grandkids, some of whom we hadn’t ever seen, and pretty much a good time was had by all. Sunday morning was a breakfast club for most of the relatives that had been able to stay, cooking bacon, sausage, potatoes, and eggs in a plow disk that had been converted to a very large frying pan, heated with a burner off of a propane water heater. The only side effect I had from that was having to wait for it all to be done. After breakfast we had to beat a hasty retreat to head back to Granbury. To paraphrase Simon and Garfunkel “ Gee, but it’s great to be back home”.  We’re both just so used to our bed that we feel like guests anywhere else and never sleep as well.

   So far the only other side effects have been a drop in blood pressure and being a little spacey at times. This happened with the first round too and I have learned to not just jump up and go do something. First stand, make sure you’re not going to be dizzy, then go. With the first round Teresa had just come home from the store and I got up to open the door for her and promptly went down. It’s like my vision turns to white noise like you might see on one of the old TVs when it’s not on a station. Then you lose motor control and you go down. It happened a few times before I figured out what was causing it and learned to get up more slowly.

   A little later in the day;

   Suddenly ran out of steam. It could be from all of the traveling and unloading yesterday. I tend to do really well one day and pay for it for about three. And of course the washing machine picked today to mess up. And it never messes up unless it’s full of water and clothes.

   4-28

   Today it’s like someone pulled the drain plug on my energy. I got up, had breakfast, sat up a little while longer, and then went back to bed. It’s now almost 2:00 PM and I’m just beginning to move around a bit. Teresa reminded me that I used to take a nap almost every afternoon when I was getting the first round.

   Well, I think I have yammered enough this time. I’ll try to keep this more current and I want everyone to know I really appreciated you prayers. No one has ever been able to point at me and say that I was a holier than though type. Far from it. But the power of prayer is truly unbelievable. As long as you’re not praying for a ’59 Corvette or something. Prayer is relatively free, and I know I don’t do it anywhere near enough. But I still want to thank everyone.

Back on the chemo train

   4-16

   Tuesday we drove to Houston and moved into a friend’s 5^th wheel travel trailer to have a place to stay while I had appointments at MD Anderson. Yesterday was my first. It was basically just to let me know what I was in for today. Today I checked into one of the clinics for a lung biopsy. This was to confirm that the nodules that the PET and CAT scans had found were indeed from the original cancer and not a new strain. I had been told before that it’s a 99% chance that it would be. The biopsy went well I suppose. I say suppose because they gave me some joy juice and after I got on the table I don’t remember anything until I got to recovery. From what I had seen on a video that they showed me yesterday they use a CT scan to position a biopsy needle into the nodule to take a sample. The sample then goes to the lab and 3-5 working days later your doctor has the answer. Hopefully that will be Tuesday when my next appointment is. I’ll let y’all know what the results are when I get them.

   4-17

   All of the people at MD are extremely nice. You just look a little lost and someone will stop and ask you where you need to be and give you directions there. The hospital is comprised of a ton of clinics scattered out over a sizeable part of downtown Houston referred to by many as the medical district. I don’t know how many hospitals there are here, but it’s quite a few. The clinic we were in yesterday was connected to the main clinic by what they call a Skybridge. This connects two buildings that for all intents and purposes are across the street from each other. It’s almost 3/8 mile long and they have shuttles to take you back and forth, which is great because after my procedure I doubt if I could have walked that far without sitting and resting or maybe a nap.

Afterward, I felt fine, just a little tired, an aftereffect of the joy juice. Later that evening the biopsy site was sore. I learned to sit up as much as possible. Deep breathing is also to be avoided for a few days. Today mild exertion still causes a bit of pain.

So far I feel that MD is giving me the absolute best care available. We have done quite a bit of research on different clinics and MD Anderson comes out on top every time. One well known clinic that does a huge amount of TV advertising seems to only be interested in how much money you have or what kind of insurance. MD is interested in you no matter what your situation is. Of course they need to be paid like anyone else, but it’s not their first concern. They have both social workers and financial aid help if you need it. The social workers can even help you find local housing.

   4-21

   Today I saw my oncologist and she confirmed that it was from the original site. The official name is squamous cell carcinoma. After talking a bit, she asked how soon I wanted to start chemo and if I was interested in taking part in a study of a new medicine. I told her that I was ready to start when they were and yes I was interested in any medicine that had a possibility of a cure. So that got that ball rolling. It looks like I’ll be taking chemo for 18 weeks, 6 rounds of 3 week intervals that start tomorrow. The trial drug is a pill that you take once a day. Of course you probably won’t ever know if you’re getting the drug or not because it’s a blind study. Half of you get it and half get a placebo ( sugar pill ). They have warned me of the side effects and I guess this is one time that you’re rooting to get the side effects. The drug has already proven useful in other cancers, but our wonderful FDA can’t fast track anything that might actually help someone. The IV chemo will be Carboplatin and Docetaxel. The pill is Erlotinib. If anyone is interested in what each of these drugs do etc. , contact me and I’ll let you know. I figure that very few people are actually that interested in the actual drugs and would really only be interested to see if any of it works. They have already prescribed anti-nausea meds for me in anticipation of some of the side effects. I can only hope and pray that the side effects are no worse than the first time.

I’m going to post this now and I’ll try to do better in letting everyone know what’s going on.

Some good news, I hope

   Before I get started if you will look over to the right,  just underneath my picture, you will notice a new box. This is for email notifications of any new post. I don’t have Facebook, Teresa does and I know that’s how most of you are getting notified of updates. If you want an email, just fill it out. And if you want to make a comment, you have to click on the thing that says No Comments at the bottom of the post. Who woulda thunk it ?  Yeah, I know it seems backwards to me too. I’m working on a way to fix that.   Meanwhile on with it.

   4-2

   As I write this we are waiting to hear from MD Anderson as to whether or not I will be accepted into one of their treatment programs. I’m not really anxious other than I just want to get out and do something. We are staying with Teresa’s brother and his wife in the Cypress area, just north of Houston. Teresa’s surgery was last week and her doctor is only about five miles from here so this is extremely handy. We will be staying here until her checkup next week. After that we will head home unless we hear from MD.

   Later that day

     After a quick check of my email I had 3 emails from MD. One to let me know that they had approved my insurance, one to fill out a form online about my health history, and one to tell me about my first three appointments. Wow, that was fast. I’ve only had insurance for a couple of days, not even long enough to get a card or a policy. Terri had been talking lately to Social Security, the VA, and an insurance company and has pulled all of this off in four days. I don’t know if she’s a magician or what, but to put all of this together in this short amount of time is nothing short of amazing to me.

   I know this one is really short, but I wanted to let everyone know about this. I’ll let y’all know when I find out more.   Stay tuned.