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.