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My thoughts released; a mind set free |
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These pages contain my thoughts, from meandering ideas and persuasions to deep cerebrations and serious mentations. Why, for what purpose? To release my mind and set creativity free. Somewhere inside the constraints of my mind dwells a writer, a poet, an artist who paints with words. In here I release those constraints and set the artist free. Perhaps, lost somewhere in the depths of thought, is a story or a poem, waiting to be written. |
| Just got home from having the pump removed, this session of chemo is complete. I talked with my oncologist yesterday and gave him a rundown of the side effects; all normal and in my case, less severe than most people. He did inform me that my infusions are very intense and that I'm handling them better than he anticipated, but my labs are consistently dropping, which is also normal. But he's a bit concerned with my red counts and especially my platelets, I'm officially anemic and a bleeder now. It's temporary, but with surgery looming in front of me, he wants me to get my counts back into the normal range. So, instead of doing six infusions before the surgery, he is now letting me take a bit of a break to recover. I go in for another lab and a PET scan on August third, and if possible I'll also be able to have my esophagus scoped to see if the tumor is gone. If it is and everything looks good, I'll have my surgery shortly after. Then, another recovery period before I resume my last four chemo infusions. He also said that he had gotten information on immune therapy as an additional treatment for my type of cancer. He said the report indicates that immune therapy increases the rate of full recovery by another fifteen percent, so we will be added that after surgery as well. Yesterday's infusion went well, but it did take a hell of a toll on me. I swelled up, turned white, had very red eyes, and deep sunken and almost black sockets under them; I looked like a zombie! It would have been great if it was Halloween. By this morning my color is back, the swelling is down, my eyes are no longer red and sunken. I'm also feeling a lot better than yesterday. Except for being tired because of the lower red counts, I'm feeling pretty well today. Sunday my wife and I are going camping for our wedding anniversary, a tradition we started back in 2007. In order to be able to enjoy the trip, I know I need to get my blood counts back up and flush as much chemo drugs from my system as possible, so it's pushing high protein and high iron foods as well as making sure I drink at least 64 ounces of liquids (non alcoholic) a day. Luckily I like liver, oysters, two foods packed with protein and iron. I'm also eating quite a bit of spinach which is packed with iron. But, with my taste buds gone wacko, it wouldn't matter if I like them or not, nothing tastes like it should. In summary, I'm doing well, better than most. I'm maintaining my positive outlook and good mood (most of the time) and am hoping that I'll be up to spending a bit more time here up until the surgery. I'll keep you posted, and keep in mind, that if I'm not feeling the best I may not be around for a spell, but I'll be back sooner or later with more good vibes to share. Thank you for your comments, prayers, and well wishes. They really mean a lot to me and are as much a part of my healing and recovery as the drugs and treatments. |
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). The fourth here was eerily quiet. No loud continual booms and pops from up the hill like they've done for years. Kind of nice actually. I'm sure the pets in the neighborhood appreciated calm for a chnage.