Friday, March 10, 2017

Round 3 Session 6 - Delayed


The week has been a different week as I had planned on having my next treatment on Tuesday.  However, that did not happen due to my WBC count again.  Monday I went to the bloodletter early as I had a Dr appt with Dr Jonker at 9 am.  The bloodletting went off without a hitch and I had a good meeting with the Dr.

We talked about my short term effects during the last Chemo treatment and he was not surprised about what happened.  I had experienced bouts of nausea, diarrhea, constipation, listlessness, fatigue, inability to sleep, and just plain grumpiness.  However, these effects were more intense than previous sessions and I was concerned.  I articulated my struggles about diet, exercise and mindset and he agreed that they all should be considered as part of the treatment.  I then suggested we consider a three week cycle instead of a two week cycle as that would allow me to get stronger for longer between sessions.  He considered this and agreed that we could give that a try and we would watch for the effects on the “bad guys” working in my body.  It was also agreed at that point that I would go ahead with my Tuesday Chemo treatment.  Happy with the results of the meeting I left the hospital and set about my day.

Later in the afternoon I received a call from the hospital with the news that my WBC had not met the minimum mark and my Chemo session would be delayed by one week.  Needless to say I was disappointed and wondered why my Neupogen had not done its work.  I then recalled that due to my own carelessness I had forgotten to take the shot 24 hours after my Chemo had been stopped.  I had remembered about 48 hours after the bottle was removed.  I took the three shots but a day late.  That may well have caused the WBC count to not recover as quickly as we would expect. Damn ....

I am now scheduled for the afternoon of the 14th and all of my plans have now been appropriately adjusted.  During this week of feeling pretty good I managed to get my technology back online by going to Staples for a tune-up of my computer and visiting the Apple Store to get my phone back online as I had received a message saying the Sim was “invalid”.  My computer had shut itself down a couple of weeks ago and then I received an intrusion by one of the “fix your computer” hackers from the Internet.  After a brief discussion with those guys I realized I was not dealing with Microsoft Agents that they claimed to be.  I dropped the line and then started to have trouble signing into my computer.   The following morning I tried again and I was able to get into the computer but knew I had to have the software and hardware scanned.  The folks at Staples did a diagnostic and then identified a plan to get rid of some 3000 intrusions from my computer.  This computer is only 3 years old and I use the internet for email, inquiries, Facebook, Skype and following some blogs and that is about it.  Regardless all of the crap was removed over a one day period at a reasonable cost and my computer is running fine now.  Oh the trials and tribulations of technology.   

In addition, this week I managed to get a couple of the ToDo list items started. It felt good to actually get my hands dirty and physically work out doing some constructive things.  Having the time to do these projects and actually getting to them are two entirely separate things.  Of late I have been thinking a lot about these projects but not actually getting to them.  I have been doing more cooking and cleaning and they seem to more naturally fall into place.  I am hoping the extra week I will have each cycle will have a beneficial effect on getting to these projects.  The one I have chosen this week (renovating a bathroom) is well underway.



Next week I am having my treatment on Tuesday and expect to have some of the usual effects for the balance of the week.  I will be diligent and drink lots of water and try some new meds that the Dr prescribed to reduce nausea and other related issues.  I also have a CT Scan scheduled for Friday which will give us more information about what is going on inside.  That is followed by appt with Dr Auer to discuss progress.  Following that I intend to enjoy two weeks of no treatment where I should be feeling better and stronger.  I expect to take some time to visit friends in Florida during that period and making the best of my time.

I hope all is well with you and that you are anticipating a transition to spring as we move our clocks forward this weekend. 

Be well and happy ......

1 comment:

  1. We'll be thinking about you tomorrow , but again on Friday, sending positive thoughts for your scan. But hey, you're getting some work done! Bam Bam Bam Get rid of those blighters!!

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