Round 4 Session 2 – seeing things differently......

Today I am sitting at the kitchen counter with a faithful but tired dog by my side.  Bailey is tuckered out as we just spent a couple of hours outside cleaning up snow that fell early this morning.  Not my favourite task at -3 degrees as the snow is heavy and wet.  Regardless, it is now cleared and the surrounding area is ready for the freeze to come over the next few days.

On Dec 11^th I had my second Chemo session at QCH.  The session started at 8:30 am and I managed to get out of there at about 11:30.  My nurses this time were nurses that I remember from previous sessions and their expertise was very much appreciated.  I had taken my pre-chemo drugs and they injected the requisite steroids and got the results of my urine test so they were all set to go.  The session followed the same routine as usual with no diversions or obstacles.  As we come close to the end of the session I got a very strong urge to pee and must make my way to the bathroom fairly smartly with all of my attached bags etc.  I have learned to do this fairly efficiently over time.  However, like drinking beer, once you break the seal there are frequent trips in the last half hour of treatment.  I managed to get away with only three trips this time in my last half hour.  An alert sounds when the bag runs out and sure enough I was “alerting” while I was peeing way down the hall from my station of the day.   Once I returned I was ‘finished up” by pushing my chemo that is contained in my bottle for the 48 hour pumping into my system.  With the bottle attached and all the paperwork done I set off for my day.

I was hungry but not feeling very strong.  I manage to pick up some Thai food (what was I thinking) on my way to see Tara-Lee.  After I purchased it I decided to make it dinner instead of a snack.  My visit with TL was short but I did want to wish her a happy birthday on her day.

Once home I managed to do some e-mails for work and to watch some TV as I needed a sleep.  Funny how I can sleep in the afternoon but not at night when on this stuff!  Day 2 is always a quiet day and I busied myself with Christmas cards and some wrapping of presents.  I know I planned to make dinner that night but decided to make it a simple grilled cheese and soup meal.  I was experiencing the usual nausea, sleeplessness, restlessness, mild headache, malaise and irregular bowel habits.  I have grown to expect one, two or all of these until I get the bottle removed.  On day 3 I made my appointment at CCAC to have the bottle removed and then I visited TL again as Thursday was a work day again at the airport.

The shift went by without any significant issues but I was certainly not myself and I managed to get through the shift by keeping to myself, as much as possible, and just getting the job done.  Typically, day 4 is a better day and my shift also happened on that day.  I was feeling more myself but certainly not feeling well during the shift.  It was a long drive home and right into bed.  Finally I got a good night sleep and on day 5 I was feeling better but not 100% - 60% would have been a better number.  Day 6 was also a work day and I managed to be more connected and feeling better for this shift.   I have learned to reduce my activities post Chemo but that is not always the case.  I had a couple of meeting with consultants that needed to happen and I managed to get through them without any incidents.

Finally, on day 8, I was able to say to myself that I felt better or at least more like myself.  That is longer than the previous session and I am concerned with the direction of this trend.  I must drink more water and flush my system faster than I am currently doing.  Not being a water drinker is a negative in this scenario.  I am encouraged to drink more water as we move forward as I do want to feel better faster and clear my system of the residual chemo in less time.

In my last blog entry I mentioned that I had my first eye surgically enhanced with the replacement of my lens in my eye due to a cataract.  That had me in a position where one eye had great vision and the other eye was unimproved leaving me with a mixed bag for vision.  I managed to get through the 28 days of said imbalance and found myself back at the Riverside on the 20^th for the second eye surgery.  With this surgery you get very adept with eye drops as there is a pattern of dropping with three different treatments each day.  This goes on, conveniently, for 28 days.  I just finished with the drops for the first eye and it was time to crank up again for the second eye.  I found myself at my pre-surgical appointment on Wednesday and I was concerned as I have had the sniffles.  With the help of some drugs I got that under control and the eye Dr gave the OK to proceed on Thursday in the early am.  I was happy to be early as there always seems to be delays as the day progresses as they do about 50 cataract surgeries per day with four different Drs.  

My Dr explained that we were doing the exact same surgery but it would seem different to me for some unknown reason.  He was correct as I remember more of the surgery than the first time and feel fairly confident that I was awake for all of the 15 minutes it took to complete the lens replacement.  I enjoyed my rest afterwards and the cheese and crackers they supplied with apple juice to get over the fasting that is associated with this type of surgery.

So, as of Thursday, this 1946 vintage Chevy has LED headlights installed and they are working well.  I do see things differently today as the second surgery succeeded in giving me 20-20 vision in my left eye.  That accompanied by 20-30 in my right eye gives me better vision than I experienced with corrective lenses.  I have been wearing glasses since I purchased my first pair in California when I was a hippy youth on my “discovering Paul” trip of a lifetime.  That is a lot of time with corrective lenses.  I see more clearly and there is more definition in terms of colour when I look about.  It is fun to read signs on the highway without having to squint or wait until it is zipping by me.  I will have to use “readers” for close up work, reading, computer work, texting etc but that is a pretty good compromise for clear vision.

All in all a busy time with lots of interventions in my life.  It is my hope that 2019 will bring a quieter pace of life and some stability in my health and treatment practices.

I would like to thank you, once again, for dropping in and reading these ramblings about my journey and as previously stated please feel free to drop a line should you have any questions or wish any more detail about what is happening.  In the interim, Merry Christmas and my best wishes for a happy and healthy 2019 for you and yours.

Be well ......

Round 4 Session 1

Today is a sunny frosty day at Lake Bernard.  This year’s early winter has certainly taken me by surprise.  The lake managed to freeze in during the third week of November which is as early as I have ever seen such a thing happen.  Under normal circumstances we do not get ice in the lake before the third week in December.  As a result I was fooled into believing I had time to get my docks ready for the winter even though we had an early freeze.  I was wrong!  The ice has settled in and has thickened with our docks in place.  We will have to detach the walkways to the docks and leave them there for the winter.  I will have to address my tardiness in the spring and secure the docks well before the thaw. 

What that says to me is that winter is here and it has a grip on us.  I just returned from a fresh walk with Bailey in the frozen fields around us.  It was invigorating as the sun is also shining and there is a wind from the North.  The last few days I have been staying close to home venturing out only to walk the dog and fetching firewood.  I have been spending the best part of the last week doing that as I spent last Tuesday at the Queensway Carleton Hospital undergoing a fresh Round of Chemotherapy.

Tuesday morning I arrived at QCH at the prescribed time (early) and met with my nurse team for the morning.  They were two relatively new nurses in the Chemotherapy Unit but both skilled and prepared to make the time the best they could.  It has been some time since I undertook a Chemo treatment so I needed some reminders of the process, order of things, drugs etc.  They were kind and helped me pull my proverbial shit together and get my head around the process.  Nothing really changed but I had forgotten (conveniently) some of the details.  I went through the elevated blood pressure routine and Dr Jonker prescribed an increase in my Amlodipine to 10mg from 7.5.  That is not the direction I would like to see this medication go in.  However, with some relaxation methods and little conversation my BP dropped low enough to start the process.  It has to be below 150 to start. 

I was given the appropriate drugs and shots to prepare for the chemo.  The bags finally arrived and I was plugged in with Avastin and Folfiri drugs for the next two hours.  I read, slept, chatted a little but generally just succumbed to the drugs for the duration of the treatment.  All reactions were predictable and in control throughout.  I started feeling nausea almost immediately and was encouraged to drink lots of water to reduce the effects on my body.  Well I tried but even water tasted poorly in that scenario.  I managed to get away about 11:30 am and headed downtown for a lunch meeting with Ben and Nil (business partners). 

The lunch was productive but I had little in the way of appetite.  After lunch I went to my follow-up appointment with my eye Dr.  I had cataract surgery the week before and this was a follow-up appointment to see how things were going.  Apparently all was good and we set a new appt date for the next surgery on the other eye.  Dec 20^th will be that appointment and then I will have a complete set of new lenses in my eyes.  I look forward to that as having one good eye and one “unrepaired” eye is inconvenient at best.  I returned to Lake Bernard after that appointment.

As usual sleep did not come easily after treatment.  It has to do with the steroids they inject into you prior to treatment.  I stayed up late and watched some TV and then decided to tough it out in bed.  I did not sleep until early the next morning.  My day at home was very restful as I read, slept, watched a little TV and generally tried my best not to succumb to the nausea and ill effects I was feeling.  I managed to drink some water and eat small amounts of food.  I managed to take the dog for a couple of short walks but I was certainly not very perky.  On Thursday I managed to get to CCAC on schedule to have my bottle removed.  The 48 hours of drip treatment was over and the bottle was empty.  Once the bottle was removed, I went and visited Tara-Lee for a short visit and then went to work at WestJet.  I had a 6 hours shift and had no idea how I was going to do when I was feeling so weak.  The shift went by and I sent most of the time doing my work by myself.  I did not feel social and I was trying to forget how badly I was feeling.  The shift ended and I drove to the lake at 9 pm.  The drive was horrible as I was tired, not focused and feeling like hell.  I managed to get home even though I had some sleep sessions along the way.

Friday morning I stayed at home as long as I could.  I had another 3 pm shift so I spent 6 hours at the airport.  I was feeling better than the day before and the effects of chemo were reduced considerably.  I completed my shift and returned to the lake at the end of the day.  Generally speaking I was not feeling as bad as I thought I might be.  Perhaps it was because this was my first session since Aug 2017.  My Saturday shift was a 5 hour shift and I managed quite well.  I proved to myself that I could manage both chemo and work although I am unsure why I want to do both.  In the days that followed my strength returned slowly, my nausea diminished slowly and my appetite started to come back.  I continued to lay low but that was to build strength more than anything.  Today I am feeling pretty well and we are 1 week out from the treatment.  I now only have one week before we start Session 2.

So goes the cycle of things for me for the foreseeable future.  I see Dr Jonker every second Monday before treatment to make sure all systems are go.  The shift to two weeks instead of the old three week turnaround will be gauged by the Dr and we will see if that can continue.  It is my belief that he is set me up to cause the most discomfort for the Cancer cells in hopes that we can either stabilize or reduce the growth.  I am with him on that outcome at this time.  

Thank you for dropping in and please feel free to comment to me directly if you have any questions.  I appreciate hearing from you.

In the mean time be well and enjoy every minute.......