Round 4 Session 4 and Dr. update

Today is a beautiful sunny cold day at Lake Bernard.  We have endured yet another downfall of snow and are getting ready to exit January with a snowfall number that sets a new record.  I believe that we exceeded 100 cm for the month.  That means that there has been some snow shoveling and snow blowing and today was no exception.  It was nice to get outside and throw some snow about in the sunshine.  However, it has been cold and it continues to be just that. 

I did not sit down to give a report on the weather but it is such a Canadian thing to do.  I wanted to share with you the results of my last Chemo session and events that have happened in the last couple of weeks.  The session was scheduled for Jan 16^th so I went to do my blood tests on Jan 15^th.  Nothing extraordinary about the blood-letting session but the good news was that my WBC count made it over the bar of minimum acceptable to proceed.  I guess the stomach shots after Chemo are working as usually my WBC count is low after a couple of weeks.  I was pleased that we could proceed even if I am not really on side with Chemo every two weeks.  My head and heart are in agreement with the Dr’s recommendation but I still ask myself if the effects of Chemo are worth the effort as it seems that we cannot really do anything with the Cancer and I do not have any symptoms to speak of.  That is a daily conundrum that goes away the farther I get away from Chemo day.  After this session I was feeling pretty punk for the first couple of days.  I stayed low and at home until it was time to remove the bottle on the Thursday after Chemo.  I was not working that day so I was able to relax and rest until work on Sunday morning.  Each day got better but the effects seemed to linger longer than before.  For example, I still had a taste of Chemo on day 6 which normally was gone after day 4.  I also had some discharge through my nasal passages that had colour and texture.  My feeling was that such a discharge was not a good thing.  I have since learned it might just be a temporary result of having Chemo.  Man, you learn new things every day – even after being involved in Chemo for three plus years.  So things progressed and got better every day.

The only interesting thing that I did, besides my work at the airport, was to take a trip to Mississauga to visit my sister and any family members who were available during my short stay.  Lucy and I just hung out at home and chatted, discussed politics (a fav for my sister), discussed her grand children, watched some CNN and discussed events of the world and enjoyed some good food and a trip to a restaurant.  It was a perfect relaxing couple of days and I enjoyed the low key time as I rebuilt from the last session.  On Friday I returned to Ottawa to get ready for my next work shifts at the airport.  Freddi has been very supportive of all of my activities during this period and dealt well with my shifting moods as I progressed out of the hole I feel around me during this time.  I am pretty cranky when I am not feeling well.

On Monday I did my blood tests again as I had an appointment the following day with Dr Jonker.  This was an important meeting as I wanted to get an answer to the question:  Is all this worth it?  Four sessions had been completed since my last CT Scan and discussion with Dr Jonker.  There were only three possible outcomes to this new test.

1.       The Cancer continued to grow.

2.       The Cancer growth was abated and remained the same size as before

3.       The Cancer had receded some.

I guess there was another possible outcome in that it could have disappeared but I was pretty confident that would not be the case.  Dr Jonker has already told me that elimination is unlikely.  Yesterday I met with Dr Jonker and we had a discussion about the bigger picture, the test results and the future treatment plans.

I am really happy to report that the best case showed up in that the Cancer had reduced in size in both my liver and my lung.  I really was not expecting this to be the case.  I asked to see my CT result as I had no visual context to deal with and he obliged me, grudgingly, and showed me a side by side comparison from just before I started back on Chemo.  Clearly the Chemo is doing its job and the horrible and annoying side effects suddenly became more palatable as there were positive results.  That makes yesterday a turning point in my attitude and my expectations but I am not quite sure what will come next.  We did agree that I should take my vacations in Feb and Mar and we set a schedule to work around my travel dates.  I will do Chemo on Feb 12 and 26 and then take a break until Mar 19 when I return from Hawaii.  At that time we would move from 2 weeks to a 3 week cycle.  My next CT would be in early April followed by another discussion with Dr Jonker at that time.

I am feeling a lot stronger today and I am much more optimistic about the future with this news.  We discussed a long term prognosis but he was very resistant to guessing on this subject.  I expected little else but at least had to try.  So things are good, I am positive and acceptant of the short term plan – as if I have a choice – and I am leaving for a short vacation tomorrow.  I am a happy boy......

Thank you for dropping in and I am more than happy to respond to any questions, thoughts or comments you might have on this blog update.

Be well .....

Round 4 Session 3 – running late

It seems that I am once again delinquent in addressing this Blog as I feel it is important to write relevant material and not just summaries.  It seems that, of late, I have been doing the latter and addressing only pertinent issues to date.   Maybe that is how it should be but I enjoy writing about how I am right now even if I cannot pull myself to actually do that.  That probably doesn’t make sense to those of you who are busy, organized and have your life in order.  These days I have none of those qualities and am trying to make a new reality work.  My most recent Chemo session was on Jan 2 and it was not a great way to start the New Year.

Before I get to that I must comment on the fact that we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas at Lake Bernard with Tara-Lee, Brehn and Kaia.  The festivities were plentiful, complete and busy as most of our family events are.  The weather helped us to enjoy some outdoors time doing what people do in the winter.  We ate well and had a few toasts to friends and family who were not readily available this Christmas season.  Kaia provided much entertainment as she rocked the Christmas thing and helped everyone with their packages from the big Guy from the north.  Her use of the English language and the language of Kaia is amazing as she forms complete sentences that astound you with their complexity.  The time together was both appreciated and enjoyable.  We also managed to FaceTime with Gray, Bree and Skylar in Pemberton and actually opened gifts in this almost real time environment.   It was fun to watch Skylar’s expressions as she opened her gifts.  She has grown up so much and appreciates the gifts and thought put into gifts by her Gramma.

The balance of the holiday season was spent at Lake Bernard with only a few trips to the city for Freddi as she had to work some of the holiday.  It is a busy season in the sporting industry.   We enjoyed our New Years Eve celebrations with a hearty dinner with friends and family.  It was a nice relaxing evening of chatter, laughs and some serious discussions on world affairs and other important subjects.  The important thing is that the old guys stayed awake until 2019 slid into place.  It was a comfortable evening with friends providing us with memories to add to our succession of NYE parties at the Lake.

Then came the time to get back to reality as my Chemo session that should have happened on Christmas day was delayed to Jan 02.  To give perspective I have included here an excerpt from an email to a friend on Day 2 of my 3rd session of Round 4.  I only include it here to provide relevance during the time on Chemo.  As previously mentioned I would like to write when in the “effects” but I find it difficult to gather that energy to get it clearly documented.  Regardless,  I include this excerpt from that email herein:

Jan 03, 2019

“This week is a Chemo week so I feel like shit and am being my recluse self until such time as I feel like talking and visiting with people.  I am fortunate as I have until Sunday morning before I have to face the expectant travels with varying degrees of self-assuredness and frustration with technology, impatience with airline planning that does not immediately align with their desires and a fair share of plain entitled people who do not give a shit that you are talking to another such person when they barge into conversations their “important” question.  Fortunately, I do meet others who are their antithesis and manage to save the day from my perspective.  But I digress.  My Chemo session was planned for Wednesday due to rituals of New Year where few people are required to work so I went ahead and did my blood test on Monday.  Shortly after I received a “fail” in my tests by way of a voice mail that instructed be to “do over” on Wednesday to see if my WBC count reaches the minimum acceptable level to inflict poison into the body.  I left work early to get the tests done and read before my treatment at 10:00 am.  I guess by eating copious amounts of rich food, lots of alcohol and late nights I was able to coax my WBC’s to get working and I was admitted to the controlled poison centre for my bi-weekly treatment.  That session went without a hitch and I was able to catch up on some badly needed sleep.  Now I have my counter Chemo pills to control the side-effects of killing Cancer cells on the go and am trying to balance and anticipate the movements from one side-effect to the other ranging from nausea, listlessness, sleeplessness, lack of appetite and dehydration to the more uncomfortable bodily functions such as vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, cramps showing up in no particular order. This tends to slow down and then abate after I have my bottle of Chemo removed after 48 hours.  That brings me to Friday at noonish when I start the rebuilding exercise again to repeat the treatment on Jan 16^th.”

In actual fact, the date of my next Chemo is Jan 15^th and I just received a reminder from the hospital to be at that appointment.  I am now on Day 8 after the treatment and I am feeling better but not 100%.  This go around had no unusual effects and the full spectrum of offensive side effects inflicted over the period.  The real benefit each day is that the next day will be less uncomfortable and inconvenient than the one I am living at the moment.  I mention inconvenient as I always try to keep a normal pace going but have to adjust according to degrees of nausea, constipation or diarrhea, fatigue etc.  This time around I found myself being alone a good deal of the time as I had consciously trimmed my activities based on the rather frantic pace experienced in December. My bottle was removed as planned last Friday and my level of nausea and discomfort was at its highest at that point.  I am using the “antidote” drugs as prescribed and they certainly do reduce the impact.  This session was particularly annoying as I never seemed to gather enough energy to do anything constructive.  I managed a bunch of small household type projects fixing things, building fires, cooking and some good reading time but the sum total of all those things were less than satisfying.  It certainly feels better now as I managed a city trip to see a Dr., join a company meeting and do some shopping.  I expect that the day will end with a deep sleep.  The upside is that it is a whole 6 days before I visit the QCH again.  Hopefully I will be able to get a few things off my “todo” list.

Freddi and I are planning a short Cancun vacation in early February and a two week stay in Kauai in early March.  We might try to pull off some other short warm weather trip during the winter but time will be an issue. 

I have taken up enough of your time and I think you for dropping in to see how things aare shaping up.  Please feel free to drop a line should you have any questions or wish to seek any clarification on this note.

Be well ......