Round 4 Session 7

Today is a great day.  It is Thursday of the third week after my session 7 of Chemo in this round.  The significance of that statement is that I am now having Chemo every three weeks instead of every two weeks.  The third week gives me an additional 7 days to strengthen my body and enjoy some of the more normal things in our days.

Dr Jonker and I discussed this transition as I was finding the quality of my life was way down when we were on a two week cycle.  As I have explained before, the three day chemo session makes me quite nauseous and feeling very lethargic without the ability to sleep well for about the six or seven day mark.  After that there is the usual struggle with regularity and frequency of bowel activity that becomes a factor in daily decision making.  This struggle is literally “a pain in the ass” and guides my activities or lack thereof.  So what happens is that week two is generally a re-build week with lots of uncertainty.  Up until this session I only had 14 days between sessions and that gave me very little time to enjoy my life.  In discussion with Dr Jonker we came to an agreement that the three week cycle would not impact his approach to treatment but would certainly impact my ability to cope with the side effects.  This treatment will be my first 3 week cycle in this Round. 

I am sitting here at Lake Bernard listening to blowing wind on a cool but very sunny day.  The overnight temperature was below freezing (-10) but speculation has it that during the latter part of the day the temperature rocketing up to 0.  This is April and the temperature is still at 0.  We have had some warmer days and there has been some thawing/melting but it is still 0 in April!  I fear our “ice out” day on the lake will be well after our normal April 17^th date.  I do not recall such a bad winter in terms of cold, snow and general bitterness.  Perhaps I am just getting old and cold but I certainly do not recall such a winter.

I am trying to look forward to spring where the brown fields start to turn brilliant and varying shades of green against the clear blue sun filled sky and the temperatures are in the positive double digits as the days grow longer.  I am also looking forward to the time when the boats are in the lake and we are able to cruise the lake while enjoying evening appies and beverages.  All of those thoughts keep me going as we struggle with shifting country roads during the thaw, dirty patches where the snow has left wet areas for the dog to wallow in, uncertainty of the winter damages due to heavy snow and ice, the never ending sightings of dog poop that appear after the snow has melted, potential of flooding or wet lands as a result of the abundance of snow this year and the question of when will the ice leave the lake.  All of these factors make for interesting discussions but I will be happy when they are all past us.  I am a summer sort of guy and summer on Lake Bernard is the focus right now.

But I digress .....

On Monday next week I will go for my pre-Chemo blood tests, Dr appointment and a trip to the Pharmacy to pick up my ancillary drugs for my Tuesday Chemo session.  My early morning session is at the Queensway Carleton Hospital and I expect to be out of there by noon.  My week ahead has been cleared of WestJet scheduled shifts as I find it hard to work right after my treatment.  I am going to chat with the Dr to see about a letter to my employer to see if I can have some schedule relief around Chemo days.  Apparently WestJet is open to such a suggestion as I met with my HR person last week and we discussed this whole issue.  I am still trying to maintain a bubble at WestJet but felt I had to talk to someone about the trials and tribulations of my treatments and my HR person has been quite helpful in maintaining confidentiality on this subject.

In closing today I would like to thank you for dropping in and feel free to send any inquiries you might have to me directly. I appreciate your interest.

Be well ......