Good morning, today is Day 1 (June 18th) of my Chemo treatment and I have just re-read the last blog and noticed
two things. (Aside from a couple of
typos) The first is that I seem to find
time the day after Chemo to address this blog.
The reason for that is that I do not schedule any activities on day 2
due to inconsistency of reactions and how I feel medically. The second is that my appointment yesterday
was a mirror image of the one I had for session 9. I left a morning shift at WestJet a little
early so I was able to start my Chemo appointment at 8:00 am. I was first there and no one else was
scheduled until 9:00 am due to a training session for the Epic treatment
records implementation. My nurses
started my process off before the session so they could attend. The implementation is getting some bad press
as it is slowing down patient care due to getting familiar with new processes
and capturing data directly to the on-line patient record. I believe these are short lived problems as
they deal with migrations of older data and becoming familiar with new
workstations, screens and processes.
Some frustration has crept out to the press and naturally they are
feeding on these tidbits. But my session
was relatively unaffected. It still took
3.5 hours and there was much counseling and cross chat about how to do things
during the session.
The balance of the day was resting and reading. During the evening I had a light dinner with
Freddi and stayed up for late night TV thanks to the steroids.
Day 2 (yesterday) I spent the morning doing some computer
work at home. I was having some side
effects that were not pleasant so I laid low for the morning. In the afternoon I spent some time working
with my business partner in the field and delivering boats. We did not push it too hard but got two boats
to their docks. I found the afternoon
work a bit stressful but I managed. Had
dinner with Freddi and crashed early as I needed some sleep.
Day 3 (today) I went to town early as I had an appointment
to have my bottle removed at 9:30 am. I
left the house late, due to some email messages I had received that needed immediate
attention, and managed to eat my cut up fruit while driving into town. Not an ideal way to have breakfast. The bottle removal was simple and routine but
this time the Nurse noted some spots on my tongue which is caused by
Chemo. I am now rinsing my mouth more
often with a mixture of salt, baking soda and water. I usually do this and have been doing it this
time but I guess not often enough. These
sores can blister and that makes eating very uncomfortable. In the past I have had to use a prescription
liquid medicine to relieve this effect.
Generally I am not feeling well or perky and my mood is quite low right
now. I am feeling some pressure in life
that is disconcerting at best. The
reality of my situation and the long term prospects are not very palatable
right now. I have early reactions to
Chemo even feeling nauseated beforehand.
I spoke to a nurse about this and she confirmed that it is not unusual
for people to have pre-Chemo symptoms such as nausea. However,
it is what it is and I just have to suck it up and do what has to be done.
On a better note, I recently attended a Memorial for great
man who had a short round with Cancer. I
say short as a relative measure but he battled Cancer for 10 brave months and
had a particularly bad last four months.
He was a military man who was very much in control of his life, his
work, his charges in different positions in the military as well as control of
battle with Cancer. He tried very hard
to keep his family and friends aware but not brooding about his condition. He managed, with the help of his wife and sons
to ensure that his passing was well organized and they were all prepared for
that eventual circumstance. His Memorial
was well attended and the stories that were shared showed him to be a man of
determined and steadfast character who always looked out for others while
keeping his house in order. He was well
loved for his character and position of helping others achieve their goals
while meeting the objectives of the forces.
He also had a strong sense of humour and enjoyed the fun that life provides
and he was a raconteur when it came to sharing some of the high points in his
life with family, friends and workforce. He was a great man, of great character and he
will be missed by many. I am happy I was
able to attend his Memorial.
I am hoping by tomorrow that I will have enough energy to
start the demolition of the dock that was crushed by ice this year. We have purchased a new dock that needs to be
installed and connected to our floaters.
It is not a big job but it is labourious and not very interesting. Once
the wreck is gone the new dock must be affixed to the shore deck so that it can
be removed each winter. It is a aluminum
stretch with wooden boards on the top surface that can be removed. I have been convinced by others that light
aluminum frames are easy to work with and will last far longer than building
another wooden structure in the water.
We shall see.....
I am going to sign off for today as I need to get some rest
or at least read for a bit until I fall asleep.
Thank you for dropping in and feel free to message me if you would like
any further details or have any questions about what is going on.
Be well .....
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