Today (July
14) I am at the QCH for session 5 of my Chemo treatments. I have just started, and it seems like it
will be routine with a short Avastin drip followed by an hour and a half of the
Irinotecan drip. This exercise includes
other meds such as steroids to encourage the drugs, atropine for cramping and internal support,
and Ondasatron and Emend to help with nausea.
It is a bevvy of drugs which leave me feeling punk, tired and a bit on
edge. I usually leave the hospital after
11 am and I head home to rest. This is a
process that takes about 3 hours all together.
So that is what I am doing with my day today. The 4th session was executed on June 23rd and I did not really have any significant impacts from that session.
The last
month has slipped by with little recognition of day to day differences. I seem to easily lose track of time, days and
calendar dates. We have been busy with
our own projects, visits with TL and family, some trips to the city for food,
beverages, DR appts and Freddi managed a hair appointment to do something with
her Covid hair. I did manage to spend
some time on the bathroom in the middle building of our cottage and I am
encouraged to finish it soon. I have
several people rooting for me so that bathroom can be considered finished and
fully operational. This project has been
dragging on for several years and I am ashamed of how long it has taken. My lethargy of the past few months has not
helped this cause at all.
On a more
positive note, Kaia has been using this summer to perfect her swimming skills
and filling the hot summer days with hours in the water. She is a bit of a fish and is learning very
quickly as she swims regularly with her Father and Mother. Brehn was a
competitive swimmer in his youth so he is a great example for Kaia. Little Logan is also proving that he likes
the water and spends some quality time with his folks in the water.
A few days
have crept by (July 16) and I have just returned from having by bottle
removed. That signals a last step in the
Chemo process. Now I need to drink water
and rest and get the bad chemicals out of my body. It is nice to return to the clinic for the
bottle removal as during the pandemic I was forced to use the external nursing
service of CCAC. That meant that I had
to be a home in Ottawa for those appointments.
Personally, I like going to the clinic as it leaves the busy road warrior
nurses available for folks who need homecare much more than I do. They are so helpful and well equipped for any
issue of health that needs extra assistance.
They are front line workers for sure.
My trip to
the city today only required one stop so I returned to the cottage early enough
to have a light breakfast before I took some time to rest. My sleeping habits when on Chemo are not particularly
good so I end up being lethargic and uninspired for a few days after
removal. Tomorrow I start my 5-day
needle process to encourage development of my WBC. This time around my WBC count was fairly good. I am looking into Dr. Auer’s research on improving
compromised immune systems for Cancer patients. The immediate intent is to have a research
trial to see if this can be used to improve the immune system, with drugs,
quickly enough to be used to protect patients from COVID-19. I am going to see if I might be a candidate
for such a trial.
Today is cloudy
rainy type day and I must admit I am not used to that as we have had some
beautiful, although quite hot, weather here at the lake this summer. That helped us to get all our client’s boats
out to their rightful owners as requested and we are finished for the
season. We need to re-assess our
business arrangements with our clients, but we expect to continue with this
service next fall. It is a fun venture
and I do believe it helps people on the lake.
Not much
else that is newsworthy as we seem to be trekking along from one Ground Hog day
to the next. I am looking favourably at
our Phase 3 opening in Ontario. This
allows folks to gather up to a group of ten and allows restaurants and
businesses to open with strict guidelines for social distancing and sanitary
operations. People need social interaction,
so this starts the process. We will soon
learn if Ontario folks can do this safely.
Obviously, some areas of North America have failed miserably when they
lifted such barriers.
Thank you
for dropping in and if you have any comments or questions feel free to drop me
an email and I will try to respond directly.
Be well and
safe ……
