The Reed Report - Phil's Medical Journey

Wednesday morning the 30th (one day earlier than normal because my doctor was taking the next day off) we left home about 7:40 AM. On Tuesday we got at least 10 inches of snow and Denise cleaned half the driveway the evening before. It was really hard not to help her shovel the heavy wet snow, even though I am weak, but the doctor gave me explicit instructions not to shovel snow. In the morning, our road was not yet plowed on our side before we left, though it had been plowed on the other side. The rest of the roads were plowed and fine.  We reached the Cancer Center in the hospital shortly after 8 AM, which turned out to be the beginning of a long day. As usual, they drew blood for labs, flushed my PICC line, and changed the dressing on it. Then we waited to see the doctor. And waited. And waited. What was supposed to be a 9:20 appointment with him turned into 11:20. He said that he saved me for last because I was his buddy. I told Denise that it was probably because he knew that ...

As usual, immediately after chemo I felt good, though this was not to last. And once again the Neulasta On Body (to boost my white blood cells) worked just fine the day after chemo. Thankfully! The first couple of days after chemo, I had trouble with nausea. Even though the medicine that they gave me to counteract it helps, I am usually not feeling 100% with it. I was glad that the nausea cleared up before day 4, because in the past it has lasted longer. Since this is the fourth time around, I am fairly used to the cycle, and even though every time is not identical, there is a general pattern. The first 7-10 days following chemo I feel somewhat lousy (varying degrees) and normally around day 10 I am getting back to more "normal". Then by day 14 I am pretty much feeling "normal". Not my "normal" before I got sick this past summer, but "normal" for a chemo patient. On day 6, the 17th, one week following chemo, we went in for labs, to flush my PICC ...

Thursday morning the 10th we arrived at the hospital before 8 AM, so we could see the doctor before having chemo. They took my vitals, which we all very good, and weighed me - 160 pounds. I feel that I eat all the time, so I was surprised that it was not closer to 170. And my Ukrainian friends are not shy about telling me, nicely, that I need to gain weight. (Just like they were not shy in telling me in 2014 that I was fat.) I just tell them that I will be able to work on gaining weight and getting stronger once chemo is over. We then waited to see the doctor, who was seeing patients in the hospital. My blood work from the day before came back fine, and the urinalysis also was good, so I expected to get my nephrostomy capped. After seeing him, we headed to the infusion lab for chemo. This time I got a room with a bed and a private bathroom, rather than a cubicle with a recliner. It was more comfortable for me, but Denise missed having the window seat for lying down. Chemo is in progres...

No matter how long I am in the hospital, I am always glad to be home and back in my recliner. And I always eat better and eat more at home, as well as sleep better, because my sleep is uninterrupted.  Without a fever, I felt better. Also, my improved hemoglobin helped me feel better. This time at home, I noticed that my strength improved. I was able to dress standing up, rather than sitting on the bench in the bathroom, as I had been doing. Climbing the stairs was easier than it had been. This may be temporary, because chemo always seems to wipe me out, but it was good progress. Hope and I decided that it was time for her to get a different computer, so I helped her find one, ordered it for her, and will help her set it up when she is here for Christmas. We are excited that she is planning to visit us for a long Christmas weekend. As always, my only assignment during this time at home was to prepare for my next round of chemo, which means working on getting stronger. This includes ...