The Reed Report - Phil's Medical Journey

This round of chemo was my best and easiest round. I was only nauseous the day following chemo and felt just a little off the second day. After that I felt better and stronger every day. I did not nap at all (though I had the usual problems sleeping because of the 100 mg of prednisone I took the first 5 days after chemo). And I was thankful that I was feeling so good. The last time I took my blood thinner was Monday evening the 25th.  Once again, on the evening of day 6, Tuesday the 26th, I was fever free. Such a wonderful thing. That means my last hospital stay was Thanksgiving weekend. I will be thankful for my health for a long time to come, that is for sure. The next day, one week following chemo, we went in for labs. As usual, my labs showed no surprises - the things that we expected to be low, like white blood cell count and platelets, were low and other things, like lower hemoglobin, were acceptable. I also had an ultrasound to check for blood clots. None were found (as expe...

The first couple of days after chemo, I felt off and had trouble with nausea. I am thankful that there is medicine to counteract the nausea, even though it does not bring me back to feeling 100%. My appetite is almost gone, food does not appeal to me, and I just feel "off" during this time. This time the nausea again cleared up before day 4. So thankful! This fifth cycle post-chemo was much like the other times around, only better. The first week following chemo I was tired (though I seldom napped) and felt a little lousy (though not as bad as previous times, probably because I was feeling so good before chemo). The next week I felt better, even though my immune system was recovering from being so low. The third week I felt even better, once my immune system was back and in preparation for the final round of chemo. During this time being home, I was able to enjoy most of the college football bowl games and all the NFL playoff games. What a treat for me to be able to watch foo...

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 ...

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 ...

As usual, after chemo I felt pretty good. And it is always good to be home. Other than going out the next afternoon to get my Neulasta shot (to boost my white blood cells), my next planned visit to the hospital was on the 25th for labs and to change my PICC line dressing. Each and every day I was so grateful to be healthy and at home. This round brought with it more trouble with nausea than the time before and sooner than day four. Thankfully, the medicine they gave me takes care of that, though not always right away. Wednesday morning the 25th, day 6 after chemo, my temperature was slightly elevated (ranged from 99.6 to 100.0). I took some Tylenol because I also had a headache. My temperature dropped back to nearly normal before we went to the hospital for labs. And I felt good at that time - with no more headache. After we got home and had lunch, I took a nap for a couple of hours. And I did not want to wake up. Then I watched a movie on TV, "Free Birds", and fought sleep m...

How glad and thankful I was to be home and no longer in the hospital. I started eating better almost right away and my recliner felt so good compared to the hospital bed. And with my white blood cell count back to normal and my hemoglobin improved, I was feeling much better. Of course, "better" does not yet mean that I am ready to go back to the gym and workout like I did earlier this year. It just means that I am more easily able to do the basic things of life - that is, take care of myself. I am so grateful that, other than following the first chemo treatment, when I was so weak and it was difficult to care for myself (even to get in and out of the recliner, or the hospital bed), that I have not had any trouble since then. When I am home, it is nice in the evenings to be able to watch something with Denise - a movie, TV show, or football. My breakfast at home consists of Cream of Wheat and a chocolate Carnation breakfast drink.  I normally read my Bible after that,  unless ...

As I mentioned in the previous blog post, my Neulasta On Body failed. Denise and I went in on Wednesday morning, so I could get the shot manually. Without it, my white blood cell count would take longer to recover. My uncle Larry shared with me the devotional from "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers for October 31st. It was very thought-provoking and deep. Matthew 17:20, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed...nothing will be impossible for you." "We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith, and it may be so in the initial stages. But we do not earn anything through faith - faith brings us into the right relationship with God and gives Him His opportunity to work. Yet God frequently has to knock the bottom out of your experience as His saint to get you in direct contact with Himself. God wants you to understand that it is a life of faith , not a life of emotional enjoyment of His blessings. The beginning of your life of faith was very ...

Once again it was very good to be out of the hospital and back home in my recliner. In my first few days back, because I was feeling better than I had my last two times at home, I took the time to get "settled". Denise had the things that I needed near my recliner, but I organized them to make it more comfortable for me. Thankfully, I felt fine and stayed healthy during my time home. I slept well, actually sleeping nearly 12 hours every day. I had a low-grade temperature a couple of different times, but it stayed below 100 and dropped back to normal quickly. The remainder of my swelling disappeared - and I turned into a skinny old man. When I looked in the mirror, I saw my Father. The bigger challenge for me during this time was unexpected - it was dealing with the mundane life. I had been in the hospital three different times. Now I was simply at home, trying to get stronger. And I was there longer than I had been in any one place for more than a couple of months. It took me...

Since I really wasn't home very long between hospital stays (not even 26 hours), I really never got to feel "settled". So now I should be able to do so, right? When we arrived home, we discovered that the TV we ordered had arrived. Since Donna's husband had run new wires to move DirecTV from another room to the family room, they came in and helped Denise set up the TV (it was so hard for me to not be able to do that myself), so they could verify that everything was set up right with the satellite. We had a little trouble figuring out the TV setup, but the folks at DirecTV were helpful and soon we verified that everything was working well. When I came home it was four days after chemo, and it continued to do its job to kill my immune system as well as to work to reduce the swelling in my lymph nodes and body, though that was not obvious yet. I had regular issues with feeling nauseous, but the medicines that they gave me helped to take care of that. In addition, I was q...

Once we finally got out of the hospital, how nice it was to be "home" with Denise's parents. It took so long to get discharged from the hospital, that I should have ordered lunch while we waited. The main problem at the hospital with meals is that it takes about 45 minutes to get the food you ordered. However, not eating until mid-afternoon got my system messed up. Only I did not realize how much until later. I decided that, because I was going to be losing my hair and because I really needed a haircut anyway, that Denise's sister Donna should just shave my head right away. So that afternoon, she came over after work and did just that. We all kind of liked the result, which I did not expect. Here are some pictures of the process: It was very surprising to see myself without hair, as you can tell from my response in this video: It was so nice to get settled in a recliner in my in-law's basement - which will be my bed for some time to come. And the recliner just hap...