Blatherings from the Bilge

Sorry about the delay.  Last week and this has been filled with ... queasiness and dizziness.  But, as per your request, I am here to give you an update on how my last week went. Last week was my first week of chemotherapy. The people at the Willamette Valley Cancer Institute are fun, caring, interesting and on the ball when you need help or have questions.

Wednesday was my first treatment, using the 'easy' drug. This only took a couple of hours and had no true side effects other than a bit of dizziness. It was the first use of my medical port however so it was very educational. Let me tell you, the port is a lot easier to use than an IV to apply the medicines. Just a slight pinch and I was good to go. The only odd part is that when they went to unplug the port from the medicines, they flush the lines and then inject heparine. Considering it is intravenous, it leaves a 'taste' like the smell of alcohol for quite some time.

Thursday was not so good but mostly because the chemo started at 7:30am. After the last months of my body getting up when it stopped being tired, this was a shock to my system. Though, I am not certain just how much sleep I was able to get due to the anxiousness. In any case, at 0 Dark 30, I showed up, was shown to a chair and then hooked up to my drugs. And hooked up I remained until around 2pm. Rehydration and lots of drugs were given including antinausea medications. This left me a little groggy and woozy but alright, until about 30 min after getting home when I started to hiccup. and hiccup.. and hiccup.. Due to the drugs I pretty much crashed again when I got home and slept despite the hiccupping but... every time I awakened, the hiccups were still there.

On Friday, I had another session with the Institute. This time I was just supposed to get rehydrated, a process of a bag of saline in about an hour. However, my hiccups had not let up. Initially the nurses had a bit of fun with me but when I asked if there is anything that can be done, they take it to the docs. Initially the docs prescribe an oral antianxiety/relaxation pill. When that doesn't take effect after 30 min, the doc comes in to administer the shot form of the same drug. This slows down the hiccupping but it doesn't actually go away until about 40 min after I am home that night. Talk about sore ribs from hiccupping for 24 hours. *wince*

Saturday when I got up, I was rather dizzy, groggy and a bit nauseated. Throughout the day, the nausea got worse so that sitting up became questionable even with antinausea medications. Carnation Instant Breakfast for the win even into Sunday.

Tuesday I went out with Carrie, my wife, to pick up meds for our cat and I was able to eat an omelette without having too much trouble. At this point, as the docs say, whatever you can manage to eat, do.

This week is a blood test week to see how the treatment is effecting my red and white corpuscles.

They WILL bottom out due to the chemo but the question is, when and for how long. That will determine the timing of the rest of the treatments.

This week I have pretty much been dealing with nonstop nausea, which I have meds for, but the side effects of which are grogginess and sleepiness. :(

Robert