Just a quick update to let everyone know that I am OK and I plan to continue with updates to this blog. Here’s what’s been going on lately:
Round #1 Complete
Round #1 (of either 6 or 8 total rounds) is now complete. As you know, I got back from the hospital Sunday afternoon. I’m now in my “2 week break” period, where my body is given the chance to recover from the chemo. Round #2 will begin Monday, August 25th.
Every day since then has been different from the next. I have days where I battle nausea and fatigue, yet other days (like yesterday afternoon) where I’m almost feeling normal. I think Holly put it best the other day when she told me “You act like a pregnant woman: you’re either nauseous or have food cravings!”
All chemo and no food makes Dave a dull boy
Chemo is no fun - period! And when they said “intensive chemotherapy”, they definitely meant it. The fatigue and cognitive impairment I can cope with, but loss of appetite and nausea (the latter being far worse) is really difficult to deal with.
Thankfully, since I’ve been home, my nausea has been largely under control and I’ve had (and more importantly wanted) a few good meals since then. It’s good to be home.
And though I again crave Varsity chili dogs (with mustards and onions) and their frosted orange drink (but no longer the greasy Varsity onion rings), I think I make it another 2 weeks without those. :)
Home Health Care
One other thing worth mentioning – the good doctor ordered up some home health care for me over the next two weeks. Since my insurance covers it, this option makes for a low cost, convenient way of doing blood draws and administering IV fluids. It sure beats having to drive downtown for this in any case!
Thank you everyone!
Just another “thank you!” to everyone for their ongoing support and words of encouragement. It means so very much to me and my family.
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Go Dave! Glad you're home!
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear from you again!! Hang in there...you've got a lot of people rooting for you!
ReplyDeleteMost people don't know what intensive chemo is, because most people have never known a sarcoma patient. Yes, congratulations Dave, you win the crappiest chemo contest! I know you always wanted to win that one, right?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the nausea is more under control. Have you tried all the anti-nausea meds available? This is just your first round, and the side effects can be cumulative. So you might want to keep trying meds and combinations of meds if you keep having trouble with nausea. These are the ones that have worked for my friends: ABH (a combination of Ativan, Benadryl, and Haloperidol), Anzamet, Ativan, Emend, Phenergan, Zofran. Some of them are new and snazzy, and some are old-school. But hey, you try anything when you feel bad enough! Definitely keep those docs informed about how you feel.
I'm hoping you'll be feeling LOADS better in a few days and can enjoy some in-between chemo time. Try to have some fun and get some laughs in when you're feeling good! Revive, renew, revive, renew. :-)
I'm glad to hear you're feeling more yourself again, at least mostly. Dave not wanting food is just not natural.
ReplyDeleteThe hairstyle poll seems to have come to a conclusion: out of 29 votes, 16 voted for the Mullet. The runer up was the bandanna, with six votes. Obviously, this was a nonbinding plebiscite, but a plurality of the people have spoken: business in front, party in the back!