Ding! Round three....... updated 1/14/18 12:10pm
January 11, 2018 6:00pm Back to In the Beginning
Another round of chemo today. We met with the PA Kris at CCCN instead of Dr. V. Doc didn't get off easy as we posed a lot of questions to Kris about the ineffectiveness of Neulasta at keeping me out of the hospital. Dr. V. decided to cut back on the Doxorubicin by about half. I was surprised when I saw the syringe. Erase the image of a syringe in your mind. This is a one-inch pipe that is usually filled up with 4" of red liquid. It was a surprise to see how much less. Kris said it is always a balancing act between destroying the immune system and attacking the tumor with serious chemicals; this is just an adjustment.
I brought some cookies from Freed's Bakery in for Kaleigh and Jennifer for all their help with insurance and scheduling. Jen was a little too happy that Kaleigh took the day off.
I woke up last night with a bear of a calf cramp at 3:30am. Worked it out, but couldn't get back to sleep. Got up and worked on the family cancer genealogy. 27 victims identified. I've put the table in the jeans post.
Tougher time fasting this round. I didn't have good preparation going in between the antifungal and hospital food and lost another 8 pounds. No weight that I'm going to miss. Broke the fast an hour after the chemo with a late (4:00 pm) lunch at the Bagel Café - bacon, Western omelet, bagel, potatoes, coffee. Couldn't touch the potatoes... something about the onions in them brought out the antifungal. Omelet was a disappointment... someday I'll find a place that knows how to make a proper omelet. Although, I'm not sure the search is worth it; I should stick to making my own. Had to ride home with the window open due to the smell of the leftovers.
Please send prayers to my friend Patti Berlinquette from Levittown, who is fearing she may be facing cancer and meeting soon with her oncologist for the first time. Cancer took her husband a long time ago and she's raised her son by herself into an amazing man who is about to get married.
Can't wait to see how my leg feels tomorrow. Definitely needs some exercise after being off it so much this week.
At the end of the last post, I mentioned that antifungal has a half life of 48 hours. That means after 96 hours it will still be at 25%. Four more days and it would be 6% and hoping that at that point it is undetectable. Flowery scents are really distasteful and trigger that nasty taste in my mouth.
11:30 pm
Got up off the couch after falling asleep for an hour. Boom! All leg pain gone. Usually takes until Saturday. Can of La Croix punctured in my backpack and leaked all over. At least it's just fizzy water and no stickiness. Just need to air it out overnight.
January 13, 2018
2:30am
What could possibly get me up at 2:30 am on a Saturday? Well, normally it's my bladder, which did oblige me once I got out of bed. But no, the omelet question loomed large in my brain. I had to look up the recipe for a Western omelet. My idea of a Western omelet differs from the norm, hence my quest to find one the way I like it would be fruitless. The first recipe mentioned the difference in cooking style that the Western omelet represents over a French omelet. In a Western omelet all the ingredients are sautéed then mixed in the eggs then fried together. A French omelet is cooked like a crepe with the scrambled egg fried flat in the pan in a thin layer. But the French omelet doesn't have any ingredients but egg and butter. Blah.
So for the best omelet you will ever have, combine the two into a French meat/vegetable omelet. Sauté the vegetables and if you want meat - I like leftover (beef) spicy meat sauce from spaghetti, tomatoes, onions; jalapeno, green, yellow and red peppers. Then take them out of the pan and make the eggs French omelet style and just before the top is fully cooked, put the veggie/meat mixture in a line down the middle of the egg. Add coarsely grated mild cheddar cheese on top of the mixture and fold the sides of the egg over the middle. Heat for another minute. If you can, without messing up the whole thing, flip it over to better melt the cheese and finish off the egg for another 30 seconds then flip it onto a plate. Best omelet you will ever have. If I don't have spaghetti sauce, sometimes I use salsa, but the meat sauce really makes it better. Some recipes call for covering the eggs or putting them in the oven. I don't like the huge fluffiness that results--just too filling and detracts from the fillings.
Fortunately, I am actually still full from yesterday's omelet or I'd be running to the store right now.
January 14, 2018 12:00pm
Still dragging a bit from uneven sleep patterns but slept like a dead man last night after having one beer with dinner. Antibiotics are playing havoc with my appetite as the Levoquin is particularly strong and I don't think I can eat enough yogurt to compensate for its killing power. Two more days left.
Added some more detail to the genealogy with details from cousin Ethel about her mother's husband, also John Heeg. Likely he passed from leukemia. He was my grandfather's youngest brother. So much repetition of names in this family. I am sure I am missing other cancer victims in the family just due to lack of info; but 28 is quite a score.
Now I just need to make sure that the authorization for genetic counseling comes through by Wednesday and make sure I don't do anything stupid to wind up in the hospital again.
January 15, 2018 1:30pm
A strange thing happened as I decided to eat lunch today: My taste buds have all but disappeared. They were there for breakfast, although raisin bran doesn't have the most robust taste to it. Everything tastes like sawdust--especially Cheetos. Even OJ and grapefruit went down without a hint of sourness. A small tub of skyr just went down like paste. I tried a bottle of Kevita probiotic juice to balance my stomach cultures, but it has too much sugar and I felt like napping through lunch. I have a bowl of jambalaya waiting for snack later. Not having much hope that it will even taste remotely like it usually does. And it didn't.
I submitted the family genealogy to the genetic counseling center today. 25 victims of cancer listed going back four generations. There are likely others who should be on there who we just don't know about the cause of death.
Next: Post chemo possibilites
Another round of chemo today. We met with the PA Kris at CCCN instead of Dr. V. Doc didn't get off easy as we posed a lot of questions to Kris about the ineffectiveness of Neulasta at keeping me out of the hospital. Dr. V. decided to cut back on the Doxorubicin by about half. I was surprised when I saw the syringe. Erase the image of a syringe in your mind. This is a one-inch pipe that is usually filled up with 4" of red liquid. It was a surprise to see how much less. Kris said it is always a balancing act between destroying the immune system and attacking the tumor with serious chemicals; this is just an adjustment.
I brought some cookies from Freed's Bakery in for Kaleigh and Jennifer for all their help with insurance and scheduling. Jen was a little too happy that Kaleigh took the day off.
I woke up last night with a bear of a calf cramp at 3:30am. Worked it out, but couldn't get back to sleep. Got up and worked on the family cancer genealogy. 27 victims identified. I've put the table in the jeans post.
Tougher time fasting this round. I didn't have good preparation going in between the antifungal and hospital food and lost another 8 pounds. No weight that I'm going to miss. Broke the fast an hour after the chemo with a late (4:00 pm) lunch at the Bagel Café - bacon, Western omelet, bagel, potatoes, coffee. Couldn't touch the potatoes... something about the onions in them brought out the antifungal. Omelet was a disappointment... someday I'll find a place that knows how to make a proper omelet. Although, I'm not sure the search is worth it; I should stick to making my own. Had to ride home with the window open due to the smell of the leftovers.
Please send prayers to my friend Patti Berlinquette from Levittown, who is fearing she may be facing cancer and meeting soon with her oncologist for the first time. Cancer took her husband a long time ago and she's raised her son by herself into an amazing man who is about to get married.
Can't wait to see how my leg feels tomorrow. Definitely needs some exercise after being off it so much this week.
At the end of the last post, I mentioned that antifungal has a half life of 48 hours. That means after 96 hours it will still be at 25%. Four more days and it would be 6% and hoping that at that point it is undetectable. Flowery scents are really distasteful and trigger that nasty taste in my mouth.
11:30 pm
Got up off the couch after falling asleep for an hour. Boom! All leg pain gone. Usually takes until Saturday. Can of La Croix punctured in my backpack and leaked all over. At least it's just fizzy water and no stickiness. Just need to air it out overnight.
January 13, 2018
2:30am
What could possibly get me up at 2:30 am on a Saturday? Well, normally it's my bladder, which did oblige me once I got out of bed. But no, the omelet question loomed large in my brain. I had to look up the recipe for a Western omelet. My idea of a Western omelet differs from the norm, hence my quest to find one the way I like it would be fruitless. The first recipe mentioned the difference in cooking style that the Western omelet represents over a French omelet. In a Western omelet all the ingredients are sautéed then mixed in the eggs then fried together. A French omelet is cooked like a crepe with the scrambled egg fried flat in the pan in a thin layer. But the French omelet doesn't have any ingredients but egg and butter. Blah.
So for the best omelet you will ever have, combine the two into a French meat/vegetable omelet. Sauté the vegetables and if you want meat - I like leftover (beef) spicy meat sauce from spaghetti, tomatoes, onions; jalapeno, green, yellow and red peppers. Then take them out of the pan and make the eggs French omelet style and just before the top is fully cooked, put the veggie/meat mixture in a line down the middle of the egg. Add coarsely grated mild cheddar cheese on top of the mixture and fold the sides of the egg over the middle. Heat for another minute. If you can, without messing up the whole thing, flip it over to better melt the cheese and finish off the egg for another 30 seconds then flip it onto a plate. Best omelet you will ever have. If I don't have spaghetti sauce, sometimes I use salsa, but the meat sauce really makes it better. Some recipes call for covering the eggs or putting them in the oven. I don't like the huge fluffiness that results--just too filling and detracts from the fillings.Fortunately, I am actually still full from yesterday's omelet or I'd be running to the store right now.
January 14, 2018 12:00pm
Still dragging a bit from uneven sleep patterns but slept like a dead man last night after having one beer with dinner. Antibiotics are playing havoc with my appetite as the Levoquin is particularly strong and I don't think I can eat enough yogurt to compensate for its killing power. Two more days left.
Added some more detail to the genealogy with details from cousin Ethel about her mother's husband, also John Heeg. Likely he passed from leukemia. He was my grandfather's youngest brother. So much repetition of names in this family. I am sure I am missing other cancer victims in the family just due to lack of info; but 28 is quite a score.
Now I just need to make sure that the authorization for genetic counseling comes through by Wednesday and make sure I don't do anything stupid to wind up in the hospital again.
January 15, 2018 1:30pm
A strange thing happened as I decided to eat lunch today: My taste buds have all but disappeared. They were there for breakfast, although raisin bran doesn't have the most robust taste to it. Everything tastes like sawdust--especially Cheetos. Even OJ and grapefruit went down without a hint of sourness. A small tub of skyr just went down like paste. I tried a bottle of Kevita probiotic juice to balance my stomach cultures, but it has too much sugar and I felt like napping through lunch. I have a bowl of jambalaya waiting for snack later. Not having much hope that it will even taste remotely like it usually does. And it didn't.
I submitted the family genealogy to the genetic counseling center today. 25 victims of cancer listed going back four generations. There are likely others who should be on there who we just don't know about the cause of death.
Next: Post chemo possibilites
