It's been 12 days since my treatments ended. I will go back to work tomorrow. While I am still weak, I believe I am up to it.
The hardest thing will be getting ready and driving in to work. I admit I'm looking forward to seeing my workmates again. And that brings me to the "Thanks" part of this post.
I received a nice surprise last Thursday. The folks at my office sent me a card. See below.
It's hard to express how much this helped my moral. All I can say is Thanks, Thanks, Thanks. RT
It's 5 days since I stopped chemo and radiation. Today is the first day I didn't need to take the anti-nausea meds. It will take some more time to wash the chemo drugs out of my system.
Instead of reporting the remaining side effects and symptoms I thought a top ten list of my least favorite side effects of the chemo and radiation would suffice.
TOP TEN THINGS I WILL NOT MISS ABOUT CANCER TREATMENTS
#10 Loss of Appetite #9 Neuropathy of Hands and Feet #8 Rashes #7 Dizziness #6 Loss of strength #5 Burning sensation when peeing #4 That icky feeling of just not being right #3 Radiation burns #2 Vomiting and the number 1 thing I will not miss about cancer treatments is: Continous Diarrhea If it sounds like I've been a bundle of joy for the last month or so you can see why. I am still experiencing some of the above mentioned maladies but hope they will dissipate soon. Today was better than yesterday and I am hopeful that tomorrow will be better still. RT
This week's blog is proving my most difficult to post. It's almost 11:30 Sunday night and I'm still trying to get my side effects under control enough to attempt sleep. I have medication for the tumor pain, but this weekend has been all about stomach pains, nausea, and vomiting.
I spent last night and this morning (from 10:00 pm Saturday night to 5:30 AM Sunday morning) sitting in the easy chair in the living room with severe cramps and stomach pain. Today I've tried some different meds and foods, but still have the stomach pains. They are less severe than yesterday, but still enough to keep me awake. A search on the Internet led me to bananas as a soothing food. So ... I am tentatively munching on small bits on banana in hope it will ease the pain. I've had to resort to pain pills for most of last week, but I am attempting to stop taking them. They won't help with the stomach issue anyway. OK, enough about the past. Here's the good news. I have just TWO chemo days and radiation treatments left. It can't come soon enough for me.
I continue to work the problem hour by hour and I continue to hang in.
OK, so no actual monkeys flew out of my butt, though on a couple of days this last week it did feel that way. The chemo and radiation is intense, aggressive, and cumulative. This last week I received some new side effects. The bottoms of my feet hurt, like someone had beaten them. I awoke Saturday morning feeling like I'd been in a fight in which I was repeatedly hit in the family jewels and the area directly north of my family jewels was a nice rosy red from the radiation. The nausea continues unabated. All in all just another regular week for a cancer patient. I am not complaining as much as reporting. My oncologists tell me some of their patients have it much worse. I believe them. I remain is survival mode, taking it hour by hour. The good news in all of this is that I am in the single digits for the number of remaining treatments. That number is 7. I am hanging in. RT
This last week marked the halfway point in my treatments. Wednesday was day 14 of my 28 day treatment regimen. I didn't go in to work this week. The side effects have finally taken over. Now, my main objective is to make the best of each day.
Small things count. I view feeding myself, bathing, and occasionally shaving as major achievements.
Twelve treatment days to go. That's 2 &1/2 calendar weeks left.
So, I completed my first full week of chemo and radiation this Friday, five days of afternoon radiation treatments and chemo pills morning and evening. By the end of the week I was pretty wasted, but not in a good 60s kind of way, more in an old man with no energy kind of way.
Work was tough this week as well. I only managed to go for 3 days of the five. Some mornings there just isn't any energy to get ready, or worse, I'm having issues related to the treatments that make me hover around the bathroom.
This weekend is going to be a total rest event. If I do good, then maybe Monday morning will find me on the commute to work. I've just been reading, fixing something to eat and watching the tube. We don't have cable, however we get a bunch of HD channels. One of the movie channels is sponsored by the Ironwood Cancer Research and Treatment Center where I am being treated. It feels a little creepy hearing their commercials over and over again. In the end I started changing the channel rather than be reminded that I have cancer time and again during the movie.
There is good news here though. I have now completed 11 of the 28 treatments I will be receiving. That leaves just 17 to go.
A website I read frequently had this video posted. It struck home. Here it is for your viewing pleasure.
OK, I completed treatment number 6 this last Friday. My world currently revolves around my butt and not to put to fine a point on it, it's a pain in the ass, literally.
For the first time since starting the daily chemo and radiation treatments I felt the results of the radiation. It was not a comfortable or pleasant sensation, but I was reassured to know it was definitely doing something to the tumor.
The mornings are the hardest part of the day for me. I struggle to get ready, eat breakfast and make it to work. Lack of energy and nausea are my problems these days. I am getting as much sleep as possible and taking medication for the nausea, but both problems are getting worse as the treatments continue.
The weekends are a break from the chemo and radiation. On Saturday and Sunday I get as much rest as possible and prepare for the coming week.
It's not clear to me how long I can keep working. I am taking it one day at a time now. Hopefully the treatments are killing the cancer. That is the most important thing.
