Back to London today for chemo #2. Roads weren’t too bad considering the dumping of snow and slippery roads we had last night. Radiation was first. Got our new schedule for the week. Technicians told him not to lose any weight because his mask had some wiggle. If too much space, we have to get a new mask. We told them it was from the clump of hair missing from the back of his head! Didn't work. Ken’s weight is maintaining but his cheeks are a little thinner.
Then we went upstairs to chemo to check in. Yeah Step 2! We were told he needed blood work again because our last test was from a week ago. So we're like why did we sit here last week and get it done? And our next chemo schedule shows the same time spread for round #3. Also, the pharmacy wouldn’t fill our order for the anti-nausea pill he takes once we get in there until blood results were back. So there we sat for another hour waiting for blood results before they would even take us in. I did see our 'new clinic friend' from the St. Marys area already in chemo and hooked up...and he was here same time last week for the Dr. appointment and blood work too. So I thought something was up and the Dr. didn't like Ken's counts from last week. That said we were fighting the fever monster last night. 37.8 around 2am. If it is at 38 for an hour or 38.5 anything it's emergency room time.
Finally our pager went off. The nurse came over to get us. Then she told us that we wouldn’t be doing chemo today because the counts we too low L. So as Donald Trump would say “You’re fired”. And it was time to go home. We were very disappointed. The anticipation builds as chemo comes close. You have to pump up the fluids / food intake / positive thinking and know you’re going to be one step closer to the finish line. It was a long, quiet ride home…though it did seem a little quicker because the roads were in better shape.
So what’s next you ask? As did we. Radiation schedule stays the same – every weekday. Today was #16 of 35 so we’re close approaching the half way point already. Time does fly as we had hoped.
As for chemo, we go for blood work next Wednesday at 7:30am. If blood counts OK, then chemo will follow at 8am. If not, we’ll go from there. That also pushes out our 3rd chemo another week. This reminds us of our ‘1 day at a time’ motto. Until then, we carry on but will be restricted with where we go and keep away from people with the chance of them being sick. The low counts typically mean he is fighting some sort of infection. But because of the chemo there’s nothing to fight it. The nurse also told us sometimes some people need an extra week between chemo treatments. He’s also not allowed to take Tylenol for fever (or his mouth sores) anymore because it can mask/hide an infection. Perhaps I’ll get to try out my ‘fever card’ that gets us to the front of the line in the emergency department. I didn’t want to find out how well it works but thankful to have it.
Xx
S
"When you feel like giving up, remember why you held on for so long in the first place." Unknown
No comments:
Post a Comment