October 18, 2008

Haven't had a lot to really report over the past week. Just one overriding thing and that would be Nausea! On Thursday evening the 9th Oct. I had my 2nd chemo treatment. No big deal....at the time. The next day I had a Proton Radiation treatment at 1:00 to 1:30. Then we stopped to eat lunch at a Luby's Cafeteria because we were going to do a bit of shopping before getting home and did not want to eat too late. I complained bitterly all during the meal that the meal tasted terrible and that I would never eat at a Luby's again. The taste kept lingering and got worse and worse. Shopping was cut a bit short for the feeling was just one of almost food poisoning. It wasn't. Nausea had hit. From just below my rib cage to the top of my Adams Apple in a strip about 4 inches wide I felt full and acidic. Finally took some nausea medicine (a pill) that the Dr. had previously prescribed and like a good boy scout I had bought it to be prepared. It helped for about an hour. (you can take it every 8 hours as needed) SO... I had a lot of time to continue with the nausea. I certainly did not feel like eating that evening nor the next morning. Then I remembered that it is imperative that I eat and maintain my weight, so I began pushing myself to eat anyway. Miserable. (Haven't lost a pound nor a hair)

Kenneth has a LOT of medications left over from Dianne that he cannot give away nor sell or anything, and in these meds was a couple of large boxes (not expired) of a very expensive Nausea medication named Zofran. My Dr. had prescribed that too, but Walgreens wanted only $700 for 30 pills! For some reason I declined. Well, let me tell you, this little miracle pill (Zofran) you put on your tongue and it dissolves in about 20 seconds is wonderful. It does take away the Nausea and does it for about 8 hours. Then take another one. So, even though they can give you some pretty nasty stuff here at MDA they also have some great things to relieve the bad symptoms.

Then after that, for some reason I developed a rattling cough that sounded just awful. Well, they have a prescription for a little blue pill (No, not THAT kind of blue pill) for a cough and it really, really, helps. So far, it seems that there is no reason for me to be uncomfortable from almost anything. I told the Dr. again yesterday, I sure do feel good for you guys to tell me I am SO sick. Actually, they don't anymore, they just say that I'm looking good and that my lungs sound good and all is going well. I just reply to that by saying "I'M GONNA BEAT THIS THING!"

Our schedule continues to change quite a bit and it takes some doing to stay on top of it. But even that is a very small inconvenience for getting the best treatment available. So far, I have had 3 Chemo treatments (one every Thursday) and 12 Proton treatments. (One every day, five days a week) Let's see, that means only 27 more Protons and only 4 more Chemo treatments. We finish on November 18. Then 3 weeks later return for a FULL dose of Chemo. Then 3 weeks after that return again for another FULL Chemo dose. I suspect by they way that the Dr. emphasizes FULL dose that it must be really strong. Oh, and then he says return for a check-up in 6 months, then 2 years, then every 2 years after that.

Every day we are thankful that we can be here in what we are sure is the very best place in the whole world to be treated for this horrible disease. It would be extremely expensive to do so if it were not for staying with Kenneth and even using one of his cars to commute! For that, we are truly grateful. And the nice side benefit is to see so much of Kenneth.

I want to thank you for all the thoughts and prayers. I can truly feel them

Stan