It's been over a week since I've written anything and the reasons are twofold. First, I started feeling not so great and, second, it was Christmas. I didn't want to complain at Christmastime. I will try not to complain now, just tell you what it was like.
The chemo pump was removed on Friday. I had had some stomach discomfort but not enough to make me really sick. Dr Banghar gave me a script for anti-nausea med just in case. Of course I felt better so we didn't get it filled right away. Silly me. I had also been told that I might develop sores in my mouth and they could call in a script if that happened. Well it did, but not until the weekend when nobody was working. All in all Christmas weekend was not as good as it could have been but I was surrounded by loving and caring friends and Jerry and is sister, Barb. We moved the motor home on Monday and got prescriptions filled so now I am on the mend.
For the first time in my life I am having to force myself to eat. I realized that some of the tummy problems were caused by an empty stomach so between Tums and eating small bites I am feeling much better. My mother is probably sitting on her cloud, strumming her harp and having a chuckle. She said I never lost my appetite, even when I had the stomach flu. The good news is that as of Monday I had lost 5 lbs.
I only had three days of radiation last week but can already feel some of the effects. Those butt tissues are tender so while we were getting prescriptions filled I was stocking up on lotions and potions.
It is a new experience to be living in a city again. At the "Ranch" it's 5 miles to the post office to pick up our mail, there's no delivery, and 12 miles to Safeway. Even when we're traveling we are usually removed from the amenities of city life. Here we are right in the middle of suburbia with everything we need within 1 1/2 miles. It's about 15 minutes to the radiation clinic. I have said I would never live in a Sun City, it means your old, but I guess for 6 weeks or so I can handle admitting to being over 55, just barely of course.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Yesterday, Monday, was a long busy day. We started with an early lunch at Olive Garden with our neighbors, Pat and Dwayn. What a deal. For $6.95 you get all you can eat soup, salad and bread sticks. Sure beats fast food for about the same price and you are served and there are tablecloths.
1:15 met with Dr Banghar to review treatment. He said the bone scan showed no cancer just changes that we all experience as we age. He said there is no point in sticking needles in all those little spots, just to check. Then on to chemo area. Nicole, my nurse, inserted a needle attached to an IV tubing into the port on my chest. First was an anti-nauseau medicine then a steroid for the same thing. Then a "push" of Mitomycin which she pushed into the IV line from a very large syringe along with a flush solution, I assume saline, to make sure all the medicine gets in my body. They had told me I would have a pump for the next four days to put the 5-FU into my system. Silly me, I thought this would be something small attached to the port. Oh no, about 4 1/2' of IV tubing is attached to the pump and a bag of the 5-FU which is held in a bag with a shoulder strap, this total contraption is about 6" x 5" x 3". This stays with me until 2:00 Friday and it is somewhat of a pain remembering to pick it up and carry it with me whenever I want to move. Also, no showers until Fri, just sponge baths and hair washing in sink. I will try to stay as sweet smelling as possible.
We had four hours to kill until the next appointment so we made a couple of stops and decided to see a movie which we don't do very often. We saw Hugo and it was excellent. Very different, touching and, in the end, very feel good.
6:40 appointment at radiation oncology. No radiation, just more pictures to fine tune the treatment. Radiation will start tonight, again until 6:40. We have this time until the 29th then on the 30th it will move to 10:30 AM. We finally got home about 8:30.
Jerry found a place to move our motor home about four miles from the radiation clinic. It is a very nice resort-type park and even though they are not Thousand Trails they honor our membership so it is only about $100 a week. An added expense we had not planned on but worth it to save us both the drive every day. We will probably come up to the house most weekends but will decide that as we go on.
Thank goodness we have excellent medical insurance so the total treatment, etc should not cost us anything. We will move on the 26th so that we can be here for Christmas.
I am still feeling OK and trying to stay very positive. I believe attitude is a huge part of the cure. Jerry is being wonderful and telling me to just take it easy. This is a new experience for both of us and we will make it 100%.
.
1:15 met with Dr Banghar to review treatment. He said the bone scan showed no cancer just changes that we all experience as we age. He said there is no point in sticking needles in all those little spots, just to check. Then on to chemo area. Nicole, my nurse, inserted a needle attached to an IV tubing into the port on my chest. First was an anti-nauseau medicine then a steroid for the same thing. Then a "push" of Mitomycin which she pushed into the IV line from a very large syringe along with a flush solution, I assume saline, to make sure all the medicine gets in my body. They had told me I would have a pump for the next four days to put the 5-FU into my system. Silly me, I thought this would be something small attached to the port. Oh no, about 4 1/2' of IV tubing is attached to the pump and a bag of the 5-FU which is held in a bag with a shoulder strap, this total contraption is about 6" x 5" x 3". This stays with me until 2:00 Friday and it is somewhat of a pain remembering to pick it up and carry it with me whenever I want to move. Also, no showers until Fri, just sponge baths and hair washing in sink. I will try to stay as sweet smelling as possible.
We had four hours to kill until the next appointment so we made a couple of stops and decided to see a movie which we don't do very often. We saw Hugo and it was excellent. Very different, touching and, in the end, very feel good.
6:40 appointment at radiation oncology. No radiation, just more pictures to fine tune the treatment. Radiation will start tonight, again until 6:40. We have this time until the 29th then on the 30th it will move to 10:30 AM. We finally got home about 8:30.
Jerry found a place to move our motor home about four miles from the radiation clinic. It is a very nice resort-type park and even though they are not Thousand Trails they honor our membership so it is only about $100 a week. An added expense we had not planned on but worth it to save us both the drive every day. We will probably come up to the house most weekends but will decide that as we go on.
Thank goodness we have excellent medical insurance so the total treatment, etc should not cost us anything. We will move on the 26th so that we can be here for Christmas.
I am still feeling OK and trying to stay very positive. I believe attitude is a huge part of the cure. Jerry is being wonderful and telling me to just take it easy. This is a new experience for both of us and we will make it 100%.
.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
The first half of this week was very busy. Monday I had an appointment for a bone scan at Del Webb Hospital in Surprise at 8:30. This is the third Monday morning we have been there for tests and it is about 45 minutes from the house. The staff there is wonderful, very upbeat, and they don't keep you waiting at all. I don't have the results of the scan yet but I am assuming "no news is good news".
Tuesday morning I went into Wickenburg to get my Cpap machine. Before all this cancer stuff started I had a couple of sleep studies and found out I have mild sleep apnea. I haven't made it through the night with the machine yet, but tonight I will tweak it and make it a little more snug in the hope I can get a good night's sleep.
Tuesday afternoon I met with my radiation oncologist, Dr Terry Lee. He is truly amazing - a mechanical engineering degree from UCLA, medical degree from Tufts University, masters in nuclear engineering from MIT and radiation oncology from UC San Francisco. With all the engineering I was expecting some kind of nerd, but just the opposite. He has a great personality and sense of humor. In order to start my treatment on the 19th, he had us wait around 45-50 minutes to get another scan of the affected area and to make a cast for my legs to keep my in the proper position. It is not ladylike at all, I have to keep my legs in a "frog" position. Dr Lee was adamant that we not drive the 106 mile round trip every day and Jerry finally agrees. We will be moving the motor home the day after Christmas. Monday I have chemo at 1:15 and the radiation is not until 6:40, then the same thing again on Friday. That was the only opening but I will move to about 10:30 AM after 8 or 9 days.
Yesterday I had my hair cut short so I don't have to worry about it. I had let it grow over the last year, but I still have curls. They say I shouldn't lose my hair but I want to be prepared. I won't be a blonde much longer. I don't want chemicals on my head while getting them injected into my body.
Today through Sunday are somewhat normal days. I want to get things done around the house because I don't know how I'll feel next week and want the house somewhat clean for Christmas. I am still feeling normal and I don't really know what to expect. According to Dr Lee it sounds like the radiation will be worse than the chemo.
I will sign off now but will be back soon. TTFN
Tuesday morning I went into Wickenburg to get my Cpap machine. Before all this cancer stuff started I had a couple of sleep studies and found out I have mild sleep apnea. I haven't made it through the night with the machine yet, but tonight I will tweak it and make it a little more snug in the hope I can get a good night's sleep.
Tuesday afternoon I met with my radiation oncologist, Dr Terry Lee. He is truly amazing - a mechanical engineering degree from UCLA, medical degree from Tufts University, masters in nuclear engineering from MIT and radiation oncology from UC San Francisco. With all the engineering I was expecting some kind of nerd, but just the opposite. He has a great personality and sense of humor. In order to start my treatment on the 19th, he had us wait around 45-50 minutes to get another scan of the affected area and to make a cast for my legs to keep my in the proper position. It is not ladylike at all, I have to keep my legs in a "frog" position. Dr Lee was adamant that we not drive the 106 mile round trip every day and Jerry finally agrees. We will be moving the motor home the day after Christmas. Monday I have chemo at 1:15 and the radiation is not until 6:40, then the same thing again on Friday. That was the only opening but I will move to about 10:30 AM after 8 or 9 days.
Yesterday I had my hair cut short so I don't have to worry about it. I had let it grow over the last year, but I still have curls. They say I shouldn't lose my hair but I want to be prepared. I won't be a blonde much longer. I don't want chemicals on my head while getting them injected into my body.
Today through Sunday are somewhat normal days. I want to get things done around the house because I don't know how I'll feel next week and want the house somewhat clean for Christmas. I am still feeling normal and I don't really know what to expect. According to Dr Lee it sounds like the radiation will be worse than the chemo.
I will sign off now but will be back soon. TTFN
Friday, December 9, 2011
When Jerry and I retired 5 1/2 years ago and started traveling this wonderful country of ours, I intended to start a blog. My title, Travels with Kirby and Kelsey, is taken from John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley, recounting his travels across America in a small camper with his standard poodle. We travel in a much larger motor home with our two Coton de Tulear. I never got started on this blog until now when I am faced with the scariest journey of my life.
On November 28, 2011 I was diagnosed with anal cancer. This is a somewhat rare but highly curable type of cancer. Only about 6,000 cases per year occur in the US. This is also the same cancer that Farah Fawcett had, although it was liver cancer that eventually killed her. On November 30 I met with my oncologist, Dr. Parmjeet Banghar, who, incidentally, spent several years at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit where I was born and also my son, Pete. It feels good that we have a connection, however remote. He explained the treatment to me which consists of chemotherapy and radiation. He also ordered a CT scan with contrast to see if the cancer had spread or if any lymph nodes are involved. I am happy to report that none of this has occurred. I also had a port placed in my chest for the chemo treatments. The scan did show one small spot on my left hip and I am having a bone scan on Monday to determine what this is. I am confident it is nothing.
At this time I am still feeling healthy and my treatment doesn't start until the 19th. I have several appointments this coming week and I will post results as I learn them.
On November 28, 2011 I was diagnosed with anal cancer. This is a somewhat rare but highly curable type of cancer. Only about 6,000 cases per year occur in the US. This is also the same cancer that Farah Fawcett had, although it was liver cancer that eventually killed her. On November 30 I met with my oncologist, Dr. Parmjeet Banghar, who, incidentally, spent several years at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit where I was born and also my son, Pete. It feels good that we have a connection, however remote. He explained the treatment to me which consists of chemotherapy and radiation. He also ordered a CT scan with contrast to see if the cancer had spread or if any lymph nodes are involved. I am happy to report that none of this has occurred. I also had a port placed in my chest for the chemo treatments. The scan did show one small spot on my left hip and I am having a bone scan on Monday to determine what this is. I am confident it is nothing.
At this time I am still feeling healthy and my treatment doesn't start until the 19th. I have several appointments this coming week and I will post results as I learn them.
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