The broken car hoist at my workshop was causing me some concern. Not only am I not there to earn any income but with the main wheel alignment hoist out of action Kurt was having to turn work away.
I got on the phone to Murray and asked if he could come by on Monday and remove the damaged parts, show Kurt how to reassemble the hoist and also get the parts repaired by the engineers. Murray said it was a shame it couldn't be done today as he had been rained off for a job he was doing today.
Not long after that phone call the nurse told me that I could leave and get out for the afternoon if I wanted. I quickly phoned Murray back and he came and picked me up. I was soon decked out in my overalls and stripping the pulleys and cables from the four post hoist back at my workshop. Problem solved! Murray and Kurt have offered reassemble it on Monday night for me.
Sarah brought me back to hospital tonight at around 5pm and I'm now waiting for another thirty minute round of chemo at 9:00pm. I'm still feeling pretty good, just the usual dull feeling but nothing as scary as I was expecting. The other rooms here are full of really sick people and once again I almost feel like I shouldn't be here. Maybe it's a blessing that I always think I'm well when I'm sick.
Two weeks ago when I was admitted with a neutropenic fever I didn't think it was a big deal and I didn't really feel all that unwell. But once I really was back to good health I realise that maybe I was quite sick. It makes me think of that Monty Python movie, The Search for the Holy Grail, where the Knight has both his arms cut off and both his legs and he is yelling at his enemy to come back and fight and that it's only a flesh wound.
I've dragged out a couple of books to re-read. First of them is probably one of the most life changing books I've ever read. The first time I read it was about fifteen years ago. The Book? The terribly named " How to Win Friends and Influence People". I always feel embarrassed about the title when reading it in public and go to great lengths to hide the cover. Face it could Dale Carnegie have chosen a more insincere sounding title?. The fact is it's actually a really good read and although most people will read it and say "I already knew most of what he says", I myself often forget to implement the common sense advise that he offers. If you haven't read it, I suggest if you really want to make a huge difference in the way you see other people and other people see you, give it a read. It's not about influencing people in an insensere way to suit your own ends (as the title might suggest) but a way of understanding what people want and feel and using that knowledge to your mutual advantage in your work, your relationships and social life.
What I do know is that I have slipped back into my old ways, I used to be very critical when I was younger, Then I grew out of it and became a lot more positive. I've mellowed a lot in the last few years, but I've stopped implementing some of the good advice the book offers. A re-reading was definitely over-due.
Anyway.. back to it, just another couple of chapters to read. :)
Friday, February 13, 2009
Friday..
I had every intention of posting something yesterday but I just couldn't find the energy to drag my laptop out of it's bag and write. It was a big day.
Sarah and I arrived bright and early at 7:45am and met with Kate who is filling in for Catherine the Bone Marrow Transplant coordinator while she is away. I asked if she had the results from my CT and GFR (kidney) scans. She did.
My kidneys are in great shape and despite all the previous chemo are functioning within the normal range.
The CT scan shows what I was expecting. Almost all previous areas of involvement have resolved. There is no sign of the nodes that were affecting my lungs (hence the absence of that cough) and the nodes behind my heart also are no longer visible on CT. There is just one small lymph node that is 6-8mm in size in my lower throat region. This is not large enough to be of any concern.
This is great news as it means that there is very little work for the high dose chemo to do. Most of my cancer seems to have been wiped out by the preconditioning chemo of last month. No wonder I have been feeling so good these last couple of weeks!
One of the first things to happen yesterday was the insertion of a PICC line into my right arm. This is a long hollow wire that is placed on the inside of the bicep and runs via a vein towards my heart finishing in one of the main arteries. The line is 38cm long and despite being only about 1mm in diameter it is a duel filament that can flow chemo on one side and be used to take blood from the other simultaneously. It's a lot better than having those IV cannula's placed into my ever shrinking veins and blood tests are a breeze now, rather than a challenge.
As for the actual chemo, I had Carmustine yesterday along with 5 litres of saline to flush my kidneys. Two litres before and three after. Today I had Etoposide followed by Cytarabine all washed down with a side order of Dexamethasone, Metoclopramide and Tropisitron. The latter three being a steroid and two anti-emetics designed to stop me from throwing up. So far they appear to be working as I feel reasonably well despite the chemical cocktail.
I've now been un-hooked from the IV pump and have the rest of the day to myself. There's not anywhere I can go though as I have no transport, So will probably just go for a walk around the hospital. Kurt tells me that one of the hoists at the workshop needs urgent servicing.. It's both frustrating and typical that it happens when I'm not there to sort it out.
Anyway it's good that I'm still feeling OK after the first 24 hours of chemo, another four days to go.. finger firmly crossed.
Sarah and I arrived bright and early at 7:45am and met with Kate who is filling in for Catherine the Bone Marrow Transplant coordinator while she is away. I asked if she had the results from my CT and GFR (kidney) scans. She did.
My kidneys are in great shape and despite all the previous chemo are functioning within the normal range.
The CT scan shows what I was expecting. Almost all previous areas of involvement have resolved. There is no sign of the nodes that were affecting my lungs (hence the absence of that cough) and the nodes behind my heart also are no longer visible on CT. There is just one small lymph node that is 6-8mm in size in my lower throat region. This is not large enough to be of any concern.
This is great news as it means that there is very little work for the high dose chemo to do. Most of my cancer seems to have been wiped out by the preconditioning chemo of last month. No wonder I have been feeling so good these last couple of weeks!
One of the first things to happen yesterday was the insertion of a PICC line into my right arm. This is a long hollow wire that is placed on the inside of the bicep and runs via a vein towards my heart finishing in one of the main arteries. The line is 38cm long and despite being only about 1mm in diameter it is a duel filament that can flow chemo on one side and be used to take blood from the other simultaneously. It's a lot better than having those IV cannula's placed into my ever shrinking veins and blood tests are a breeze now, rather than a challenge.
As for the actual chemo, I had Carmustine yesterday along with 5 litres of saline to flush my kidneys. Two litres before and three after. Today I had Etoposide followed by Cytarabine all washed down with a side order of Dexamethasone, Metoclopramide and Tropisitron. The latter three being a steroid and two anti-emetics designed to stop me from throwing up. So far they appear to be working as I feel reasonably well despite the chemical cocktail.
I've now been un-hooked from the IV pump and have the rest of the day to myself. There's not anywhere I can go though as I have no transport, So will probably just go for a walk around the hospital. Kurt tells me that one of the hoists at the workshop needs urgent servicing.. It's both frustrating and typical that it happens when I'm not there to sort it out.
Anyway it's good that I'm still feeling OK after the first 24 hours of chemo, another four days to go.. finger firmly crossed.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Trepidation...
I had a meeting today with a couple of members of the Bone Marrow Transplant team that will be looking after me. The purpose of the meeting was to go over any concerns I may have and to sign the consent forms.
There were a few pieces of new information that I had not previously heard.
One was that the period taken for my blood counts to recover is a lot faster than with standard chemotherapy. They believe it could be as short as 10-14 days rather than the 21 days it usually takes. This of course could be affected by the slightly reduced size of the stem cell harvest though.
The other bit of news is about one of the chemo drugs Melphalan, which is known to cause severe Stomatitis (mouth sores etc). This is something that I am very prone to anyway, so I'm rather concerned about it. Apparently in severe cases patients are unable to swallow food and are fed via a tube.
I developed severe stomatitis when I had radiation therapy and was unable to eat properly for several weeks, loosing 10kg in the process. So as you can imagine I'm a bit worried. Certainly last time I would describe as being the most horrible painful experience of my life.
The doctor said that sucking on iceblocks while the chemo drug is administered is supposed to help. I thought this most unlikely until I did some research on the internet today and found several medical studies have confirmed this. They called it "oral cryotherapy". Other websites called it for what it was.. "sucking on ice-pops".
I know the fridge in the kitchen on ward 1 is full of iceblocks so I'll be sucking a constant stream of them starting thirty minutes before treatment until thirty minutes after. It's either that or be on morphine and a nasal feeding tube for two weeks in a worst case scenario.
No word on the CT scan results yet. I'm looking forward to seeing those as I believe they will show reduced tumour activity in my chest and lungs as my breathing is still in excellent condition and no sign of a cough.
Next post will be on Thursday from my bed in ward 1. Probably with the first of the high-dose chemo being pumped into the PICC line newly inserted in my arm.
Till then I'll try not to chew my fingernails too much!
..Ron
There were a few pieces of new information that I had not previously heard.
One was that the period taken for my blood counts to recover is a lot faster than with standard chemotherapy. They believe it could be as short as 10-14 days rather than the 21 days it usually takes. This of course could be affected by the slightly reduced size of the stem cell harvest though.
The other bit of news is about one of the chemo drugs Melphalan, which is known to cause severe Stomatitis (mouth sores etc). This is something that I am very prone to anyway, so I'm rather concerned about it. Apparently in severe cases patients are unable to swallow food and are fed via a tube.
I developed severe stomatitis when I had radiation therapy and was unable to eat properly for several weeks, loosing 10kg in the process. So as you can imagine I'm a bit worried. Certainly last time I would describe as being the most horrible painful experience of my life.
The doctor said that sucking on iceblocks while the chemo drug is administered is supposed to help. I thought this most unlikely until I did some research on the internet today and found several medical studies have confirmed this. They called it "oral cryotherapy". Other websites called it for what it was.. "sucking on ice-pops".
I know the fridge in the kitchen on ward 1 is full of iceblocks so I'll be sucking a constant stream of them starting thirty minutes before treatment until thirty minutes after. It's either that or be on morphine and a nasal feeding tube for two weeks in a worst case scenario.
No word on the CT scan results yet. I'm looking forward to seeing those as I believe they will show reduced tumour activity in my chest and lungs as my breathing is still in excellent condition and no sign of a cough.
Next post will be on Thursday from my bed in ward 1. Probably with the first of the high-dose chemo being pumped into the PICC line newly inserted in my arm.
Till then I'll try not to chew my fingernails too much!
..Ron
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