Chemo # 4 09-27-2010

Chemo # 4 09-27-2010

*** WARNING, this is pretty boring!!! no pictures, either***

Reported for duty at 7:25.

OK, for starters, I gained 7 freaking pounds! In 3 freaking weeks! Maybe that's why I was dragging ass on some of those bike rides. 199.8 lbs. Dr. said maybe now my body is getting some of the nutrition that the cancer was getting before. I think it's just because I've been eating SO much. Prednisone gives me a big appetite. And then I use my frustrating medical condition, lack of taste, etc. as an excuse to strap on a big feed bag.

Counts - wbc 3.5 (LOWest it's been, and out of range) rbc 4.65, hemo 13.9, platelets 152, gran abs 1.9.

I get the feeling from the nurse AND the doctor that they feel my wbc will soon force them to kick my bone marrow in the ass to get it back in range... I think it would be a nuprogren (sp?) injection. We'll see. (Editor's note: It's Neupogen, hello!)

Dr.R asked how I'd been feeling. I told him it took a little longer to get back to normal this time and that I had a little bout with constipation and quite a few minor headaches lately. He asked if I had any more trouble with numbness and I told him very little.

Dr. R. told me to be sure to stay ahead on the anti constipation front via over the counter products, and I am a believer now. Hopefully I won't have to deal with that again. He said the chemo drug vincristine was the likely culprit.

I asked him if my experience with chemo was typical given my diagnosis and the specific regimen I'm on. He said, "well, you're young..." so there was that again. Young is in the eye of the beholder, I guess, and if your patients' average age is 65 (I'm pulling a number out of the air) maybe 52 seems young.

Flu shot: doc said it's ok to get one, 2 weeks post chemo. Nurse said she thinks the standard flu shot includes swine flu vaccine as well this year.

PET scan coming in two weeks also.

I told Dr. R. what the Dermatologist told me (I hadn't gotten a chance to 'blog that yet, sorry).

BEGIN REPORT FROM MY DERMATOLOGIST VISIT 9/23:

That strange thing on my back? Turns out it's a seborrhoeic keratoses, which is a benign epidermal neoplasm, but you probably already knew that, huh? It's a funky but harmless skin lesion.

It's a 'tose, not an 'oma! Sweet!

Anyway, evidently these sometimes develop but they are harmless. They can bleed easily if scratched sometimes. At least that's what I got out of it. He said if I DID get another one, he would want to have a look at it to be sure.

He gave me a good looking over and said I should have my warts blasted. About a year ago I got my first ever wart on my middle finger left hand. I put some meds on it but it never really went completely away. Just recently I developed one on a finger on my right hand and then a tiny one back on the other hand.

The derm doc said with my immune system being compromised with chemo, the warts can run wild. He said it would be best to blast them before they take off. So he cryo blasted 'em and said I should see him again in a month.

He also did a body scan and didn't find any suspicious activity.

I feel obliged to tell you that I was expecting some sort of bad news from this guy, but it all worked out OK.

BACK TO CHEMO

Chemo went well. I hardly napped at all. Got back in my Jeep at 1:09 and was going to go back to work but decided against it (with some prodding via text from Sherri. They must have been stealing stuff from my office and didn't want me to catch them). I've felt mostly fine. I started back on the prednisone and sennokot and now lorazepam. Slight headache is my only symptom.

Came home and lounged, watched the Bears (3 and 0? I've seen it but I still don't believe they're that good). And now I'm not that tired (come on, lorazepam) so I thought I should blast this out.

4 in the rearview mirror, 2 in the windshield.

Thanks for checking.

**
I'm a great-great uncle. Again.

My niece Jonna had girls. Only. 5 of them. Her daughter Alison had girls. Only. 3 of them.

Tonight Jonna's daughter Missy had a baby. Girl..... NO BOYS in that family!

That great a concentration of estrogen could be dangerous!

Congratulations, love and best wishes to Missy and baby girl (no name yet).