I am the Epitome of Compliance

I think I must be every doctor's dream patient.  I am compliant ... obsessively compliant.  I may be naive, but I figure if a doctor tells you to do something, you should do it.


For years, I monitored my breathing with a little contraption that measured peak expiratory flow and Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second. (FeV1)  I had data out the wazoo, and trending charts back to 2003. :D  Ok, granted, that kind of fell by the wayside when I got this cancer, because it was all I could do to cope with THIS.


But now, I can obsess about new things, i.e. how much water I am drinking, getting those eight Xeloda tablets down every day, and the two B6 and the Turmeric (which are kinda hard to get down.  Stop making HUGE capsules, people!)  All these things I write down as I take them, keeping my date book by my bedside.  Yes, the glucose levels are recorded there as well, and I am happy to report that this morning I was down to 113.  The decadron has definitely left the building. :D


Oh, and the lotion and emollient thing!  According to the Patient Information sheet my oncologist gave me on Xeloda, I need to put an emollient on my hands and feet five to six times a day, and especially before bed.  I love the Emu oil, I have to say.  You use so little, yet it stretches one slight pump of the bottle to both hands and feet.  No scent, thank the gods, and it absorbs quickly.


One of the common side effects of Xeloda is mouth sores, so of course, you have to pay extreme attention to your dental hygiene.  Because I tend to get very dry mouthed from the chemo, I use a moisturizing mouthwash from Spry that contains Xylitol.  The Patient Information said that I should avoid Citrus fruits and juices, tobacco, and... NOOOOOOOOOOO!... spicy foods.  Dr. Fastenberg assured me that that part didn't apply to those of us of the latina persuasion.  If you grew up and grew and immune to it, eat it. ;)  Phew!  Dodged that bullet. 

In any event, today I feel pretty darned good.  I feel strong; much stronger than yesterday.  If I can get this chemo regimen through to completion, and it works to at least control this cancer, I will be so very happy.  


Here is Jane on a hunt for squash.  We put a basket up on the wall for the neighbors behind us and then she returns it empty with a sweet thank you note.  It's good to share. :)


Well, I'm taking each day as it comes, keeping on top of side effects as best I can and hoping this is the one that does the trick.


Love to all!

Only 1 1/2 hours of chemo today!

Apparently Herceptin doesn't make you nauseated, because all I got today was a bag of Benadryl and the Herceptin... no anti-nausea, and THANK THE GODS, no Decadron, and no Pepcid.  So, it was a very quick chemo session.

Oh, and today was definitely NOT social chemo day.  Everyone was quiet, but actually, it wasn't as crowded as it has been.  I'd say not more than half the chairs were taken.  Most folks were sleeping.  I have NEVER been able to sleep during chemo, myself.  Of course, everyone is getting different stuff, so it's hard to say how anyone will react.

There was a woman there today who was TERRIFIED of every little thing that was happening to her.  Remember how I got that port implanted in my chest so that my chemo goes directly into it, instead of them having to find a vein every week?  Well, she had the same model as mine.  What scared her was when the oncology nurse accessed it, and didn't get any blood back following the initial flush of fluid into it.  Well, I haven't had any blood flowback in weeks, and mine is fine.  The oncology nurses know it's working because you can taste and smell whatever it is they use to do the initial flush.

So, I dragged my drip holding contraption over to where she was and told her that it's NOTHING to worry about; that I havent had blood flowback in weeks, and I'm fine.  I actually saw her get tears in her eyes, she was so relieved.  I just wish there was a way to take all that fear from people; it's not healthy.

Anyway, I know I used to post to the blog a couple of times during my chemo, but this went by so quickly today, I didn't have any time. :)

I don't have to go ANYWHERE tomorrow... no doctors, no labs, no chemo and no radiation... YAY!  Dr. Fastenberg says he wants my body to start recovering from the chemos I've already had.  Let's just see how Saturday and Sunday go, my historically worst days.  I don't think Herceptin is really like the other two meds.  And to tell you the truth, I haven't read anything about it.  I'm just at the point that I'm not going start scaring myself by reading the 72 possible side effects... que sera, sera, baby.

Love to all!

Officially out on leave!

I talked to my friend Michelle today, and she confirmed that I'm now on leave status, so YAY, I should not miss a paycheck. :)


Ok, so now I am two chemos in and six radiations, and no horrible side effects to relate except for managable ones:

• diarrhea
• REALLY dry mouth
• fatigue
• glucose numbers up

The pre-chemo bag of meds has a steroid and I'm sure you all know that steroids just really muck up your glucose levels.  And because they don't want me losing weight, I've been ingesting carbs that I don't normally do, so I asked Gloria at Dr. Ramaswamy's office (my primary care) if she would have him order me more test strips.  I've got to watch this more closely.  Don't want to survive esophagel cancer but go blind, or something. ;)

Anyway, I've gotten some more Glucerna stuff, so on chemo day, I'll munch on one of their bars and see how that goes.  And go back to no bread and certainly NO ice cream... bad, bad girl! :D

My big book of chemo facts wasn't a lot of help when it came to the diarrhea, but Ironwood had given me a couple of fact sheets for dealing with  my specific chemos, and it said to take Imodium and that's working like a champ

As for the dry mouth, apparently you want stuff with Xylitol and anything by Biotene.  I ordered some stuff from Amazon which I hope comes soon.  The Biotene mouthwash helps to augment saliva's natural defenses against bacteria, so I guess this will help quite a bit.

As for fatigue, I really have to give up the iced tea in the evening, for a couple of reasons, caffeine is a diuretic, and that's not helpful to dry mouth, and because my mouth was so dry after this last chemo, I drank a TON of iced tea yesterday... and way late into the evening.  So, I could NOT fall asleep.  Well, I did around 3:30AM.  Oh well.

So, all in all, I think this is going pretty darned well.  Thanks to all my family and friends for checking up on me, loving me, and keeping me sane.  I love you all very much.