Friday

After feeling somewhat better in my chest since taking the 400 mg of Ibuprofan I had been taking an afternoon nap when I awoke and slowly walked to the desk in my bedroom and stood there for about thirty seconds when I immediately blacked out and dropped to the floor. I immediately awoke and tried to orient myself as to where I was as a decorative plate was lying next to me on the floor. It had fallen from a height of about 8 ft from a hutch that I must have struck on the way down, although I sustained no injury or bruising from the fall.

My father and sister who were downstairs in the house and heard me hit the floor thought that I had dropped something but they were immediately on the scene to assist me in getting to my feet. I myself remember hitting the floor so I was only out for a few seconds, although that was scary enough.

A call was placed to the Cancer Center and a call was returned by Dr. Balaban who again suggested that I go immediately to emergency room to get checked out. I was obviously reluctant as I had just been through this and figured we'd go through the same thing all over again only to be sent home again. This time however, Dr. Balaban was going to see me in the E.R. this time instead of just the regular staff there.

So again they drew blood, did a chest x-ray and an electrocardiogram as my heart-rate was still racing and gave me the saline solution I.V.

After the tests were complete Dr. Balaban came to see me and said that I was dehydrated and they wanted to keep me overnight to monitor my heart and get my systems back online with rehyrdration. By the time I finally got to my room in the P.C.U. (Progressive Care Unit) it was
after midnight and I was immediately given a Potassium solution I.V. Potassium is irritable to the veins during injection so sleep was not possible until after 2:00 p.m. when the I.V. was switched to a normal saline solution mixed with a diluted amount of potassium that was less irritable than the straight potassium solution. Sleep was now possible.

At 4:30 a.m. the vampires from the I.V. team came in to get their vials filled so sleep was for a very short period. At 6:00 the nurses aid came in to get vital signs so again my rest was interrupted and the sun was about to come up. The I.V. bags were changed as they were emptied and the nurses aid and the nurse herself made regular stops so it was constant activity in the room not allowing for much rest time. Not to mention I had to empty everything that was being pumped into me and with the I.V. and the heart monitor attached this was no easy task.

At least the heart monitor was cordless, meaning I only had to contend with a device the size of a transistor radio hanging from my neck, which then had all the wires going to the various areas of my chest and stomach to monitor my heart.

At 9:00 a.m. Dr. Balaban came in said that I would probably be in for another day until my hydration levels returned to normal through the I.V. treatments.
The day continued with all the ongoing things listed above just being repeated along with a finnicky I.V. pump that would stop pumping continuously for no apparent reason and that required the nurse be called time and time again to restart the pump and no sooner would she leave the room the pump would shut itself off. The I.V. team finally realized I had a port and decided to access that to administer the I.V. through that instead of through the traditional arm I.V.

This all continued throughout the night and into Sunday morning when Dr. Balaban came in around 9:00 a.m and said that I would be discharged sometime that day but that I was now showing somewhat anemic and he wanted to me to receive two units of blood. That process takes 3 to 4 hours per unit, and thats after the I.V. team does what they do to make sure you are getting the right stuff.

The blood transfusions started around 11:15 and there were numerous delays with the pump again. The first transfusion took almost 4 hours which is the time limit on blood being unrefrigerated and not being transfused. The I.V. team finally decided that the port was more of the problem than the pump so they suggested I lie down as that position was the one that worked the best, so I lied for four straight hours without moving to finish the first and second units of blood. It worked because the second unit was transfused in two hours fifteen minutes and I finally left the hospital at 6:00 p.m.

Next up is my cat scan on this Wednesday at 10:15 and we'll see where it goes from there!

Wednesday

Well, Wednesday ended round three of the chemo treatment and the fanny pack was removed for the last time. The upcoming treatments that will coincide with radiation will consist of one all day intravenous solution and that will be it for three weeks. No more carrying that fanny pack around for five days and then having it removed for two weeks.

Upon removal of the pack I discussed with the nurses my feeling of a racing heart and shortness of breath since the previous Monday. Dr. Sherry came and spoke to me and said I needed to go to the emergency room at Sewickley Hospital to get checked out.

We departed the Cancer Treatment Center and headed straight to Sewickley Valley Hospital and underwent a series of tests in the E.R. consisting of having blood drawn to chest x-rays, a cat scan of my chest and an electrocardiogram. They were suspecting either blood clots in the lungs or pleurisy.

After several hours the test results came back negative on the blood clots but they wanted to get my racing heat back down so the gave me an I.V. of saline solution to see if that would help.
When the heart-rate was lowered I was cleared to go home and we left the hospital around 9:30 p.m. They did say my sodium and creatine in my kidneys were both a little low but didn't seem to be concerned abut either on of those signs.

Thursday we spoke with Dr. Sherry again and he said I probably had pleurisy and to take 400 mg of Ibuprofen four times a day for four days. That seemed to make the pain in my chest subside on that day.

Chemo #3

Friday I met with General Baliban from the Joint Chiefs of Staff Oncology and like Dr. Straka he was quite pleased with what he saw. He mainly felt my lymph nodes in my neck and throat area and did an internal examination of the inside of my mouth and throat and tongue. When asked how I was feeling I told him I felt "Normal". No problems with swallowing or appetite.

So the third round of Chemo began yesterday and this will be the last treatment in which I will have to carry around the fanny pack for five days. Once the radiation begins a one day chemo treatment will be administered every three weeks, so I'm looking forward to Wednesday when the fanny pack will be removed for the last time.

Once again though yesterday there were problems with the port and the drano solution had to be used to open it up so the drugs could be adminsitered. It took about two hours to open the catheter, so an I.V. was started through my left hand to start the administering of all the other solutions that come along with the chemo. They consist of two other drugs and a saline solution and a magnesium solution and several other generic solutions all in all totaling around 8 to 10 intravenous bags. I literally thought they were trying to drown me!

So I'm now scheduled to see Dr. Sicutella on Sept. 24th for a consultation and probably another CatScan so the radiation treatments can be synchronized by the nuclear team, which takes about 7 to 10 days since it is precision laser to minimize collateral damage to good tissues.

Stay tuned for future updates and God Bless each and everyone of you for your prayers!

ENT

Wednesday's appointment with the ENT (Ear Nose & Throat) Specialist went well. It was the second time seeing him since coming home. He performed an Endoscopy and was quite pleased with what he saw. He said if he were to expect the best, what he saw would have been just that.

Dr. Straka has been monitoring my progress clinically through the Cancer center and said that after the third chemo treatment ends radiation should begin within three to four weeks and should continue for five to seven weeks. He still hasn't ruled out surgery after the radiation but said we were a long way off from making that call.

Next appointment with Dr. Straka will be Oct. 12th.

The Count

Well, I went and had blood drawn today to see where my counts were at. Both red and white blood cell counts are tested and I scored a 9.9 out of a possible 10 on my white cell count and the red count was at 10.7, so both were pretty much normal. This explains the last few days that I've been feeling NORMAL.

Sleep has been virtually uninterrupted the last two nights and I expect the same tonight. Appetite is good and so is my energy level. This should last for about another week until the third round of chemo begins and then it's back down the first big hill on the roller coaster ride. All other systems are nominal and the mains are online.

Had two special visitors from Phoenix stop by the house and visit for about 90 minutes. It was great to see Mike Garland and Ron Rhoderick and I think they enjoyed their visit with me as much as I enjoyed seeing and talking with them.

Again, God Bless everyone for their thoughts and prayers, cards, emails and phone calls.

I will update again after my next catscan which will probably be in about two weeks.

Round Two

Well, round two of the chemo treatment was completed this past Wednesday. Immediately following the disconnection procedure and administering of one drug to keep my white blood cell count from going to low, we went and had a Cat Scan done in the radiology department.

This was so that Major General Dr. Sicutella could overlay it on the one done the week previous to compare and see what if any changes were noticeable. One Thursday afternoon Dr. Sicutella called and said that the disease was responding and she wanted to continue with a third chemo treatment to be preceded by another Cat Scan. SO things sound encouraging from that standpoint and from my own assessment as to how I feel, things are progressing. There are still setbacks during the treatments but that can only be expected.

That's all for this week and once again God Bless each and every one of you for your continuing love, support, cards emails and everything else you send my way!