It's Gotta End Sometime

Wednesday I had my 3rd Chemo session. Three down and 5 to go. I also met with Dr. Yee and he was pleased with the progress and lack of symptoms. I gained 3 more pounds, which I'm not too thrilled about. I'm still below the pre-cancer weight, by a couple of pounds anyway....but I was really starting like the weight I was at a few weeks ago. The doc scared me a bit with the "I would expect you to lose 10% or 20 lbs" during the treatment. Half of that drop I would be ok with, but I think if I lost a full 20 lbs, I might look a little weird....kinda like my brother when he's training for a marathon (sorry dude, it's true). Anyway....

My brother Eric attended the Chemo session with me and it was nice. Eric, a proud member of the "Slowski's Family" has finally caught up with the rest of us and has dropped his 1990s flip phone for a smart phone. He recently got a Verizon Droid and is still in awe of what it can do. We chatted sports and basically played with his phone for a while. This passed the time nicely.

It was an early session for me this time (9:30am) and I felt great until about 5pm. That's when the nausea set in. For the first time since being diagnosed with cancer, I felt a strong symptom. My stomach was upset all evening. I tried to catch up with the anti-nausea prescription I have, but it did no good. I didn't even sniff dinner that night. I even doubled up with the pills, simultaneously taking the anti-anxiety pill, which is also a anti-nausea pill, and the two combined are supposed to knock me out (it's totally ok to take both).....it didn't really work, as I didn't fall asleep until midnight. To be honest it wasn't the worst thing in the world...no worse than the (too many to count) hangovers I had in college. I didn't have the urge to throw up, though I did worry about it. After I finally fell asleep, I woke up fine and continued feeling fine all day yesterday.

One key note: Afterwards Eric and I went to Schlotzky's Deli in Tualatin (hmmm, my fav) and I had my usual Texas Schlotzky...which is littered with jalapenos....oops, Meg reminded me when I got home that I'm supposed to stay away from spicy foods while the Chemo was still in my system (3 days following treatment). It wasn't the hottest meal in the world, but it did have jalapenos which aren't strawberries if you know what I mean. Sooooo, not sure if my nausea was from the cancer or a if was the Chemo-jalapeno combination that did me in.....either way, it was my worst night to date.....

Eric was in the consultation with Dr. Yee and asked a good post Chemo question about detecting any leftover cancer. After Chemo and prior to radiation, I will have another PET Scan to see how much cancer has been eliminated. This will also assist the doctors as to where the radiation will go. After my 3 weeks of radiation, I will see Dr. Yee every 3 months for a year. Every other appointment with Dr Yee, he will want me to me have a new PET Scan. After a year, that schedule will push out to every 4 months for a visit and every 8 months for a PET Scan.....and so on for 5 years. It might drop down to every 6 months after 2 years, but I can't remember what he said....

That's all I've got for now....I'm not sleeping tonight for some reason...it's 4:30am and the fam gets up in about 2-3 hours....That gives me a couple more hours of infomercial watching....ugh!

Steve